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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

What got me thinking you might like a ZBIT Stone was that I thought I remembered the output of your ZDSD DAC being basically a less adjustable ZBIT transformer output, so already part of your sound?

I get yours and Lon's thoughts on ultimate transparency too though. After all the work I have done on the system, especially lots of cable experiments over lots of years, along with pretty deep modifications, nothing I have from Decware, (25th like modded included), are resolving, fast, and complex enough to fit with my setup without refinements. But everything I have, Decware and not, is treated with similar sonic goals, while holding close to the original signatures. So though too many variables, I roughly imagine how a more stock Decware component effects a more stock setup, to be similar to how the same component highly modified, changes the sound in a similarly highly modified setup, and similar in between. May be wrong thinking, but as good as I can come up with for now, especially since system/rooms are so complex, and therefore, talking about this or that as better or worse can be sort of a shot in the dark anyway, everything effecting everything.

Also, Steve keeps creatively moving, each new version of things going deeper into pulling the beauty, so I don't know how his newest, the Sarah would fit in here, but imagine it might.

The last "new" thing I worked on was a ZRock2 with 25th modifications... pretty old now, enough so its upgraded version got a new name. I thought the A-mod ZRock2 was nice, but I had to do a lot to get it to fit with notably more benefit than compromise to my sound. And my goal is always to try to take it to a point of not just matching the rest, but enhancing the rest... This one was tricky for me, each change showing so clearly, it took lots and lots of experiments, by-sound tuning all areas of the power supply, making internal cables, using more revealing connectors, internal transformer shielding and damping, coupling caps, all with carefully arrived at "bypass" caps... each drawing out more of the micro timing and nuanced sounds that make the music even more real sounding and feeling to me.

My ZBIT fits with all that, made to be as transparent and musical as I could within reason. It has a really good TKD potentiometer; nice silver and silver/gold internal wires; the XLR cables are carefully designed and tuned with high quality silver gold, silver and copper wires, damped and separated with geometry by-sound on cotton rope, and having XLR connectors on the DAC end only, the cables direct wired to the transformers on the ZBIT side; finally, I have been playing slowly with RCA outs on it. It is so simple it shows the sound well, so I figured a good platform for hearing the sounds of RCAs. I have a small pile of them to compare. Changing from KLE's best silver to the current ones seemed nicely resolving, fast and neutral without being overstated anywhere, and not having a lot of self sound to me. They are DHLabs.

Anyway, it has been quite a while since I used my system without any gain stage adjusters except the amp, having become pretty addicted to gain riding to tune the system, as well as individual recordings. And as I have said before, I love the sound of my system with just the ZBIT and amp, or just my tuned up CSP3 and amp. But so far, I always end up with several pre stages in line, each offering its own flavors to the whole balancing act, when just so, so real, so complete.... and so tunable!