My first trip to hear the AERIS after they had just returned from RMAF had the following equipment hooked up to the single amp version of the speaker; Coda Mono Amps, Coda Pre-amp and Oppo95 player with the Xilica XD-4080 processor in use. I had taken a large amount of discs with me to audition. The finish was the one displayed at RMAF with the ostrich leatherette finish which is still pictured as the lead-on for the AERIS annoucement on the website. This pair was sold in the last few weeks. Legacy told me that they have already sold at least 15 pairs that have shipped since RMAF and more are being built to fill current orders.
In this past week when I heard the dual-amp version of AERIS, the following equipment was in use; Coda Stereo Amp, Code Pre-Amp, Ayon CD-07 (I used the USB input to the DAC from my MacBook Pro playing iTunes stored discs ripped with Apple Lossless encoding) and the Xilica XP-4080 processor. The finish was Black Oak.
I inquired about Black Pearl as well; they are working on this however it would be available in the future as this is one finish that they have to send out the speaker cabinet for the high-end finish to be applied. They told me they are working on additional high-end veneer finishes as well.
Nutreez: For the XD, I would ask Bill and Doug if they have anything underway. I would suggest hearing both the Whisper XD and the AERIS before you decide which to purchase.
