2. digital
  3. 190709-3787

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)

teajay
no_regrets
514 posts
 

@mitch2 Congrats on the new LTA Aero!  I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts and comments about how it sounds compared to the other dacs you have experience with!

I have one on order, probable about 3 weeks out before receiving though.

When talking to the very fine folks at LTA, they gave me the impression that they didn't expect the Aero to sound any different no matter which input you use on their dac.  Although, I wonder if some transports or digital sources themselves may be better optimized via their certain output connections?

I'm very happy to hear that it was packed very well and shipped very safely! Also glad to hear it's sounding good right out of the box.  I can only imagine that their "pre"-burn in process prior to shipment only helps in that matter!

Best wishes,

Don

no_regrets
514 posts
 

@wig Can you remind which transport you are using?  

Also, is it common for various cd transport to have one digital output to be more optimized than the other outputs on their machine?

I apologize if the above sounds like a stupid question... I've been a vinyl guy for roughly 50 years and am just now trying to optimize my digital system, so I guess I've been living under a rock for a while, lol.

Thank you and best wishes to you all,

Don

 

wig's avatar
wig
1,251 posts
 

@no_regrets

I have a Pro Ject RS2T CD Transport and it also has I2S.

Wig

no_regrets
514 posts
 

@wig 

Awesome!  I hear Charles1Dad rave about the RS2T CD Transport quite often and from what I've read from reviewers, it is quite a nice transport.wink

From what I understand, it currently is quite difficult to get one at this time though. So, right now I'm looking at one of the Jay's Audio transports or maybe the CEC TL-2N dual belt drive transport. I'm just in the very beginning stages right now, so I am remaining very open to ideas smiley

Best wishes,

Don

soix
9,456 posts
 

From what I understand, it currently is quite difficult to get one at this time though. So, right now I'm looking at one of the Jay's Audio transports or maybe the CEC TL-2N dual belt drive transport. I'm just in the very beginning stages right now, so I am remaining very open to ideas

@no_regrets There have been several here who’ve had problems with the Pro-Ject transport, and when there’s an excellent option from Jay’s I see no reason to deal with that.  The new TEAC transport has gotten excellent reviews as well but no idea of its reliability.  Personally I’d go with Jay’s no question.  Hope this helps. 

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