My original plan going into the LTA demo was that the LTA chain would be a warm and smooth setup to complement another more energetic electrostatic setup. This demo cleared up my mistaken preconception. The Aero is not a warm, soft, and smooth DAC, at least with its stock tubes. It is on the same level of detail as the Erco Gen 2 and it can sometimes be brighter with more treble energy. This requires me to re-evaluate what role I'll use it for.
The main decision point I need to consider is what direction I want to go with my audio setups vs what the Aero offers. The Aero only supports PCM input up to 192 KHz, so it is not well-suited for use with HQPlayer. HQPlayer's DSD conversion would be unusable and its PCM upsampling would be stunted by the Aero's low supported sample rates. HQPlayer would work much better on a Holo DAC which is also non-upsampling R2R, but supports extremely high input rates as well as DSD input so that HQPlayer can flex its filters. If I went with the Aero, it would not be in a PC-based setup where HQPlayer is used. Besides, the Aero looks too nice to be plopped on a desk behind a keyboard. I'd want it in the living room or den where it can be part of the room's furniture.
The Aero, on the other hand, grants me the privilege of tube rolling
I haven't been much of a tube-roller, but that's mainly because Stax tube amps (the only tube gear I own) are difficult to tube roll due to using uncommon tubes (6CG7) and not auto-biasing, so wrangling with single-turn potentiometers to get the offsets within range was not fun. The Aero allows both 12SN7 and 6SN7 tubes, which are more plentiful, and they seem to auto-bias, which takes the hassle out of switching tubes. I met the designer of the DAC and he had been trying out different tubes which supposedly have a smoother sound. He switched them back to the more detailed stock tubes before my demo. It was very quick and easy to switch out the tubes, and the DAC didn't need to remain off for 15 minutes before powering it back up again, which is nice for tube rolling.
I'll definitely look out for more demo opportunities because I'm intrigued by the Aero, but I need to figure out where and how it will fit with what I want from my audio gear.