[catachresis]

www.Lake-People.de

I just bought their older C76 external, balanced DAC. It's 24bit with signal lock and looks pretty good. Frankly, at the moment I can't afford to invest over 700.00 EU in an Aqvox USB DAC. The C76 seems to be weak on external aesthetics (though I quite like bomb-shelter cases) but otherwise appears to be a decent 'pro' dac. It is rumoured to be the ugly older brother of Lake-People's DAC 460, which has an integrated headphone jack.

C76 summary, pictures and etc.: http://www.lake-people.de/Smart-Seri...76de/c76de.htm

C76 specs as a PDF: http://www.lake-people.de/Download/C76_BEDA.pdf

C460 DAC specs: http://www.lake-people.de/Home_Engli...e_english.html

Elephas, Cosmopragma and Mattigol -- and other European Members -- please offer observations, prejudices, scuttlebutt and what-have-yeh about Lake-People products. They seem pretty legit. But, I've bought the item, and it will be good to know what I'm in for. If any of you have notions of good mods and/or improvements (other than spending another 600.00 on another DAC) please, I'm all ears! ThankS!

 

[catachresis]

I'm mad for Lake-People tech trivia at the moment. Googling, I came across interesting (doubtless controversial) remarks at Gearslutz:
http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=22136
1. "Benchmark is sort of the American equivalent of Lake People, a major broadcast supplier that's a bit of a giant killer."

2. "Bob,
funny that you should mention Lake People.
I need a headphone amp and bookmarked the LAKE PEOPLE G94 PHONEAMP a couple of days ago. I'm using an analog mixer so the Benchmark DA is not ideal for my setup. Do you think this Lake phoneamp is good quality?"

Apparently, Lake-People makes lots of headphone amps like this one.G95
http://www.lake-people.de/Home_Engli...e_english.html

At 345.00 EU, the G97 three-jack headphone amp seems pretty keenly priced. I wonder what the quality is like.
http://www.thomann.de/thoiw2_lake_pe..._prodinfo.html

I'm surprised that no European Headfier has chimed in yet with comments. I hope people will soon (Cosmo, Elephas?).

 

[catachresis]

Another vaguely reassuring comment from MusicPlayer.com:

http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/u...7;t=003937;p=1
"The small DA connverter from Lake People I use is the DAC C78.
Not as good as the Grace Design Model 901 (http://www.gracedesign.com/products/...t_frameset.htm) but cheaper."

 

[thomaspf]

I have had a chance to listen to this DAC but it was unfortunately on some smaller Audio Physic speakers connected to a Sugden A21 and the result was not very intriguing.

I have to admit that I am not a great fan of shrill speakers and the Audio Physic speakers I lsitened to were strongly voiced in that direction.

Going beyond that I passed on the purchase and went on to buy a Bryston SP1.7 multichannel solution that I felt performed better in almost all aspects. Low frequency extension in particular was much better but also the highs where not as etching.


I don't believe it is quite in the same league as a Lavry Black.


Cheers

Thomas

 

[catachresis]

Thanks Thomas for your comments. I appreciate that this DAC is probably not nearly in the same league as the Lavry Black or the Benchmark. Having said that, I've not paid full whack for the unit either. I was intrigued with you comments that at least the treble sounded quite accurate. Kind regards!

 

[catachresis]

This is a very quiet thread.

Here are the schematics for the Lake-People C76. I wonder if any of the Mod-masters would have a look.

http://people.freenet.de/protein/lakepeople_dac_76.jpg

 

[Elephas]

Hehe, you called? I'm here. However, please direct your attention to my location. I wish I lived in Europe (ah, sunny Mediterranean beaches), but unfortunately am a long way away.

Maybe some of the guys attending the Netherlands meet with Jan Meier and Norbert Lehmann have more info.

 

[catachresis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elephas Hehe, you called? I'm here. However, please direct your attention to my location. I wish I lived in Europe (ah, sunny Mediterranean beaches), but unfortunately am a long way away. Maybe some of the guys attending the Netherlands meet with Jan Meier and Norbert Lehmann have more info.

Sorry, Elephas -- my quzzically associative brain jumped from your experiences with the Aqvox DAC to the assumptive booboo that you're in Europe. Ah-me, what's the weather like in Taipei today? Regards from Dublin!

 

[catachresis]

Just to let anyone interested in the Lake-People Dac lines know, I've integrated the C-76 Dac into my main system, and it sounds quite wonderful.

I contacted Lake-People technical support, and they very graciously offered the information necessary to determine whether my unit possessed the optional upgrade "96 kHz Sampling, 115 dB Dynamik" processor. I was tremendously pleased to discover that it did.

Unfortunately, I have no other external Dacs to compare the consequent sound to, but the C-76 with the upgrade is significantly more detailed and smother sounding that the integrated Redbook Dac on the well-regarded Sony SCD 555ES. The C-76 plainly shows the limitations of poorly recorded cds, but it also mitigates their deficiencies by giving more detail and a smoother presentation. On my system, I found that instrumentation and vocals in the mid range that had been unpleasantly recessed were brought forward in a harmonious way.

The construction of the unit is unglamorous but otherwise top-notch. If you should run across a Lake-People component on Ebay or in the pro-music catalogues of European online merchants, I think their products deserve careful consideration. I am very pleased.