Seems that the similarities between Schoeps caps are greater than the differences, I've only owned 4v 41v and 41 and like them all, but for me the go to cap is the 4v for ease of
in a Kangol, the bar just fits so well in the cap. I wouldn't really recommend the hyper caps for close up work I do notice the diminished low end, but for distance work love either 41 or 41v.
If you're gonna do stealth work 4v>nbob>naiant IPA>small deck can't be beat. Small deck Like tascam dr2d, Edirol or Sony m10 all of which can still be found with a bit of effort. I'd substitute the MP3 and a pair of pfas if you're not stealthing. As others have said, you can pick up a matched dpair of 4v from Europe for around 1300, nbobs for 600, IPA for 120 and deck for 200 or so, and easily ring in under 2500. Substitute pfas and an MP3 for the IPA/tiny deck and you're still going to come in just a bit over 2500 that is amazing. I don't even want to think about what 4011>v2>benchmark ad>portadat cost me back in the day. You can get 90% of that sound for 1/4 the cost now.
Ymmv but I find the Schoeps genuine cables to be way too stiff for
work, I prefer nbobs and have had nothing but reliability.