Has anyone actually bought a Zesto Phono preamp?


Curious if anyone has actually purchased the Zesto Phono preamp.Maybe you heard it at an audio show? Please share your comments on the Zesto.
jazzcourier
FYI - Zesto = Greek for "warm". Andros = A Greek island. Zesto's owner is Greek. The unit sounds quite good, build quality is average (e.g. flimsy knobs in the back, RCA jacks, etc). With a little more attention to build quality, it can be a superb product.
Mbump - Sorry for the delay in my response. I've owned two EAR 834P's one deluxe and one black. I also have an EAR 868 preamp with built in MM/MC phono stage. I think the Zesto is way ahead of the 834P and is very competitive and a bit smoother and more liquid and has a slightly better soundstage than the 868 phono stage. I'm told that the 868's phono stage is sold as a stand alone unit for $6,000, making the Zesto a very good buy.
Rlw3 - Sorry for the delay in responding. IMO, the Zesto does well with all genres. George, the designer of the Zesto is a recording engineer and listens to a lot of rock.
Having had the Zestro now a week, I can begin to make some preliminary comments on my impressions. When A/B'd with the EAR 834p Deluxe, a pretty clear node must go to the Zestro, as the 834p is a bit less resolving, not as deep in soundstage presentation, and warm to a point of being slightly nebulous, partic. in low frequencies. Recently, the game got interesting, as I now have a Herron VTPH-2, borrowed from a colleague, and have to say that here, things are very competitive. The Herron has great detail and solid presence of the stage. Source placement is spot-on, though it may not throw quite as 'wide' a stage as the Zestro. Transients are also a forte with the Herron, with low frequencies being particularly solid. Where the Zestro may have a slight edge is its seeming ability to create a more visceral experience - timbral accuracy, partic. with percussion, is very impressive. The soundstage is also not only slightly wider, but deeper, more separation of sources. The Zestro is also slightly warmer than the Herron, and doesn't pack quite the punch in amplitude, though cranking it up a notch or two to compensate doesn't introduce more noise - very black backgrounds. I could likely be happy with either the Herron or the Zestro, but the listening continues...

Just my 2 cents worth at the moment - thought I'd share ~