Review on Linear Tube Audio Aero DAC
Hey Gon members,
I just submitted to Stereo Times my review on the new ,and the first, DAC that Linear Tube Audio has just released. For right now I would strongly suggest anyone in the market for a stand alone DAC, regardless of price, consider the Aero. Its build quality, R2R chip set, power supply, internal part selection and the tube based ZOTL analog conversion section leads to one of the most musical and analog type presentations I have heard in the last ten years. Not inexpensive at $3,950, but competes with my reference which sells for $10,000 more. You get a 14 day home . trial. So far no one has returned the Aero after hearing in their system. I go into many details about the Aero in my review, but wanted to give a heads-up for anyone considering a DAC purchase. I believe the Aero is a break through product based on price vs. performance. I'll let you know when the review goes up. Hopefully in the next ten days.
Terajay (Terry London)
Hey markmuse, The Rockna is another fine DAC. I reviewed it a few years back. However, it’s more expensive then the LTA Aero, but I would rather have the Aero based on its presentation of music. A virtue of the Rockna is that it's volume control is excellent and the expense of a preamplifier is not necessary. Teajay |
@teajay Thanks! |
@teajay and others, This LTA Aero sounds interesting to me, but I have a couple of questions... I'm a dye in the wool vinyl guy and have a very nice turntable/arm/cartridge/phonostage, etc. that provides very enjoyable listening sessions. 1) I'm curious for those of you who also enjoy quality vinyl playback, how does this LTA Aero compare sound wise? 2) Currently, I would have to use an old Rotel 955AX CD Player as a transport into the LTA Aero via coax output. How well would this work with the Aero? Is the Rotel a good enough transport to get the sonic goods out of the Aero or would I have to spend big dollars on a better transport? I appreciate hearing anyone's thoughts on this. Thank you and best wishes to you all! Don |
Hey Don, Remember the Aero uses a chip nicknamed the "analog" DAC. Two of my closet friends who are die hard analog listeners, with excellent vinyl rigs, love the LTA Aero because it has an ease, overall warmth, and relaxation often associated with vinyl. Yes, I'm sure the Rotel being used as a transport should be up to the task.
Teajay
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Thank you for your quick reply! That makes me very happy to hear that you and your friends feel it is a very analog sounding type dac. I was hoping to be able to find something that I could enjoy listening too without breaking the bank. Vinyl will still be my primary listening source as I have 1000’s of truly mint records that I have collected over the last few decades that simply sound sublime. However, there I am discovering that there is a lot of great music being produced by modern musicians that I cannot get on vinyl and so I want to have digital source that will produce the beautiful tone and harmonic structure of real live music without sounding hard or strident or 2-dimensional. I’m also happy that you feel that my old vintage Rotel 955ax will work well for a transport. I will need to buy a coax cable to go from the transport to the Aero’s input. Any recommendations for a great sounding cable for a few hundred to a $1000 whether new or used. For context, my current cables are Acoustic Zen Absolute Coppers for all interconnects and AZ Satori Shotguns for my speaker cables. Oh, also... do you happen to know how tall the unit is with the tubes installed? Thank you for your help and guidance! Don |
