Aesthetix Rhea Signature and IO MK2

Your dealer is correct. The Io is much better than the Rhea, I have had both in my system and compared.

thanks Mr. Albert
i might stretch further to get IO signature will it be a big different against IO MK2. Now my pre is Calypso with NOS tele and amprex. this i will up grade to Callisto much later.
or should i stay with IO mk2 and put the saving towards Callisto std.
and up grade 1 year later. did anyone did that and regret.
thanks any feedback is appreciated.

Save the NOS tubes from your Calypso and use them in the IO, the IO is one of the finest phono stages ever built, I don't think you will ever regret going that way.

Callisto is equal to the IO, one of the best ever. Take this one step at a time, go for the best you can afford even if you have to wait on the other until later. In the end it will save several exchanges and trades and you will wind up with less money spent to be where you want to be.

As for standard versus upgrade, Aesthetix can upgrade later and you only pay for the parts needed to take it to the next level. Call Glenn (at Aesthetix) and ask, he's a great guy and easy to talk to.

thanks very much Albert.
best regards
Chris

I would disagree I have an IO sig. I had major issues with it so sent it back to Aesthix and had it upgraded to the Eclipse spent another 5k on it just to make sure I got it back working perfect. It is horrible I can hear it from about 18' away it is super noisy and on occasion gets so many pops and noise I have to shut it down in fear it will blow a speaker. Also Aesthix clames it does not pair well with my Aesthix calypso sig pre and now wants to sell me tubes after they just had it for service and gave it the ok. Besides being excessively noisy it does sound good when running I just wish I could keep it running for 2 hours and listen to some music without the fear of burning up something in my system or blowing my speakers.

For what's its worth, I have Io Eclipse and it may be a bit noisier than my Lamm LP2 but I certainly don't think that it is noisy. However, my dealer did warn me that using stock tubes, with daily usage, the tubes may not last much more than a year. I only have mine for about 7-8 months so I guess I would find out soon. Although I did change the first gain stage and a few other tubes with NOS tubes which sound quite a bit nicer than stock tubes. If only I can get Io Eclipse with 3 separate inputs and a remote..... :)

I should comment I am not 100% sure the tubes are the issue they where pretty new and aesthix claimed they where good. Also both channels have a lot of noise. If I knew it was tubes I would just buy them.

Programmergeek, hmm.... if the tubes are quite new, I would guess that it is less to be the tubes. Sonically, they are not quite as good as NOS tubes but they are carefully selected and it would be rather difficult to find a whole set of NOS that have as low microphonic as Aesthetix stock tubes unless you spend a fortune. But I suppose the new tubes sometimes don't last nearly as long as NOS, so I am told. That's a big bummer...

I had both units and I can definitely say, noise or similar has nothing to do with stock or NOS Tubes. I spent a small fortune for those NOS tubes and ant that time it was ok. Later I had a different unit for comparison and beat it in a minute.
Today I think, Design, the brain counts. NOS tubes are probably the icing on the cake but in the end it is overrated.