Audio Aero La Source - Pre, Transport, DAC

LL21 · Nov 24, 2012

I had the fortunate opportunity to audition the Audio Aero La Source, their SOTA digital and pre in one. Comparison was using the BNC digital out of the La Source into my Zanden into my CJ GAT vs 1) La Source into CJ GAT vs 2) La Source directly into my Gryphon Colosseum amp.

Observations:
Preamp
- Both Dealer and I could see why i preferred CJ GAT preamp stage over the one within the Audio Aero. With just the Audio Aero, the music flattened out a bit and stiffened as well. It was enough of a difference that neither of us felt particularly compelled to try the Zanden thru the Audio Aero preamp stage (which we could have done by using my Oppo as a Transport). There was a life, tonality and ease which the CJ GAT delivered which did not come alive with the Audio Aero (for me...i should not speak for the Dealer).

Digital
- Switching back and forth between the Zanden and the Audio Aero (using the Audio Aero as the Transport)...was easy to do by just flipping my CJ GAT from one source to the other
- Surprisingly similar...i personally preferred the Zanden in the uppermost treble where there is a slight hardness across the board with the Audio Aero...but we are talking about personal differences
- Detail retreival, decay, speed of bass, etc...the Zanden was the equal or a few areas the better of the two (to my ears). Certainly the areas where one would have thought the Zanden would have fallen (bass, slam, etc)...it did not. (The key with Zanden is HRS/EAT isolation inside and out, as well changing all tubes, powersupply and the main tube (7308). Bass is transformed by better tubes in the powersupply.)
- The Oppo Transport (83) acquitted itself very well...but not surprisingly, it got killed by the Esoteric transport in the Audio Aero.

The biggest surprise came from putting Stillpoints Ultra SS underneath the Audio Aero...even as just a transport...the change was transformational...suddenly there was a magic to the transport into my DAC which was shockingly cool. String tones on older recordings (violin)...became pure and without the haze that older recordings can sometimes have...wow.

The Esoteric + Stillpoints Ultra SS was stellar...and created a whole new level of magic in my system. Quieter, more accomplished and capable of detail, notes made more sense, you name it. The oppo is perfectly acceptable but essentially banal by comparison as a transport

Conclusions?
- The Audio Aero is one impressive piece of equipment for an all-in-one
- The 6-year old Zanden is still my favorite...and given the fact that it is not the latest model (1 generation of upgrades old...2007), and also has a faulty choke filter which allows transformer hum to come thru at super high volumes (which we did not approach today)...i am keeping my Zanden
- SACD is not for me a superbly better option when you are talking RBCD of this quality...i am SURE certain SACDs are better than their CD counterparts...but the few we played was negligible.
- I am now exploring the Stillpoints Ultra 5 for my Wilson X1/Grand Slamms. After hearing what a $60 Auralex Subwoofer isolation platform did for my Velodyne DD18...i am convinced some of the upper bass/lower mid thickness is a result of the speakers' interaction with the floor. Before the Auralex, my sub was a volume 9-11...now it is 31!!! And the bass is far, far cleaner.
- And yes, for those who are not already sick of hearing it...i am more stuck than ever on 2nd hand Zanden Transport when the budget allows.

Learn something every day.
-

flez007 · Nov 24, 2012

So you kept the Steelpoints?

LL21 · Nov 24, 2012

flez007 said:
So you kept the Steelpoints?

hi Flez,

No...the Dealer brought the Ultra SS...and when we put them under the oppo, while the sound was better...it was not a massive improvement the way it was with the Audio Aero...i just dont think the Oppo is that good a transport.

So i decided to focus my money on the Ultra 5s and getting them under the big Wilson speakers...he is going to speak with the distributor this week and try to get a set in for next week.

meanwhile, i am more and more confident about going for the Zanden Transport someday. having finally been able to listen to the difference an esoteric makes (particularly with stillpoints)...i have spoken with far too many zanden owners who have equally experimented...and none has found any better match than the Zanden transport. Only one owner has elected to go with Metronome Kalista Ref instead...and there were 3 who had the regular Metronome Kalista who still chose the Zanden Transport.

edorr · Nov 24, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
hi Flez,

No...the Dealer brought the Ultra SS...and when we put them under the oppo, while the sound was better...it was not a massive improvement the way it was with the Audio Aero...i just dont think the Oppo is that good a transport.

So i decided to focus my money on the Ultra 5s and getting them under the big Wilson speakers...he is going to speak with the distributor this week and try to get a set in for next week.

meanwhile, i am more and more confident about going for the Zanden Transport someday. having finally been able to listen to the difference an esoteric makes (particularly with stillpoints)...i have spoken with far too many zanden owners who have equally experimented...and none has found any better match than the Zanden transport. Only one owner has elected to go with Metronome Kalista Ref instead...and there were 3 who had the regular Metronome Kalista who still chose the Zanden Transport.

The stillpoints ultra are the only vibration control devices I ever had any success with, under my verity audio partsifals.

LL21 · Nov 24, 2012

edorr said:
The stillpoints ultra are the only vibration control devices I ever had any success with, under my verity audio partsifals.

Ah! Someone who uses them under their speakers! Great! What were the specific improvements you heard? Thanks for your advice!

edorr · Nov 24, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
Ah! Someone who uses them under their speakers! Great! What were the specific improvements you heard? Thanks for your advice!

This was a while ago, and all I remember is I got better sound and decided to keep them. In fact I bought three more for under my center channel. One caveat is they work best when they are screwed onto the thread, so you probably need the adaptor threads, that has the thread of your speaker insert on one end and the thread of the ultras on the other.

LL21 · Nov 24, 2012

edorr said:
This was a while ago, and all I remember is I got better sound and decided to keep them. In fact I bought three more for under my center channel. One caveat is they work best when they are screwed onto the thread, so you probably need the adaptor threads, that has the thread of your speaker insert on one end and the thread of the ultras on the other.

thanks, Edorr. The dealer has in fact said the same...he is trying to get the adaptors to totally replace the screwed in spikes of the Wilsons. Will be interesting to hear. hopefully next week.

MylesBAstor · Nov 24, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
I had the fortunate opportunity to audition the Audio Aero La Source, their SOTA digital and pre in one. Comparison was using the BNC digital out of the La Source into my Zanden into my CJ GAT vs 1) La Source into CJ GAT vs 2) La Source directly into my Gryphon Colosseum amp.

Observations:
Preamp
- Both Dealer and I could see why i preferred CJ GAT preamp stage over the one within the Audio Aero. With just the Audio Aero, the music flattened out a bit and stiffened as well. It was enough of a difference that neither of us felt particularly compelled to try the Zanden thru the Audio Aero preamp stage (which we could have done by using my Oppo as a Transport). There was a life, tonality and ease which the CJ GAT delivered which did not come alive with the Audio Aero (for me...i should not speak for the Dealer).

Digital
- Switching back and forth between the Zanden and the Audio Aero (using the Audio Aero as the Transport)...was easy to do by just flipping my CJ GAT from one source to the other
- Surprisingly similar...i personally preferred the Zanden in the uppermost treble where there is a slight hardness across the board with the Audio Aero...but we are talking about personal differences
- Detail retreival, decay, speed of bass, etc...the Zanden was the equal or a few areas the better of the two (to my ears). Certainly the areas where one would have thought the Zanden would have fallen (bass, slam, etc)...it did not. (The key with Zanden is HRS/EAT isolation inside and out, as well changing all tubes, powersupply and the main tube (7308). Bass is transformed by better tubes in the powersupply.)
- The Oppo Transport (83) acquitted itself very well...but not surprisingly, it got killed by the Esoteric transport in the Audio Aero.

The biggest surprise came from putting Stillpoints Ultra SS underneath the Audio Aero...even as just a transport...the change was transformational...suddenly there was a magic to the transport into my DAC which was shockingly cool. String tones on older recordings (violin)...became pure and without the haze that older recordings can sometimes have...wow.

The Esoteric + Stillpoints Ultra SS was stellar...and created a whole new level of magic in my system. Quieter, more accomplished and capable of detail, notes made more sense, you name it. The oppo is perfectly acceptable but essentially banal by comparison as a transport

Conclusions?
- The Audio Aero is one impressive piece of equipment for an all-in-one
- The 6-year old Zanden is still my favorite...and given the fact that it is not the latest model (1 generation of upgrades old...2007), and also has a faulty choke filter which allows transformer hum to come thru at super high volumes (which we did not approach today)...i am keeping my Zanden
- SACD is not for me a superbly better option when you are talking RBCD of this quality...i am SURE certain SACDs are better than their CD counterparts...but the few we played was negligible.
- I am now exploring the Stillpoints Ultra 5 for my Wilson X1/Grand Slamms. After hearing what a $60 Auralex Subwoofer isolation platform did for my Velodyne DD18...i am convinced some of the upper bass/lower mid thickness is a result of the speakers' interaction with the floor. Before the Auralex, my sub was a volume 9-11...now it is 31!!! And the bass is far, far cleaner.
- And yes, for those who are not already sick of hearing it...i am more stuck than ever on 2nd hand Zanden Transport when the budget allows.

Learn something every day.
-

I hope the new Audio Aeros have better Q/C and reliability than the early gens!

LL21 · Nov 25, 2012

MylesBAstor said:
I hope the new Audio Aeros have better Q/C and reliability than the early gens!

I am told that the main problem historically was the transport...with the new Esoteric transport, there is a sense it should be alright. In any event, i am sticking with my Zanden but it was an excellent experience and i am glad to have heard the Stillpoints and now look forward to hearing more of them hopefully in a week!

MylesBAstor · Nov 25, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
I am told that the main problem historically was the transport...with the new Esoteric transport, there is a sense it should be alright. In any event, i am sticking with my Zanden but it was an excellent experience and i am glad to have heard the Stillpoints and now look forward to hearing more of them hopefully in a week!

That's what I remember too!

But then I remember many of those early European digital products have all sorts of issues.

dcc · Nov 25, 2012

Greetings,

I just acquired the Audio Aéro La Source. I was searching for new digital front end to replace my ageing CEC TL1X transport and dCS Purcell/Delius combo.

My system is composed of a pair of Focus Audio Master 2, a pair of Krell Evolution One, a Krell Evo 202, Argento Flow cables for interconnect and power and 2 pairs of Wireworld Eclipse 6 as Loudspeakers cables.

I was fortunate to have the following contenders on loan for several days:
- The dCS Paganani (DAC, Drive and Clock)
- The dCS Vivaldi DAC (in combination with my CEC TL1X)
- The Audio Aéro La Source
- The TAD D600
- The EMM Labs XDS1

I also tried to obtain the Métronome Technologie C8 and Calypso combo on loan but the Dealer that I contacted failed to deliver.

I did not have the 5 devices at the same time. I first got the two dCS. The TAD, EMM and Audio Aéro arrived a week later in one batch. I performed one on one comparisons in order to select the best from each batch. I took comprehensive notes of all my auditions.

All comparisons were performed with Argento Flow interconnect cables and a Wireworld Platinum AES/EBU digital cable (when using a separate transport).

From the above list, there were two clear winners:
- The dCS Vivaldi as a standalone DAC with my old CEC transport
- The Audio Aéro La Source

The Paganani stack was good but the transport was no match again the old CEC. The TAD was disappointing and lacked of finesse against the Audio Aéro. The EMM Labs was very good but less involving than the dCS Vivaldi and the Audio Aéro.

The dCS Vivaldi is an impressive DAC. It delivered a great soundstage and was very balanced. Contrary to the Paganini DAC, it is equipped with a USB input (whilst for getting this feature with the Paganini it would require adding the upsampler). I also tested the Vivaldi with the Purcell upsamler but the little gain of detail was offset by a significant loss of dynamic and I gave up that option. I must say that I was highly impressed by the Vivaldi as a standalone DAC and I would definitely recommend it.

I did not test the Vivaldi transport and therefore I cannot comment on it. I also tested the Vivaldi DAC with the Paganini Transport but there again, the CEC TL1X was superior.

When using the Audio Aéro as a sole DAC, it was of equal quality as the dCS Vivaldi with maybe some more warmth. As a player, the Audio Aéro transport was far superior than my old faithful CEC. This was the key decision factor.

I therefore moved on and placed an order for the Audio Aéro. My AD was kind enough to leave me his demo sample during the two weeks wait. The player was delivered last Thursday and has been spinning intensively over the weekend.

LL21 · Nov 25, 2012

dcc said:
Greetings,

I just acquired the Audio Aéro La Source. I was searching for new digital front end to replace my ageing CEC TL1X transport and dCS Purcell/Delius combo.

My system is composed of a pair of Focus Audio Master 2, a pair of Krell Evolution One, a Krell Evo 202, Argento Flow cables for interconnect and power and 2 pairs of Wireworld Eclipse 6 as Loudspeakers cables.

I was fortunate to have the following contenders on loan for several days:
- The dCS Paganani (DAC, Drive and Clock)
- The dCS Vivaldi DAC (in combination with my CEC TL1X)
- The TAD C-600
- The EMM Labs XDS1

I also tried to obtain the Métronome Technologie C8 and Calypso combo on loan but the Dealer that I contacted failed to deliver.

I did not have the 4 devices at the same time. I first got the two dCS. The TAD, EMM and Audio Aéro arrived a week later in one batch. I performed one on one comparisons in order to select the best from each batch. I took comprehensive notes of all my auditions.

All comparisons were performed with Argento Flow interconnect cables and a Wireworld Platinum AES/EBU digital cable (when using a separate transport).

From the above list, there were two clear winners:
- The dCS Vivaldi as a standalone DAC with my old CEC transport
- The Audio Aéro La Source

The Paganani stack was good but the transport was no match again the old CEC. The TAD was disappointing and lacked of finesse against the Audio Aéro. The EMM Labs was very good but less involving than the dCS Vivaldi and the Audio Aéro.

The dCS Vivaldi is an impressive DAC. It delivered a great soundstage and was very balanced. Contrary to the Paganini DAC, it is equipped with a USB input (whilst for getting this feature with the Paganini it would require adding the upsampler). I also tested the Vivaldi with the Purcell upsamler but the little gain of detail was offset by a significant loss of dynamic and I gave up that option. I must say that I was highly impressed by the Vivaldi as a standalone DAC and I would definitely recommend it.

I did not test the Vivaldi transport and therefore I cannot comment on it. I also tested the Vivaldi DAC with the Paganini Transport but there again, the CEC TL1X was superior.

When using the Audio Aéro as a sole DAC, it was of equal quality as the dCS Vivaldi with maybe some more warmth. As a player, the Audio Aéro transport was far superior than my old faithful CEC. This was the key decision factor.

I therefore moved on and placed an order for the Audio Aéro. My AD was kind enough to leave me his demo sample during the two weeks wait.

Congrats! That is quite a superlative list of digital sources to compare to...so thanks also for posting your observations! I have only ever heard the Emm CDSA, La Source, DCS Scarlatti full stack and the TAD D600. I was very impressed with the Audio Aero, and probably would be my favorite also with the only other possibility also being DCS...though likely would also have gone with La Source in the end, as you did. Enjoy and look forward to any further observations you may make after yours finally arrives.

asiufy · Nov 25, 2012

Wow, great comparison there!
What is the rest of your setup?
I've put the La Source against my old dCS Puccini + U-Clock, and I found the dCS a tad better, with more resolution and detail. The Audio Aero had more warmth indeed, but it lacked resolution compared to the entry-level dCS. Well, at least it did for me, and on my darTZeel/Dynaudio setup

I also tried it with the 100W Audiopax Maggiore (a Class A1 tube monoblock), with the same results.

alexandre

LL21 · Nov 25, 2012

asiufy said:
Wow, great comparison there!
What is the rest of your setup?
I've put the La Source against my old dCS Puccini + U-Clock, and I found the dCS a tad better, with more resolution and detail. The Audio Aero had more warmth indeed, but it lacked resolution compared to the entry-level dCS. Well, at least it did for me, and on my darTZeel/Dynaudio setup I also tried it with the 100W Audiopax Maggiore (a Class A1 tube monoblock), with the same results.

alexandre

Hi Alexandre...interesting. did your comparison include the DCS Transport?...it seems DCC combined DCS Vivaldi using CEC transport...perhaps the difference? When i compared my Zanden to La Source...we used the La Source digital BNC out via my Valhalla digital cable so both DACs were using the La Source transport. I found the Zanden to be the equal in detail to the La Source, which makes me wonder what would happen if we used Zanden transport...and if the 2008 Zanden upgrade (and fixing my choke filter) might be worth doing (someday).

asiufy · Nov 26, 2012

The Puccini has a dCS transport built-in, the same transport that's sold separately for the Paganini stack! I didn't test the La Source with an external transport, as I only had the dCS at the time, and I thought it wouldn't be necessary, since they both seem to use the same mechanism.
In terms of transports, dCS' jewel is in the Scarlatti (and likely the Vivaldi as well). The "regular stuff" that goes in the Paganini/Puccini could easily be beat, like you did, and like I did here with the MSB Transport as well.
That CEC of yours is the belt-driven transport?

alexandre

dcc · Nov 26, 2012

The CEC TL1X is indeed a belt-driven transport.

La Source is fitted with an Esoteric VRDS NEO-VMK-5 transport which is currently the best available from Esoteric for third party manufacturers. The Scarlatti transport is fitted with a VRDS NEO VMK-3 CD/SACD and the Paganini with a UMK-5 (source: dCS website).

LL21 · Nov 26, 2012

dcc said:
The CEC TL1X is indeed a belt-driven transport.

La Source is fitted with an Esoteric VRDS NEO-VMK-5 transport which is currently the best available from Esoteric for third party manufacturers. The Scarlatti transport is fitted with a VRDS NEO VMK-3 CD/SACD and the Paganini with a UMK-5 (source: dCS website).

DCC - Thanks for that. BTW, if you read the Audio Federation comments about using HRS nimbus couplers and HRS dampers on this unit, you will see they include a set with every sale. My local deal includes a set of Stillpoints Ultra SS with every La Source he sells. I will say from my own audition, the Stillpoints Ultra SS made a pretty big difference in increasing the 'intense sweetness' and focus of violin notes. very impressive 'focus'.

Sammy T · Nov 26, 2012

La Source... Over 40K retail . Ouch.

LL21 · Nov 26, 2012

Sammy T said:
La Source... Over 40K retail . Ouch.

ouch x 10!

Having said that, it appears DCC chose it over the mighty DCS Vivaldi DAC (considering the DACs comparable) which costs even more when the Transport, etc is added.

dcc · Nov 27, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
DCC - Thanks for that. BTW, if you read the Audio Federation comments about using HRS nimbus couplers and HRS dampers on this unit, you will see they include a set with every sale. My local deal includes a set of Stillpoints Ultra SS with every La Source he sells. I will say from my own audition, the Stillpoints Ultra SS made a pretty big difference in increasing the 'intense sweetness' and focus of violin notes. very impressive 'focus'.

I will try in the coming weeks the HRS couplers/dampers and will provide a feedback. I tried the Solid Tech Feet of Silence which I used with the CEC TL1X but they did not bring any improvement. Currently the CD player sits on the top shelf of an Infinite Elemente Pagode Signature rack (the ground floor is a thick concrete slab).

With regard to the purchase price, bear in mind that I was replacing a combo which cost about the same price 13 years ago (inflation taken into account). I also did not mind "downsizing" from 3 components (drive, upsampler and DAC not forgetting all the associated cables) to something less complex hence the reason why I mainly tested integrated players with the exception of the dCS gear.

Living in Europe close to France and UK also allows to have a fairly good distribution of European products (dCS and Audio Aéro) whilst some US products may be sometimes more difficult to source (i.e. Playback Design). All tested products were in the same price range (25 to 31 KEUR).

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