Aesthetix Rhea signature phono stage


Looking at a second hand Aesthetix Rhea signature phono stage, anyone had experience with this unit.
I want to use it with a second tone arm, aready have a ss stage so would like to have a valve phono as a contrast.
It is a bit more in cost than a new manley Chinook, which I had also considered.
I have read the Aesthetix can be noisy.
I use Lyra, VdH and shelter carts.
Would appreciate any feedback.
dctom
Cerrot, Take it from me that upgrading the capacitors in the Rhea, which is essentially the difference between the original and the "Signature" versions, makes a world of difference. If you like your Rhea now, you will feel like you bought a new upscale phono stage after the upgrade is done. I replaced the coupling caps in my plain Jane Janus with Vcaps and the output caps with polystyrene film caps, and the difference is huge. (I did it myself, thus probably voiding the warranty but thus also saving a lot of money.) I listened to it all day yesterday; it's as least in the same league (now) with my best preamplifier, which costs many times more than the Janus. Incidentally, you might ask Aesthetix if they would use Vcaps in lieu of their usual choice for the Sig upgrade.
The other change in the signature is the size of output caps - went from 2.0 uF to 4.0uF. I concur with Lewm on the effect of caps on sound - it's substantial. The sig uses DynamiCap which isn't too hard to improve on.
Thanks for the responses, anyone compared a Rhea with a Manley Chinook or an Allnic phono?
lewm
powered down means turned off completely. I actually unplugged it from the wall as well.
this recommendation is straight from the Canadian distributor.