2. analog
  3. 1336491953

Aesthetix IO Eclipse

Hi,

I'm seriously considering this Phono preamp (with the additional line input and volume control), and would like to get in contact with potenial owners of the IO-series from Aesthetix. I believe the IO is what I'm looking for sonically (and I love the design and user experience). But, I'm slightly concerned about earlier reports of noise/hum issues, as well as riability and the practical side of things related to tube life and generated heat.

So....

- Is the IO Eclipse (still) up there among the best on the market?
- Will the possibility of driving a poweramp directly offer any disadvantages, or be as good as or better than a separate preamp of the same caliber?
- Are the tubes worth the expense, effort and potential hassle...?

What I'm looking for is a high degree of naturalness, musicality and flow combined with great dynamics and a large, holographic soundstage.

My system:

Brinkmann Bardo + 10.5 tonearm + Pi-pickup (Analog)
Audio Aero La Fontaine (CD/DAC/Pre)
Karan KA M2000 (Monoblocks)
Sonus Faber Futura (Speakers)
Kubala Sosna Elation (Cables)

Thanks!
sidekick_i

Showing 4 responses by oldvinyl

oldvinyl
37 posts
 
I started with the Io 13 years ago. It had the volume control which is ideal for my setup. Several years later, I upgraded it to the MkII and added the second power supply. Several years after that I upgraded to the Signature version. About 1 1/2 years ago, I did the Eclipse upgrade. Each and every step along the way, the Io got better. Better in terms of lower noise floor, better dynamics, better transparency, more detail, yet more flow and music.

If in doubt, start with a used Io and one power supply. If you like it, they are fully upgradable. As several have pointed out, the Io is very reliable, easy on tubes and the factory support is superb.

Tweaks I made along the way: switched the EL-34s in the power supply to KT-66, replaced the umbilical cables with higher grade wire and lots of shielding. Replaced the stock AC cables with Nordost cables.

The Io sounds best with XLR outputs, much better to my ear than the RCA outputs. If you can run your amps with balanced inputs, that's the way to go.
oldvinyl
37 posts
 
O_holter -- I initially tried the Purist Audio Design cables for the Io from Albert Porter. They were extremely high quality, well made and very very quiet (well shielded). They were simply out of my price range at that time. I contacted Audience, sent them the cables and had them rewire them with higher purity cables and add heavy duty shielding. It did the trick.

Io outputs sound best in balanced XLR configuration, much quieter than RCA (as expected). I checked with Aesthetix, using balanced input from the cartridge does not have any real advantage.
oldvinyl
37 posts
 
Lewm - to be more precise, the Io is fully balanced after the input stage. Using RCA or XLR gets the same output, the rest of the amplification is fully balanced. The one advantage of a balanced input would be common mode noise rejection, assuming a fully differential input. My system does not have such noise problems with the Io phono stage. I found that using a well shielded phono cable eliminated any hum or coupled noise.
oldvinyl
37 posts
 
Lewm -- follow up; direct quote from the Aesthetix Io manual (from the Aesthetix web site):
The phono stage contains three main amplification sections and an output buffer section. The first section is a high gain, low noise, zero feedback single ended amplifier composed of two low-noise 12AX7 vacuum tubes. This then feeds a high gain, low noise differential amplifier (two 12AX7 vacuum tubes) which amplifies the signal and produces a complementary minus phase signal. Thus, the unit is balanced from the second amplification section through the output.
So, from this description, there is no advantage to using XLR or a balanced input from the cartridge.
More to discover