Sugarbrie, actually Sony would probably have a far easier time getting the Black Gate caps than Stan. I am an electronics engineer and have always worked for small companies. One of the most frustrating things working for a small company is you have no clout with the parts manufacturers. A lot of the time if you aren't going to buy many thousands of something (sometime millions) they don't even want to talk to you. A lot of the stuff is made to order. They aren't going to fire up a production line to make a few hundred of something. The small company pretty much has to rely on distributors which only stock the most common parts. I think it's fair to say that most, if not all, specialty audio companies are pretty small, so their engineers have the same problems I do.
For large consumer companies like Sony, I'm sure the parts are chosen with cost as a primary consideration, so finding better parts for more money is pretty easy. For higher-end companies I'd bet it is a lot more difficult to find better parts than are used in the production units simply because cost is not as much of a factor. You don't see many people offering Levinson or Rowland mods do you?
For large consumer companies like Sony, I'm sure the parts are chosen with cost as a primary consideration, so finding better parts for more money is pretty easy. For higher-end companies I'd bet it is a lot more difficult to find better parts than are used in the production units simply because cost is not as much of a factor. You don't see many people offering Levinson or Rowland mods do you?