Aesthetix Calypso -vs- Ayre K-1Xe preamps?

Well, since you have gotten zip in the way of input, I will give you my "impressions" of the differences. (FYI, I have the Ayre K-1XE, and I love it.) Please note this comparision is based upon my friend's Aesthetix Rhea phono preamp, not the Calypso line stage. However, I am lead to believe (based on my reviews and my friend's auditioning of the Calypso), that they are similiar is sonics.) FYI, my friend uses an ARC Ref. 2 preamp, with his Rhea, in case that makes any difference to you.

You should already know the Ayre strengths and weaknesses, as you have one. They are very detailed, have a very low noise floor, it is a true balanced design, and it is very musical, (surprisingly so for a solid state unit).
The phono stage is very good, but not quite as good as the Aesthetix Rhea. The Rhea is slightly more musical, and the distortion from the tubes is not as grainy as the Ayre. (Not that the Ayre has much graininess, but it is solid state, so there is a little bit at higher volumes.)

The weakness of the Rhea, and from what I have read, the same is true of the Calypso, is that they are a bit on the noisy side for tube units. Tube rolling will solve some of this, but it will never be quite as a quiet as the Ayre.

As you can see, there are trade offs involved for both.

Question to you now:
What about the Ayre are you not satified with?
(Or is it just upgraditis hitting you?)
From what listening to my friend's Rhea, it is a fine phono preamp, and having a bit of noise in a phono preamp is somewhat to be expected. However, having the same noise in a line stage is a bit distracting. If you go that route, do a search here and on Audio Asylum as to which tubes to try. (I gave up on my ARC LS-2 preamp and PH-3 phono preamp for exactly that reason: the tube rushing noise eventually got to me. I have no regrets at all about not having tubes in my preamp sections of my system!)

However, in my opinion, YOU just might be better off with the Calypso, (and the Rhea, as you will need a phono stage too) as you would at least introduce a bit of that ole "tube magic" with a tube preamp, since you are considering a solid state set of monoblocks.
I did the same type of thing, except I went reversed it.
I use my Ayre K-1XE preamp with hybrid Lamm M2.1 monoblock amps. The Lamms only have one tube in each channel, but it is just enough to get me the mid-range magic that tubes provide. (However, like a good solid state amp, the frequency extension on both ends, but especially in the bass response, is fantastic with the Lamms.) Another thought for you would be to get the Aesthetix Janus, which combines the Calypso and the Rhea into one unit. (Save you a bit of money.)

Anyway, take what I wrote with a grain of salt, as I have had to extrapolate from a similar unit, and from my friends experience, rather than a straight up comparision myself.

Well, Good Luck in your search!

Thanks guys for all of your responses!
I am not unhappy with the Ayre, I was just curious on how it compared with a great tube preamp like the Aesthetix Calypso and its "tube magic".
I am also very curious about the Calypso/Parasound Halo combo that Perfectionist is extremely happy with.
Guess I am just itchin' to give tubes a spin!
Thanks again.

I read the Audiophile Perfectionist journal last year that included both of the products that you are looking at in one of their journals. This will not help as they liked both the Ayre K1xe and Aesthetix Calypso extreemely well. I ended up buying the Calypso a few weeks ago as I wanted a little more warmth in my system. You might try talking to dealers that carry both products.

Good Luck

I have demoed the Ayre and owned the Calypso prior to selling it due to system integration with my theater system, (not as bad as you think). First off, they are both awesome preamps, and the Calypso is not "tubey" sounding at all, so the tonal signature of each is relatively similar.

One thing the Calypso does that no SS pre I have heard other than those costing as much as my car does is create a truly immersive, layered, and extended soundstage. What makes the Calypso great is that with this you don't lose the focus or placement in the stage, nor do you get bloated bass, or rolled off bass or highs.

The Calypso is much like the Sonic Frontiers Line2 SE I owner before with less grain and more dynamics while being a little less forward.

I will say you cannot use the stock tubes and expect it to be quiet, but there are some inexpensive options I found performed incredibly well for less than $30 a tube. As always people will either look at tube rolling as fun, or as a chore, and this also likely depends if you are a diehard tube lover, or a longtime SS user. The Calypso is very easy though as the top cover is removeable with no tools or screws, you can roll tubes very quickly (as long as it takes to cool them off).

I agree with Mds's post, the Calypso isn't warm, but you can make it warmer with different tubes, and the Ayre isn't what I would call warm either. I owned a CX-7e for a while as well, great player, but just the facts, not bright or warm, just neutral.

Good luck, you can't go wrong with either pre.

I have not made a direct comparison of the two, but I am an owner of the Calypso and hv quite a lot of experience with Ayre gear (I used to own K3/V3 and now own its SACD player). I absolutely agree with those points raised by others in this thread, in particular about tube noise and tube rolling of the Calypso, which are not something I am used to as a traditionally SS guy.

The tube noise in Calypso can be a bit demoralizing, and I bought A LOT OF tubes in order to find the right ones that sound great and relatively quiet (I ended up with Amperex and Telefunken). Quite often the tubes are noisy, but once you hit the right pair the Calypso just transforms into an awesome pre-amp, much more musically involving than my previous Rowland Synergy IIi.

I guess a lot comes down to system matching - if you think you need a bit of tube-magic, then Calypso is an excellent choice, although I would not consider this change an "upgrade" (Ayre K-1Xe is a great pre-amp by itself and much more expensive). There are going to be some trade-offs if you switch, and probably not something you may want to live with (e.g. the patience in tube rolling), although I can say that changing from Synergy IIi (similarly priced to Ayre) to Calypso has been an eye-opener for me - I wouldn't have thought that the Calypso sounded so much more musical than the Synergy even when using a Rowland power amp!

There's nothing like a A-B comparison, particularly in your case when both pre-amps are superb. Try to talk to your dealer (my dealer offered me a home trial of the Calypso, and I got hooked)......