Hi Reginator,
Thank you for the questions.
Let me start by saying if you assemble the same circuitry with components of the same specifications you will get the same audio results. Whether these are through-hole or SMT components is of no impact.
Our goal is to build a unit that sounds identical to the Moog D reissue. For this purpose we acquired a unit, reverse engineered it in order to compare it with the original circuitry as well as to evaluate component specifications. We recently published the schematics so you can compare the circuitry for yourself.
Our Model D synth will be using high-quality 1% metal film resistors throughout the whole design and in some parts of the oscillator circuitry, we will be using even components with 0.1% tolerance – exactly in line with the reference model. In order to keep the oscillators stable, we have selected quite expensive Polyphenyline Sulphide capacitors which have very low temperature dependencies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_capacitor
Our design will also feature matched JFET’s and other high-quality semiconductors from reputable manufacturers. Even if some companies claim that they use components which are “sourced” in the US, the chance they are actually made in China or other Asian places is very high.
In today’s time almost all electronic components are made in the Far East. For example the Model D Reissue uses VR’s made by Taiwan Alpha, a Chinese vendor we are also using for our products.
Because analog components do have inherent tolerances which accumulate when combined in a circuitry, multiple trimmers are required in the Model D design, and hence you will find the same trimmers in our design.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimmer_(electronics)
These trimmers are set during the manufacturing and testing procedure and like in the reference design, their purpose is to calibrate oscillator and filter frequencies, VCA gain and cross-feed, etc.
We might be publishing the testing and calibration procedures for all the electronic savvy people among you, but you can also simply refer to the original service manual.
Will it sound the same?
Well, we’ll leave this answer to you and also some synth experts we are planning to invite for a “double blind” test which is one of the most objective ways to remove bias and “fairy dust”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinded_experiment
Uli