I'll be the first to admit that the sound of a microphone is mainly determined by its capsule and capsule surroundings (head basket, back chamber, vents etc). I think I've mentioned that more than once. And that is exactly why I like the 3U cardioid capsule, in combination with the right SDC body having the right back chamber and the right vents design (also mentioned by 3U Audio, btw). To my taste, it sounds balanced and in shootouts on Youtube, I could not hear a difference between the 3U and an original KM84.
You mentioned how you appreciate the flat frequency response of the KM84. Well, I think that answers your question from post #97: the CM-63 is not flat and people preferred the flat(ter) response of the 3U capsule in the blind tests.
Whether the KM84, or 3U capsule or any other capsule for that matter would sound better with other electronics? Maybe... But we should first define what is "better". Less THD? Some like a bit of "color" and use it as an artistic effect. More headroom? Some use the transformer LF compression at high SPLs to their benefit on snares. There is a place for almost any type of circuit. That's also why I designed several other circuits having more headroom, lower distortion and lower noise than the KM84. One of them being the KM84++. The other three, one with transformer and two w/o, outperform the classic Schoeps in many ways. I'll publish their specs in due time, but will not share the schematics. Whether they will also sound any better or different? I'll leave that up to my son to decide, for whom I build them.
Although some microphone properties are a matter of taste, there are, however, several properties that you typically want any microphone to have: low noise, good RFI rejection, high CMRR, good moisture protection, in most cases high headroom and high reliability. Maybe these are more important properties of head amp circuits than sound? Could be... But of course: YMMV and it is not forbidden to be a heretic in that respect.
