Aesthetix Calypso and Berning ZH270 combo noise.

Hi Nr9, I have a Berning Switch mode tubed powered pre-amp ( yes a tube switcher), a Berning Switch Mode powered tube BAM, (Don't ask and I lent it to profone, who still has it and does not want to give it back :)) and a Berning SMP supply Headphone amp, two Berning mono amps with 1 Farad of power supply capacitance each also with switching power supplies without adjustable gain and noise is absolutely not an issue.

I have had complaints with a couple other pre-amps with regular power supply's as well being noisy ( and tested as such), it's an issue of sometimes higher residual noise of the pre-amp design or sometimes noisy tubes, which a most other power amps do not have the sensitivity to show up.
Our first switch mod pre-amp was in 1984 the TF-12 and TF12B, B for Balance, No issue with noise on the ZH-270 with the TF-12.

This is one of the reasons that we have the adjustable volume control on the ZH-270 and why we would not do amps without these unless we do our own matching pre-amp.

You may want to reduce the sensitivity of the amp by reducing the gain on the volume control.

If I adjust the volume to "16", the preamp is much quieter than "17". There are more similar steps up. I have not heard this before when I used it balanced.

"17" could be a higher gain step than the other preceding ones.

If you turn the volume control on the ZH-270 up to full, you may encounter the noise at a lower level setting, and if you reduce the volume control on the ZH-270 you may encounter the noise at a higher level on the pre-amp, but it's there in the pre.

The ZH-270 because of it's unique design is able to have very high sensitivity and low noise, I know of no other power amp with this capability, the volume control is there so that you can adjust the input sensitivity to allow the use of varying pre-amps.

Are you using a power conditioner?

I have a Hydra 8, but the use of it doesn’t affect the noise at all.
The strange thing is that the noise is rising and dropping a lot when only a slightly change in volume setting is done. (+/- 1db). Example: The noise is high when the volume setting showing “40”, but it is low when showing “41”. This is happening between more steps. I have tried to change the tubes to different brands, but the noise problem is still there. I have just bought me a new Joule Electra LA 150 MKII. Hope this will solve the problem.

Ah, you may want to try the Berning without the Hydra, plugged directly into the Wall, the ZH-270 does have a conditioner built in, the Hydra maybe just too much, this will not help with the noise from the pre but for dynamics from the amp.

Is the Calypso is remote control, if so, is it a digital processor switching discrete resistors into the signal path?? Then if yes, then it's a issue of that function, we pioneered this designed 24 years ago in the TF-12.

I just took a quick look at the website, I don't think the unit is a switching power supply, plus it has two power supplies, something you would not want to do in a single unit if it were switching power supplies.