Zd542 - "I have a Calypso. If you didn't like the Rhea, then why would you consider it? They do share a similar sound. Also, I would add 2 more brands to your list; CJ and BAT. They both make extremely good preamps that you will probably like."
While there might be a house sound to a given designer, I don't think for a minute that you can paint every model in the lineup with the same brush, some executions are enherantly better than others. Further I hear a more consistent stream of praise for the line stage as compared to the phono stage. I'm open to the possibility that head to head, in this price range the Calypso might be a better execution than the Herron sound wise.
Even if I thought the Rhea could have gotten very close to the Herron with some tube rolling, it has 10 tubes compared to 5 in the Herron, and 4 in the Zesto. That would have made the Rhea quite a bit more expensive to tube roll. The line stages is a different story 6x 6922 in the Herron and the Aesethix 2x 12AX7 and 2x 6922, so both have a relatively small tube counts, small advantage to the Calypso.
I had a CJ when I had a Bryston amp, great match. Based on that reference I don't think it will match well with what I've have now, too lush/warm.
The BAT is interesting, however outside of my CD player there isn't a single balanced connector anywhere in my system. Otherwise my list would have been different.
While there might be a house sound to a given designer, I don't think for a minute that you can paint every model in the lineup with the same brush, some executions are enherantly better than others. Further I hear a more consistent stream of praise for the line stage as compared to the phono stage. I'm open to the possibility that head to head, in this price range the Calypso might be a better execution than the Herron sound wise.
Even if I thought the Rhea could have gotten very close to the Herron with some tube rolling, it has 10 tubes compared to 5 in the Herron, and 4 in the Zesto. That would have made the Rhea quite a bit more expensive to tube roll. The line stages is a different story 6x 6922 in the Herron and the Aesethix 2x 12AX7 and 2x 6922, so both have a relatively small tube counts, small advantage to the Calypso.
I had a CJ when I had a Bryston amp, great match. Based on that reference I don't think it will match well with what I've have now, too lush/warm.
The BAT is interesting, however outside of my CD player there isn't a single balanced connector anywhere in my system. Otherwise my list would have been different.