High End 2022 • Hot Product

Aesthetix was showing off the new and extremely affordable Pallene preamplifier (top, $6500) and Dione power amplifier (also $6500). The fully balanced vacuum-tube Pallene offers optional phono and DAC modules, which add $1200 each to the price. It comes with a basic headphone amplifier but can also be ordered with an upgraded headphone amp that's fully discrete and outputs 1W into 32 ohms. The Dione is a 160Wpc hybrid power amplifier with a vacuum tube gain-stage utilizing one 6DJ8 and two 6922 tubes per channel. Both units are trickle-down designs from Aesthetix’s more sophisticated and expensive lines, and each comes in a pale-silver finish.

With casework, iconic triangular buttons and fit'n'finish to match the more expensive Aesthetix pieces, this pair looks like exceptional value. Even in a very modest system with a Mobile Fidelity turntable and compact ProAc speakers, they generated sufficient clarity and musical interest to suggest they’ll be worth further attention.