hmmmm, buy the rock mic. If they think the beyer caps handle the high SPL's better, then go that direction. Besdies, there are a few set ups which use the Panasonic's, at least the Beyer based design would be different from the competition.
Although after re reading my above comment i remembered that Ray is just starting out taping and living in europe. Ray, Beyers are from Europe, good solid engineering, I have owned 2 pair of Beyers ( M201, M201-E) and used others ( M-88, M-160 ). A very high quality product.
I have seen more than one post on this board complimenting the panasonic caps, so my new opinion( just 10 seconds after the first opinion<
is toss it up on this thread, and see what the majority opinion is. Since I'm making this poorly worded response, I will state my opinion is Beyers caps.