My Rhea's new partner arrives today

Well, this is a tough one. The Calypso is more detailed than the BAT. The image is very focused, to the point that the voices and instruments almost line up behind each other. It is very quiet with the Rhea.

The BAT seems to throw a much wider stage and I get the impression that some sounds, like small bells and the like, are coming from off stage. There seems to be more passages that are coming from each speaker, like the engineer was using some gimickry to bounce sounds right to left. I don't hear these from the Calypso as everything seems to be between the speakers.

thanks for the initial feedback. I'm confused by your comment "its very quiet with the Rhea". My understanding was that the Rhea is a phonostage and Calypso a linestage and each can be used separately. Does the Rhea HAVE to be plugged into the Calypso to drive your amp, or did you just connect it to use the Calypso passively as a switching device?

Have you rolled the tubes in the Rhea? I replaced V1-4 with Telefunken smooth plate 12AX7s and the 5922s with Siemens 6DJ8s. So much smoother and analog sounding. I had one of the Teles go on me a couple of weeks ago, so until I found a suitable replacement, I threw the stock Sovtek 12AX7WBs in V4. Awful in comparison. I was going to take my time and see if I could turn up a nice pr. of Tele NOS, but having grown accustomed to the Teles, I nailed a used pr. quickly and got the Sovteks the hell out of there. What are you running in the Calypso? I gotta believe if you roll the tubes you will be much more pleased with it.

Ubglub, the Rhea has no volume control so it has to be used with a pre-amp. The Calypso is the linestage of the Aesthetix Saturn series. The Rhea and Calypso together are very quite, this is with no music playing. I do hear some noise when the Rhea is mated to the BAT although it is still pretty quiet. I wonder if this has something to do with differences in balanced circuitry between BAT and Aesthetix. This is not really an issue for me, just an observation.

Stew3859, I have not seriously rolled tubes in the Rhea. I have replaced the 6922 with a somewhat quieter tube but I don't recall what it is just now. Right now I'm just concerned with deciding which pre mates better with the Rhea. Once I get this sorted out I'll start rolling in earnest.

I must say that I'm surprised by the differences I'm hearing from just switching the pre-amps. The BAT is sounding so much more musical that I'm wondering if something isn't connected or matched properly, or if the Calypso is not fully broken in. I believe it has around 100hrs on it. It may need another 100-150hours.

I almost posted before you sent your initial reponses. I had a Rhea vs BAT VKp10SE listening test about a year or two ago. I pretty much heard on the phono stage side what you hear on the line stage side. I think the Aesthetix are a better value. Details were better. The BAT had a better flow and image.

I kept my BAT. And since then have updated it to the super pak version. I'm pretty sure a Io Signature will beat my current p10se superpak.

Also, if you upgrade to a 51se from you 50se, you're in for a monumental change. Truly a much much much better preamp.

btw, I bet the Calypso does sound better after 2-3 weeks...