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AUDIO FORUMS >> General Discussion and Support >> will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
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Message started by S of T on 10/15/24 at 20:31:15

Title: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by S of T on 10/15/24 at 20:31:15

Ordered: LTA Aero DAC.

Of course; I over analyzed and read to near death. Then, made my decision. Holo was a contender... . Chose Aero/LTA.

https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1723824955

posts# 20 & 21.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by Gilf on 10/16/24 at 01:37:06

Interesting. Keep us posted on your impressions. Did you order with the tube upgrade? This is the second reference to the Ray 6sn7 I’ve come across today. The 6sn7 isn’t my favorite tube but there’s a lot I don’t know and haven’t heard.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by S of T on 10/16/24 at 05:28:08

Hi Gilf: The Aero ships with a pair of NOS GE 12SN7 (10000 hours). Ray Tube upgrade can wait. I do plan on having some NOS, etc.....6SN7's in the house too. With adapters, I'll being trying them in my ZMA as well.

However, I'll be sticking with my NOS Mullards & coveted NOS Ediswan's as input drivers with 6N23P's as inverters for now. 6SN7's as an inverter will be tried too (ZMA). First things first though ....this DAC with the 12SN7 (6SN7 essentially) as shipped by them.

Four week wait/build.....with one week burn in play/LTA. Cool.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by JD on 10/16/24 at 16:04:42

Stone,

Great to hear. LTA is a great company, currently listening to their Ultralinear +. Have the Microzotl level 2 preamp but haven't tried it yet (Been in a box for over a year, having a hard time taking out my passive preamp.
Let me know what you think, if I ever get into digital listening that would be the DAC.

JD

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by Lon on 10/16/24 at 16:23:16

Congrats! It's wonderful when you find a DAC you are happy with! I've been happy with mine for some time now. . . it keeps getting better with FGPA upgrades.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by S of T on 10/17/24 at 01:08:07

You bet JD & Lon. Excited to have her in here...3 to 4 weeks.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by will on 10/17/24 at 18:40:48

Exciting Stone. I look forward to your impressions. Sounds like very smart tech, and with tube choices for tuning too, I bet you will find ways to have it play beautifully across most recordings. I wonder if you might "need" a ZBIT ;)

Guessing you are in for a real treat!

Gilf's foray into Musical Paradise has caught my attention also... It too sounds like a lot of good considerations were made in design, and cool how easy they have made it to "roll" caps too. My trouble is :)my front end is so real sounding, and with pre stage adjustability, balances so well across recordings, I am feeling more a desire to explore than real need... so comfortably lazy.

Also having the streaming bug confuses it all for me. Really hoping to get reasonably good sound while being able to find new music more easily, I keep getting sucked in by a Volumio Rivo as a streamer, nice design, and being a Volumio design, hopefully playing well with their operating system. Then the Eversolo DMP-A8 keeps grabbing my attention, may be a really good sounding all in one??? AKM flagship chips, resister ladder pre, lots of function tuning options, and supposedly good stable streaming usability. Hard to imagine this being better than a really nice DAC setup, with a really nice streamer as well, but it looks really good, and looks pretty easy to do some modification refinements from pics. Oh the struggles in seeking the beauty!

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by S of T on 10/17/24 at 23:47:11

Hi Will. It's time and they didn't discount the unbalanced outputs (2.2v is fine too). After reading about the Aero and all the reviews as well, this DAC is what I now look for and look forward to hear.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by will on 10/18/24 at 04:58:06

Yes I bet it will be a really nice DAC.

I agree 2 volt and similar RCA can be great. Just that I find the extra voltage the ZBIT via balanced out from my DAC allows potential for enhancing and adjusting dynamics and space, while revealing finer information.... lucidity... and with adjustability.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by S of T on 10/18/24 at 11:17:48

I had a ZBIT and a CSP3. For me, they got in the way of transparency. (However, the CSP3 is the best Pre in getting out of the way I have ever witnessed ...kicking my two Audio Reseach Preamps to the curb and others).

I listen at 84 to 92db SPL peaks just outside of nearfield. My modified Speakers and Cabling I have the density and nuance, tone, timbre in spades. What I gave up ever so slightly without the CSP3 ...I gained in what I like more. I do have weight and superb bass too ....make no mistake.

However, when I want to get my YaYa's really really out. I go to my great room and my House wreckers.....my Polk SRS SDA 1.2's. I leave my Audiophile Hat in my Listening Room and just plain Rock!

I'm up early this morrning and grinded some coffee, reminising. I have been on this Forum for 23 years! (Minus, a 5 year hiatus). 60 now and where has the time gone/not cliche'.

PS - yes! The streaming bug is nawing at me constantly. I keep an eye on what people are running for interfaces. Just read about LTA/Aero Roon relationship.
Qubuz....keeps whispering in my ear. :D

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by Lon on 10/18/24 at 11:32:15

Larry I've been here even longer! We're old!

I think that perhaps you are right about that bit of lost transparency. However for me, who mostly listens to average to not so great recordings, that little bit of lost transparency may even be a boon; I can't live without the ZBIT. I gave up the cSP3 in this system as the SEWE300B has its own preamp circuit so to speak and sounded a bit better without a preamp!

What an evolution all this time has been on (and off) the forum!!

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by S of T on 10/18/24 at 11:42:43

Yes Lon! I was going mention you! Longest on the Forum.

Interesting you brought up average recordings and a bit of lost transparency may be a boon. My Aero DAC pending is to be a good thing for this (in the depth of the reviews/I read/was spoke about). That's right Steve put a Pre in Sarah and set it.

Yes, time.

PS - Forums plural .......we go back to the first one.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by Lon on 10/18/24 at 11:54:10

Yes, that first one. And at one point I accidentally deleted my forum account, deleting thousands more posts! Ah. . . we were younger but I personally am happy at this point of my life, and would not want to go through some of the large sorrow and frustration of my youth and middle. age. . . again.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by S of T on 10/18/24 at 12:06:46

I read you. I learned some hard lessons. I'm at a great place too. Everything paid for with some cash flow - My freedom I hold dear (Robert Plant/Ramble On). Not to imply I have ever been incarcerated...I have not....I mean in the Macro scheme of things.

Title: Re: will, I went and did it (LTA Aero DAC)
Post by Lon on 10/18/24 at 12:39:33

Yes, my personal (idios) cosmos* is a great thing. Time for the macro (coine) cosmos* to get better. Maybe it will!

I've been equalizing my phono and digital playback as my "final frontier." Almost there! That will be another milestone. . . and a good resting point.

*I'm my father's son; these ancient Greek terms are concepts he and I used to talk about!