Awaiting a 1st impression

Aesthetix base price $7000 remote $400(backlit-cool) headphone $500=$7900

Rated 150WPC  

PL $7300 including metal remote and headphone 

Rated 100 WPC 

$600 for 50 additional watts of power with the Aesthetix, and the USA pedigree.

This would be an interesting drag race.

Who gets the prize for build quality appearance? PL's construction at least appears to best the Aesthetix.

I do like the Mimas aesthetic(except the choice of the 80's blue LED-very tired)more than the PL. I would have chosen vacuum tube orange.

I'm not familiar with Aesthetix as a brand. I wasn't a Tube guy until the Willsenton R8 was getting great reviews and LOTS of press from reviewers all over the world! There are many 'business' mistakes that US based brands make and one of them is branding and another is marketing! If Aesthetix is so arrogant that they feel like I should seek out their product rather than them doing their homework and trying to reach me, then they will continue to be an obscure brand that very few know anything about.....

@boostedis Aesthetix is an established brand and has been in business since early 2000s. I have Rhea phono in my system. Their customer service is second to none. I had an issue with my unit so I emailed them on a Friday afternoon and I got a call back from Jim White the same evening and he spent almost an hour helping me troubleshoot the issue. An arrogant company? Definitely not.

I have heard their Mimas (Hybrid Integrated) driving Rockport Aviors. The sound was mighty impressive. I've heard older version of PL (the Dialog and Dialog-HP) driving big Harbeth monitors( not sure of the model though), not in the same league as Mimas but again have not heard the new PL offerings.

In their adverts Upscale makes a point of how much their preamps weigh as compared to the competition.  I've heard of judging by the measurements, but even ASR doesn't say that heavier units are intrinsically better.

Who gets the prize for build quality appearance?

I, for one, have never liked the look of PL gear. That more than the MIC aspect has kept me from ever trying any of their stuff.

@boostedis 

If you haven't heard of Aesthetix gear, it's more your fault than theirs. Most people who have been at this awhile certainly know who they are.