Recently I purchased a used Capri and in my downgrading/simplifying my system from an Aesthetix Calypso with upgraded NOS tubes. First off, the Calypso was/is a great preamp, one of my favorites and one of the best values in preamps. To the point, the Calypso is a better preamp in most areas over the Capri, but in most cases by a fairly small margin.
The most notable preference of the Calypso over the Capri is in its ability to deliver and maintain a sound stage that is filled with musicians and instruments without collapsing or becoming congested. While the Capri does not fall apart in this regard, I have found it does not compete with the Calypso's abilities to maintain stabiity and focus playing a moderately loud, large recording piece.
Surprisingly, I also found the Calypso's bass was a bit tighter and more musical than that of the Capri. This was/is my largest surprise considering tubes vs. solid state.
I find that the Capri is better, almost surprisingly with with the upper frequency metalic sounds of symbols, bells and the like. The Capri delivers a glass like view into these areas (glass translating to clear, not brittle or bright). This is actually the part of the Capri that I like best.
I also find the Capri slightly more resolving - this was expected based on tubes vs. SS and did not come as a surprise.
All this being said, the Calypso is said by many to being of a sound combination between tubes and SS, more SS than many other tube preamps. The Capri, reported by many (herein included) to be sort of tube sounding, especially for a SS preamp.
I think the former is more accurate with regards to the Calypso than the latter with the Capri sounding tube like. For example, I don't find it quite as tube like as two of the Ayre preamps (both SS). Having owned several tubed preamps from Cary and BAT, it is no where near as tube sounding as either of these brands.
Overall though, I would place the Capri in a short list or category of real value for your money performance. Also in this list I would have to include the Calypso (one of the best bang for your buck performers), the Resolution Audio Opus 21 with GNSC mods and possibly even throwing in the Totem Arro speakers which can be had used for about $600.
Overall, the Capri is a nice preamp which I can recommend, even more so for its very reasonable price tag. Unfortunately, I cannot say that it performs to the level of the REF 3 (which I felt was one of only a very few preamps that I have heard that exceeded the performance of the Calypso).
In the meantime, I will spend some time re-adjusting my speaker placement (which over many months had been fine tuned with my Calypso) with the Capri now in place to see if this impacts my opinions with regard to bass performance and holding its focus in large scale recordings.
