Aesthetix Calypso Signature to Eclipse


Has anyone done this upgrade?  Any thoughts on the improvement, if any?
limniscate

Showing 2 responses by ejholtom

According to Aesthetix, the Calypso Eclipse will outperform the Callisto Signature, but not the Callisto Eclipse.
I'm late to the party here, but just went through deliberations on what to do with my Calypso, which I bought new in 2004 and has served me well since. I decided to do either the Signature or Eclipse upgrade, and after some thought, had decided to do the Signature. The price quoted by the Canadian distributor for the Signature was US$2400 and the Eclipse US$4300. The Signature upgrade would be done by an Aesthetix approved tech here in Canada (I checked him out and he is highly regarded, one of the original principals in Sonic Frontiers gear). 
However, after I learned that the Cdn distributor had neglected to include the power supply upgrade in the Signature quote, and revised the price to $2850, I thought I will just go whole hog and spend the extra $1450 for the Eclipse. I am currently waiting to hear when this work will be scheduled at Aesthetix before shipping the Calypso off. 

Regarding the comparison between the Calypso and the Callisto, here are the words of Glenn Buckley at Aesthetix:
"Comparing the Calypso and Callisto is not always easy as they are indeed different animals. The Callisto also comes in the same 3 editions as the Calypso: Standard, Signature and Eclipse. At the end of the day, a Calypso Eclipse will sound better overall than a Callisto Standard or Signature. Only the Callisto Eclipse will surpass a Calypso Eclipse in this area".

@solobone22  Sorry about the delayed response, been in my cave during much of Covid. I did get the Aesthetix Calypso preamp (which I bought new in 2004), upgraded to the Eclipse version. I've been an audiophile for 50 years and had some very nice gear, but nothing that touches the Aesthetix Calypso Eclipse. I can't imagine any change that would be worth the effort in improvement. You asked about my previous pre-amp - it was a Pass Aleph, very nice, I enjoyed it a lot. But as seems to happen to many of us, with age our taste in music and sound changes and we transition to tubes, which is what I have done. I am completely thrilled with my current all-tube set-up, in which the Aesthetix plays a central role (SME 20 into Luxman EQ500/Marantz SA-10 into Aesthetix Calypso Eclipse into Wyetech Labs Sapphire 300B monoblocks into Verity Audio Otello speakers, connected with Siltech Royal Sig Queen/Crown PRince/Prince/Crystal Cable Dreamline Plus. 

As for my assessment of Aesthetix service, they were exemplary in all regards, among the best I have ever experienced.