Hello,

I've compared Manley Steelhead and Aesthetix IO with two PS in one system.
Manley gives more smoth sound but IO plays much deeper at LF. So it depends.
And IO plays with a strong focus on middle.

In any case Steelhead is much better than Rhea and IO with single PS.

Regards from Russia

Djubei, welcome! :wave:

I like to have a SteelHead some day.

As for me Steelhead is one of the best in category up to 15000$.
So I sold my Aesthetix Janus with 12 tubes on the board and bought Steelhead. But I want to roll Sovtek's. They are better than EH, but they does not sound as the tubes should be.

Thank you:thumbsup:

I don't think that the musicality would be close to the 300B line preamp. The design of the 300B is much more purist.
I think that you would get a better end with the 300B and the Chinook than with the Steelhead.
But of course, I may be completely wrong. That is just my personal feeling and is not based on A / B listening since I never heard the Steelhead.

As I understand Chinook is an addition to Jumbo Shrimp

I thought about that combo also, the 300B has a headphone jack, where the Steelhead does not.

And what a headphone jack Oh My ! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Straight from EveAnna Manley, the Chinook shares A LOT of circuit design with the Steelhead, but does not have three inputs or linestage capability. If you only need one input and are on a tighter budget, the Chinook is fantastic.

The real trick with the Aesthetix phono stages is to find a great set of NOS or EAT tubes. That increases the performance substantially over stock.