Aero DAC by Linear Tube Audio - experience

@dcaudio what are you using for tubes? 

I recently audtioned the Audio Note Dac 2.1 and was impressed with its tonality and the harmonic overtones ( particularly with human voices ).  Unfortunately, like much of their line the 2.1 is too large for my room.  The LTA aero is a better fit physically.  I wonder if it too has the tonality and harmonic complexities of the Audio Note DACs.  My previous experience with LTA gear found it a bit leaner, though still very realistic sounding.  How does the DAC fit in to their sound?

I installed my Aero around November of last year. I was running on the BlueSound Vault TI built in DAC, so instant upgrade right out of the box. I worked with the guys at LTA and they recommended I go with the NOS Tung-Sol JAN 12SN7GT - Round Black Plate, Oval Mica tubes. Sent them to me with the stock NOS GE 12SN7's to compare the two. I put them in and never even tried the stock tubes. It was, well, exactly what I was looking for. Here's a review they asked me to read on using different tubes in the unit: https://twitteringmachines.com/review-linear-tube-audio-aero-dac-part-2-tube-rolling/

what was cool was they sent me the pair of tubes without charging me to try out. I paid them after 3 days of listening to them...Nice company.

+1 @katzenjammer27 The folks i have dealt with at LTA are just top notch in terms of knowledge and customer serivce.  Delightful company to work with indeed!

(and aren’t those JAN Tung-SoL 12 volt round plates are awesome tubes indeed! It is such a nice feature of the Aero that you can use 12SN7s or 6SN7s equally.)

@rivinyl , I am not familiar with the Audio Note Dac 2.1’s sound, but I would be surprised if one found the Aero lean sounding (even with the stock tubes, which are indeed a bit more matter of fact/slightly drier sounding than various NOS tubes I’ve tried out).

You can get a better idea of some listening data points from @mitch2 ’s reporting on here (linked above) and  Michael Lavorgna’s reports of result of tube rolling with the Aero, also referred to above by @katzenjammer27 .  IIRC, Mitch liked the Aero but preferred several other non-tube DACS over it —and then moved on to the (differently) tubed, legendary Aries Cerat Helene — but never described the Aero’s sound as lean.

Given the Aero’s price and LTA’s try it at home policy, I don’t have any hesitation in recommending that you test out in your space &system and see what you think.

Oh, i should add that LTA says that they think the DAC plays equally well with SPDIF/coax as it does with USB input. And from my 2 systems (one USB and one COAX), I do not disagree.  I think it depends on your streamer as to which will sound better in your system. That flexibility is a pretty nice feature, IMHO.