Awaiting a 1st impression

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.

@ozzy62 As usual, people don't read for content. The whole point I was making is that I haven't heard of them. I hadn't heard of the Amp I purchased until good marketing presented it to me. My point is that if American companies want to get noticed so people will buy their products, they need to do better marketing and stop resting on the laurels of good sound alone! They pretty much all sound good. They are all point to point wiring with good components, etc., etc....