LAMPIZATOR THREAD COMMENTS REVIEWS TUNING

[preproman]

What about the DC show in July?
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/687926/d-c-area-meet-saturday-july-26th-2014-part-of-canmania-capital-audio-fest-caf-2014
 
Also, maybe it would be better to demo a lower level DAC at the shows other than the level 7 which is out off reach for most (I speak for myself here).  
 
Just an idea..
 
--Darryl--

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Glad to see this thread finally come to fruition!  Just tagging along for the ride.

 

[Crashem]

I would be interested in hearing about any tube rolling you have done with your lampizator.  Please let us know what gen and level you have, and what tubes you have tried and to what effect.
 
Thanks!

 

[bmichels]

very interested in those DAC.  Some fresh air in those super techy moderm DAC.
 
I am interested in the level 5 - 2 boxes.
 
QUESTION: with the version with the LCD (see bellow), can the LCD display the data Bitrate or is it only to show volume level ? 
 
QUESTION 2 : As a TUBE Based DAC, will the Lampizator be a good match to a Tube headphone AMP (like Eddie Current BA ou 4-45), or... will this combo be "too much tubes" (uber-tuby sound in the line and a solide state AMP will be a better solution ? 
 

 

[Crashem]

Just closed deal on gen 4 level 5 lampizator with most of options but balanced . I have chord hugo I am interested in testing against in my stax setup. Also I have directstream upgrade kit coming so I can test against that too.

Bmicheals,

I should be able to answer your display question soon enough.

As for the too much tube question, I think it is highly dependent. Level 5 uses tubes for rectifier and power. For example, I think tung sol 6sn7 rounds are pretty neutral and bendix 6x5 is pretty powerful in the way a SS amp would sound. Otoh, the rca 6sn7 red base is supposed to be very euphonic and warm that people associate with tubes. So I think you can tailor the dac to what you want by playing with the tubes.

I have EC 2a3 MKIV on order so I should be able to get you better comparison soon enough. Although I think EC amps are known to be more neutral in general than other tube amps.

 

[bmichels]

Just closed deal on gen 4 level 5 lampizator with most of options but balanced

. I have chord hugo I am interested in testing against in my stax setup. Also I have directstream upgrade kit coming so I can test against that too.

Bmicheals,

I should be able to answer your display question soon enough.

As for the too much tube question, I think it is highly dependent. Level 5 uses tubes for rectifier and power. For example, I think tung sol 6sn7 rounds are pretty neutral and bendix 6x5 is pretty powerful in the way a SS amp would sound. Otoh, the rca 6sn7 red base is supposed to be very euphonic and warm that people associate with tubes. So I think you can tailor the dac to what you want by playing with the tubes.

I have EC 2a3 MKIV on order so I should be able to get you better comparison soon enough. Although I think EC amps are known to be more neutral in general than other tube amps.

thanks a lot.  I am looking forward your feedback.
 
And... enjoy your Lampizator and your EC 2a3...

 

[preproman]

I'm looking for a head to head review between the Level 5 and Level 6.

 

[gregdee]

  I'm looking for a head to head review between the Level 5 and Level 6.

Hi there 
 
I have them all here and I can tell you that the difference between L5 and L6 is not a difference in class. They both are slightly
different circuits and has  different final voicing.As Lukasz says - The SIX is the dac which fulfills his personal taste , hence he
nicknamed it FIKUS DAC.  You might agree with that or you may not. It all depends on what your own preferences are like and
how the dac sounds in your particular system as well. If what other buyer's choice is can be any useful reference for you then 
let you know that majority of my customers chosen Level 5. Personally I prefer Level 5 as well over L 6 , which sounds slightly
darker and is more heavy on the bass. Hope that helped you a bit. Unfortunately I do not have time for making any other more 
full write up , so you have to rather listen to both and decide for yourself. Under any circumstances other peoples review can be
a warranty for you that you will find the same unit sounding the same in your own rig or into, what's more important, your ears

 

[magiccabbage]

This is a very interesting thread
 
 
A DAC using 2A3 tubes is crazy - I have never heard of this before. What exactly is the function of the 2A3 in this design? It can't be output because its not an amp so are the 2A3's used to rectify the signal? 
 
 
EDIT - I read some of the links, i think i understand now. I would love to hear this level 7 DAC. Has anyone got one?

 

[Crashem]

New lampizator dac for the people (ie cheaper)

http://www.lampizator.eu/NEWDAC/Lampizator/Amber_Lampi_DAC.html

1200 euro with dsd etc.

 

[TwoEars]

DSD is not included in that price, neither is tax or shipping.
 
other than that.... yupp, the cheapest lampi so far.

 

[gregdee]

New lampizator dac for the people (ie cheaper)

http://www.lampizator.eu/NEWDAC/Lampizator/Amber_Lampi_DAC.html

1200 euro with dsd etc.

 As Two Ears in its post bellow yours already corrected it is not a true what you say.
 
1200€ is a net price for a PCM dac only. With VAT and shipping in UE it comes to 1525€.
It clearly had been designed as an entry level to cover the gap left after Level 2 had been
discontinued. For those who are considering hi end Lampi DAC the difference in price to
regular Level 3 is not drastic at all. As Lukasz stated on his launch page , it is not a hand 
made unit , as pcb based is easier to build from kit for beginners, and actually the same
as it was with L2  its real value  lays in its availability as a KIT. It is a good chance to have 
to taste Lampi sound , as this machine as all others is also covered by upgrade policy, so
no waisted money at all once one decide to climb higher in range. Just to keep all clear  

 

[reparl]

I'm relatively new to the HF site and would like to thank Crashem for starting the Lampi thread.  After many hours of DAC research I decided to purchase a G4/L4 unit a few months ago.  I thought I would share my story with the Lampi.  Last year I purchased a Samsung plasma "smart" television and explored the possibility of building a multi-channel setup.  As everybody knows the speakers on flat screen televisions are essentially worthless. I quickly found out that to do a respectable system would easily run into 5 figures and needed to find another solution.
 
The only affordable solution was to use my existing 2 channel system consisting of a VAC Super Avatar Integrated Amp and Talon Khorus X speakers.  After running the optical cable from the TV to the Lampi and IC to the VAC I was amazed at the clarity, detail and the low level of distortion even at higher volume levels for TV and movie sound tracks whether streamed or Blu-ray.  Other DAC's may work as well, I'm not a DAC expert, but anytime something works this well out of the box I always consider it a gift especially in this hobby.
 
Gene

 

[Crashem]

Well I got my Lampizator Level 5 Big Box. Only problem was that it was damaged during shipping (damn you UPS) and it basically didn't work. In any case, luckily for me The Show was happening in Newport Beach this last weekend. In the midst of my communication with Robert at Lampizator North America, Lukasz, who was CCed at some point, jumps in and says he will fix in while he is in California. At first, I thought Lukasz didn't know US geography and thought San Francisco was close to Newport Beach as opposed to being 7-8 hours away by car. Again luckily for me, Lukasz actually knew California geography and was going to be in the Bay Area after the Show.

In any case, I got to meet him today. It took him all over 10 minutes to identify the problem and fix it, and another 50 minutes to chat about other stuff. As suspected, the shipping had caused some minor damage to some vital parts (no surprise as the shipping actually caused the acrylic top to break in two). NOW THAT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE. Not often, the owner of the company that makes your equipment pops by your house to fix the problem.

So thank again Lukasz!

(my initial impressions/comments on Big 5 in next thread)

 

[Crashem]

Here are some initial comments on my Lampizator Big 5 based on basically little listening time/break-in.

Bought this Lampizator Big 5 for my new headphone listening station. Currently I have a Spritzer built KGSSHV driving the Stax SR-009. I have been using a Chord Hugo to act as the dac, but have tried various other ones. In fact, I am still waiting on my PS Audio DirectStream kit to test against as well. Tomorrow, I should get my EC 2A3 MK IV (no idea why all my ordered equipment is coming at around same time) to drive my LCD-X so I can compare dacs with that headphone/amp combo as well.

My Lamp Big 5 is using some Russian 6X5 rectifier and Raytheon 6SN7GT as power tubes and the DSD module. It is singled ended with the Amanero USB being fed my a new CAPs Zuma server (http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f10-music-servers/new-zuma-computer-audiophile-pocket-server-version-extra-small-please-20656/#post324950) which also happened to arrive today as well. Used JRiver (will test JPlay later) to play variety of redbook to DSD and high rez flac files.

Right off the bat, the Lampizator had significantly more bass than the Chord Hugo and other DACs i tried. The bass wasn't flabby, but it was in your face. A bit too much bass on certain songs to my taste, but a bass head would be in 7th heaven. I was able to get something more to my taste via tube rolling (more on that later). Just to spill the beans, it is obvious that the Lampizator is on a higher level than the Chord Hugo. You can hear this right away without having to do any critical listening, which I'll do later. I'm sure under critical listening, the Hugo will have its pros, but seems pretty obvious that the Lampizator is better (portable can't beat a well designed desktop DUH). Right off the bat, I find the Lampizator to have a cleaner sound while maintaining the musicality (is this a word) that both the Hugo and Lampizator have. Also, the bass was better on the lampizator resulting in a more balanced sound. More detailed comments later.

However, I do want to point out a possible tube roll. As FYI, I have a bunch of tubes (6x5: bendix 5852, tungsol 6x5, brimar 6x5; 6sn7: tungsol oval plates!, hytron 6sn7, RCA 5692 red base) to test so I might find a better combo later. However, while Lukasz was around, I asked him about putting Bendix 5852 in the 6X5 socket while leaving the raytheon 6sn7 in place. Bendix 5852 are drop in replacements for 6X5, but they draw about double the current so if your transformer isn't up to the task, you are likely to have problems with in at some point in the near or far future. I didn't think a rectifier would make so much a difference, but wanted to try the Bendix while a Lampizator expert was around. In any case, Lukasz thought there wouldn't be any problems, but he did think that an in-line resistor might limit the Bendix so soldered off the resistor went and re-soldered back to the tube socket. Lukasz checked the voltage, etc after the bendix were put in and everything looked okay. He thought that the resistor might not have had to come off. In any case, it was a tremendous difference in sound (and in my opinion better). The sound stage suddenly grew by leaps and bounds with the result in the sound stage seemingly being past the headphones. Just as interesting, it moved the bass further away (sort of going from front row to 4-5 row) that allowed me to enjoy and hear the details on the bass. The other thing I noticed was suddenly the Lampizator seemed to be faster/dynamic while still maintaining its warmth and nice decaying transients. I would highly recommend this combination. However, I would recommend you try it without removing the resistor. If the sound still isn't fast enough for you or the sound stage not big enough, you might consider removing the in-line resistor, but I would confirm that it is okay with Lampziator first. Not sure if the resistor is making a difference or not. Oh, I have a source for basically perfect Bendix 5852 at around $60 each.

Well that's it so far.