DACs and bass response?

That Arte Forma SET amplifier seems like a very high tier no nonsense effort. No doubt that it is exceptionally honest, open, transparent and natural in its sonic character. I suspect it is quite capable of revealing the fine nuances of the various upstream DACs and sources.
Charles

@audioengr 

Oh yes I absolutely agree that the J-test is not diagnostic. If there are spuriae then it is unknown where the jitter came from. All it says is that the DAC failed to produce the digital test signal properly - it could be jitter or it coyld intermodulation distortion or both.

However, if a device passes the J-test with perfect results then one can only conclude that all distortion spuriae including any jitter of any sort are all below the noise floor.

Devices that pass this test perfectly are indeed rare which is why I agree that most DACs need a reclocker.

Stuartk - 
I haven't seen any references to Bel Canto here so I'll put in my 2 cents worth since I just upgraded from a 1.5 w/ LNS1 to 3.75 w/ VBS Bel Canto DAC and everything including the bass is clean and tight through all the instruments.  Although you can use the Bel Canto DAC to replace the Pre-Amp also, I still use it as DAC only. 

And for the techno and sales boys, the jitter is 70 femtosecs (fs ) ( aka .07 picosecs (ps ) ) !    FYI - My 1.5 Bel Canto was 2 psec on the jitter scale. 

The interconnects DO make an overall sound dif also, but I think you should lend an ear to a Bel Canto 1.5 or higher and put the excess monies saved in other upgrades you might want. 

Happy listening ... 

I ordered La Voce yesterday. This is my first DAC, so I’m no doubt a good deal less sophisticated than many who’ve posted on this thread in my capacity to assess this type of component, but it seems to do a good job occupying a middle ground. It’s not what I would consider overly analytic but provides a much detail as I want to hear. At the same time, it’s what I would call "musical" (a term reviled by some, but each to his/her own) without straying into what I would regard as tube-like euphonics. PRaT is very important to me and La Dolce serves up a generous helping. The other two DACs I auditioned were, by contrast, to my ears, in my system, quite extreme. The COS was unnaturally detailed while the Metrum’s cholesterol count was off the scale. In the end, hearing presentations at these extreme ends of the scale proved useful in evaluating the Aqua. BTW, I found Alex at Alma Music and Audio in San Diego (the sole CA Aqua dealer) to be terrific. I hope this doesn’t violate any thread rules. Thanks to all who offered suggestions and warm wishes for a happy holiday season!