Aesthetix Calypso vs. Ayre K-5xe

Ejlif/ Bigtee: I posted the question on audio asylum you´re referring to. Charles said, that with a reconfiguration of the grounding scheme the hum problem will be solved - don´t know if this will affect the sonics of the V-5xe - which I like a lot.
I feel the Calypso to be a very appealing product as is the CAT SL-1 and the BAT VK-31 SE too.
Bigtee: where did you noticed the most obvious shortcomings of the K-5xe compared to the Calypso?

Bigtee. Thanks. My local dealer said, the Calypso would perform even better when they would exchange the cheap Crystal attentuator with a realy good one. I thinks realy complex attentuators are used in Cello, Ayre, Ayon and Convergent gear - thats why the sound so good.

Bigtee, you´re absolutely right - dealer comments sometime realy confuse. Unfortunately there are just a handful of dealers in Germany who carry Aesthetix gear - none in my area.
If voltage conversion wouldn´t be a big issue with the Calypso I´d buy a 110 volt unit in the US but then using a step up device could harm the sound - I was told. Any experience with step up devices and their impact on sonics ?
Thanks.

Bigtee: as I´m living in Germany calling the US is quite an expensive adventure. Do you probably know his eMail adress?

Hi. Just have both units at hand. I must admit - both are very good whereas I slightly prefer the K-5xe at least in my system. BUT compared to a borrowed Nagra PL-P both units havn´t got a chance. That´s my listening expression on day one. Probably the Aesthetix will catch up on the Ayre tomorrow..

Just bought the K-5xe invested a few hundred bucks in mods and can now say: no Aesthetix or any other product in the US $ 5.000,00 - 6.000,00 range comes close to this unit. VERY close to the K-1xe.
Nevertheless thanks a lot for your very kind support during my evaluation process.

I´ve had the Calypso on loan for a week. The Calypso came a) with stock tubes and b) with some very high quality Telefunken and Roederstein tubes with Herbie tube dampers. All contacts have been treated with Walker E-SST.
The mods in the K-5xe were: new high-quality Cryo treated silver-gold power inlet; damping of the casework with Sorbothane; K37 laquer treatment; exchange of the low quality fuse with a Hifi-Tuning ceramique-gold-silver device; exchange of the medium level balanced in´s and out´s sockets with state-of-the-art devices; exchange of some medium quality internal parts with highest quality parts and Walker E-SST treatment. All units were used with/ without Stillpoints Universal Resonance Dampers and Shakti Stones as well as pyramidal shaped Rose Quarz. Including labour this was round about € 900,- per unit which is a bit more than US $ 1.050,00. I can tell you: the mods were worth every penny!
If you are familiar with the dramatic improvement the RAM basic mods (US $ 1.190,00) do to the standard Esoteric DV-50 S performance (outperforms the costlier UX-3 / UX-1 in CD/SACD mode) you can imagine how far these mods push the envelope with the K-5xe and V-5xe. Even my local dealer was totally astounded how good my rig performed against his private K-1xe / V-1xe / D-1xe set-up - it was nearly on par for 50% less in costs.
Sources in this listening test were:
Esoteric DV-50 S (RAM modded); Audio Aero Capitole Reference; Ayre D-1xe; Simon Yorke S 7 + Simon Yorke tonearm and Jan Allearts moving-coil cartridge. Phono amplification was Ayre P-5xe and Clearaudio Basic Symmetry Ltd. Speakers were Ayon Seagull Ceramique; Avalon Ascendant and Verity Audio Parsifal Encore. Cables were a mixture of Shunyatas, Acoustic Zen, Electraglide, Fadel Art, Audioquest and some custom made stuff. The K-5xe was in all set-ups superior to the Calypso (lower noise floor, much better detail retrieval, speed, clarity, neutrality and soundstaging were at least one level above the Calypso with the Telefunken+Roederstein tubes). The standard K-5xe was in some areas better than the standard Calypso in some areas weaker. Def. better in quality of casework, ergonomics and look.
Rgds. and happy listening!!

Partially by myself and partially by a local dealer.

Can´t realy tell you. The overall effect is just amazing.

yes its still excellent (and burning in) but I was able to get a very nice price on a balanced version of the PL-L which I think betters K-1xe as well though my modded K-5xe is very close to the standard K-1xe. Just backed off from getting a No.51 US $ 18.000,00 is just ridiculous.. UX-1 Ltd. to arrive on friday for a shootout with my modded DV-50 S.