Aesthetix Rhea Signature and IO MK2

I would disagree I have an IO sig. I had major issues with it so sent it back to Aesthix and had it upgraded to the Eclipse spent another 5k on it just to make sure I got it back working perfect. It is horrible I can hear it from about 18' away it is super noisy and on occasion gets so many pops and noise I have to shut it down in fear it will blow a speaker. Also Aesthix clames it does not pair well with my Aesthix calypso sig pre and now wants to sell me tubes after they just had it for service and gave it the ok. Besides being excessively noisy it does sound good when running I just wish I could keep it running for 2 hours and listen to some music without the fear of burning up something in my system or blowing my speakers.

For what's its worth, I have Io Eclipse and it may be a bit noisier than my Lamm LP2 but I certainly don't think that it is noisy. However, my dealer did warn me that using stock tubes, with daily usage, the tubes may not last much more than a year. I only have mine for about 7-8 months so I guess I would find out soon. Although I did change the first gain stage and a few other tubes with NOS tubes which sound quite a bit nicer than stock tubes. If only I can get Io Eclipse with 3 separate inputs and a remote..... :)

I should comment I am not 100% sure the tubes are the issue they where pretty new and aesthix claimed they where good. Also both channels have a lot of noise. If I knew it was tubes I would just buy them.

Programmergeek, hmm.... if the tubes are quite new, I would guess that it is less to be the tubes. Sonically, they are not quite as good as NOS tubes but they are carefully selected and it would be rather difficult to find a whole set of NOS that have as low microphonic as Aesthetix stock tubes unless you spend a fortune. But I suppose the new tubes sometimes don't last nearly as long as NOS, so I am told. That's a big bummer...

I had both units and I can definitely say, noise or similar has nothing to do with stock or NOS Tubes. I spent a small fortune for those NOS tubes and ant that time it was ok. Later I had a different unit for comparison and beat it in a minute.
Today I think, Design, the brain counts. NOS tubes are probably the icing on the cake but in the end it is overrated.