Mike and Thomas:
I do not have the Lamm yet. It will arrive on Wednesday. As far as the Aesthetix goes, please remember that this will be based, for the most part, on MY system and room as well as MY tastes and prefernces. That said, sonically, I feel the Aesthetix is one of the best sounding phono stages on the market. However, I had problems with it and 4 other friends of mine had problems with it going down as well. This MAY be a sign that Jim White was pushing the tubes too hard or that something in the design was causing the problem (it most likely is NOT the quality of the parts as they were exceptional). This is PURE speculation, but maybe that is why Jim came out with the two new versions and maybe that will fix any potential problem (as well as possibly improving on an already great phono stage).
I have considered the Groove, the Pass X-Ono and the Manley but, I wanted a tubed unit and am not only more familiar with the Lamm designs but, as I have mentioned, I have been happy with my Lamm gear (the M1.1s and the L2 Reference Line Stage).
I have used a Van den hul Grasshopper -IV GLA, a Cardas Heart, a Crown Jewel SE and, currently, a Helikon with my Aesthetix and Hovland. I anticipate using the Helikon with the Lamm but will reserve final judgment until I match it with the Lamm which only has 57 db of gain (compared to 80db for the Io and 63db for the Hovland).
When I have burned in the Lamm (will use the Thor Burn-In as well as time) and feel I have a handle on it, I will either post my comments (or, possibly write a review for Ultimate Audio -- FYI, I wrote a review of the Io for UA a year ago and you can see a more detailed description of my experiences there). I hope this helps.
Frank
