[Designsfx]

“Copying my original post here for anyone interested in Lampizator tube rolling“
So tonights post is a report of my latest test running triodes in the TRP3. I’m just sitting down to get a first listen of my dac running the ever present Globe 80 combined with a matched quad of Raytheon 6SN7GTB’s from 1955. These are tall bottle NOS black plates that I found last week sitting on Xuling 6SN7 -> 6J5 parallel adapters.

I didn’t really know what to expect here as (we all know) the 6SN7 is essentially two 6J5 elements parked in a single tube. I think my only expectation was an increase in gain but I have to say that whatever the increase it is very subtle, nowhere near the differences seen when going from 6L6G’s to the 6J5’s.
Now as I am not familiar with the 6SN7 family I can’t really compare what I’m hearing to anything other than the sound I experienced when running a straight quad of 6J5GT’s.
At first listen I did sense a difference in the midrange that one could relate to as being an ever so slight dip in the middle of a wide band graphic EQ. Not much- but it is enough to tighten up the sound of driving bass/drums/guitars. I’ve also noticed along with that the higher frequencies are not quite as extended but still present enough to provide a nice sparkle.
So far it’s been a nice presentation overall- not huge sweeping changes from the individual 6J5’s but definitely a different overall voicing. It doesn’t help that I’m currently listening to unknown tracks as well so I think I’m definitely going to have to give these a few more days of playtime before making any further judgments. I am looking forward to this though as the 6SN7 working with this Dac opens up possibilities with other tube variants.

 

[realmccoy]

Hello Lampi owners
My friend lend me an old Lampiztor Big7 (2015) for my headphone set up, currently using it with Violectric v222, ZMF atrium closed and hifiman HE1000 stealth
Source is PC or Cayin N8
I am super impressed with the sound of this set up, but of course like everyone here, we always looking ways to further improve our set up.
1. Do you think a power conditioner/filter will help improve the performance of the Lampi? As I live in a crowded city, high rise building 30 floors with 20 units per floor
2. Is the 1st gen Big7 still relevant in 2024? Or a modern dac like Holo spring 3/ Denafrips Venus would be better choice? (since I can’t afford newer Lampi atm)
Thanks

 

[leftside]

2. Is the 1st gen Big7 still relevant in 2024?

Yes definitely. The older Lampi's are the bargain of the DAC world.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I'm doing research now, and have always been interested in Lampi based on feedback here and on other forums. Their model lineup seems a bit vast and somewhat confusing. And especially when considering how various upgrades move model performance (although totally see the value for owners). Does anyone know if there's a comprehensive post or article or anything anywhere breaking down all or most of the models? I would assume a full blown comparison doesn't exist, but anything would be helpful. If not, I guess one question is with say a $10-15k budget range, and considering used (hard to get a read on used prices as these don't seem to come up often) and upgrades, which Lampi would top your list and why? The Golden Atlantic TRP, The Big Seven MK2 (looks pretty interesting), and the Golden Gate 3 (hail mary used stretch).

In the near future I'll be having some mods done to my Dave, would be cool to demo and compare something before I send it out and possibly to grab to have while it's out (I've needed a second dac for my speaker system for a long time anyway). Apologies for the noob like questions lol, I promise I'll keep searching this thread and others now that I have an actual forcing function and need for a new dac.

 

[bozebuttons]

Try what's best audio forum I have a balanced pacific you can find one obout 15k.I have GEN4 balanced Big7I will be putting up for sale At 3k
You can also look at trade in used lamps at the Lampizator website.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Try what's best audio forum I have a balanced pacific you can find one obout 15k.I have GEN4 balanced Big7I will be putting up for sale At 3k
You can also look at trade in used lamps at the Lampizator website.

Thank you!! And I just found out about what's best earlier today for the same reasons apparently. And perfect, that's exactly the type of info I'm looking for on the used prices, and I forgot that they list used lampis on the actually site (*edit, the used listings were on a non-us lampi sitelet, get you were referring to trade-in only rather). Again, thank you!

 

[Designsfx]

I'm doing research now, and have always been interested in Lampi based on feedback here and on other forums. Their model lineup seems a bit vast and somewhat confusing. And especially when considering how various upgrades move model performance (although totally see the value for owners). Does anyone know if there's a comprehensive post or article or anything anywhere breaking down all or most of the models? I would assume a full blown comparison doesn't exist, but anything would be helpful. If not, I guess one question is with say a $10-15k budget range, and considering used (hard to get a read on used prices as these don't seem to come up often) and upgrades, which Lampi would top your list and why? The Golden Atlantic TRP, The Big Seven MK2 (looks pretty interesting), and the Golden Gate 3 (hail mary used stretch).

In the near future I'll be having some mods done to my Dave, would be cool to demo and compare something before I send it out and possibly to grab to have while it's out (I've needed a second dac for my speaker system for a long time anyway). Apologies for the noob like questions lol, I promise I'll keep searching this thread and others now that I have an actual forcing function and need for a new dac.

I recently purchased my first Lampizator- a Golden Atlantic TRP3 balanced. I was originally considering a used Pacific or Golden Gate but wasn’t able to find a balanced Pacific at the time for under $18K US (which was more than I had budgeted). It seemed that prices had risen slightly due to the release of the Horizon dac- folks selling for higher $$$ in order to upgrade. There was a GG2 balanced for sale in Germany as well but adding the upgrade to GG3 pushed that back up past what I had budgeted. In the end I’m glad I bought the unit I have as I was able to configure it the way I wanted it and have been told by others that it's really the sweet spot of the product line.
I know a guy near me that was looking into the TRP3 at the same time but he really loves the directly heated triode setup so he ended up ordering a new Golden Gate 3. He also owns a Chord Dave and has told me the GG3 is a major upgrade. We haven’t compared my TRP3 to his Dave so I can’t offer advice on that.
While I don’t know much about the Dave I have heard from many that it is an outstanding dac. I don’t know what kind of modifications you’re planning on doing but would advise caution there unless you’re planning on keeping it- many buyers are weary of mods and it could ultimately affect the resale value.

 

[Polygonhell]

In the near future I'll be having some mods done to my Dave

The Pacific is a pretty big step up from the Dave, though they are also very different.
On the Lampizator Poland Site, the price list for used DAC’s pretty much sets the bar for pricing, there were a lot of used Pacific’s after the Horizon came out, and that depressed prices, the only one they have listed ATM has the Pac 2 upgrade, which was a ~5K upgrade, so it’s a bit more expensive.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I recently purchased my first Lampizator- a Golden Atlantic TRP3 balanced. I was originally considering a used Pacific or Golden Gate but wasn’t able to find a balanced Pacific at the time for under $18K US (which was more than I had budgeted). It seemed that prices had risen slightly due to the release of the Horizon dac- folks selling for higher $$$ in order to upgrade. There was a GG2 balanced for sale in Germany as well but adding the upgrade to GG3 pushed that back up past what I had budgeted. In the end I’m glad I bought the unit I have as I was able to configure it the way I wanted it and have been told by others that it's really the sweet spot of the product line.
I know a guy near me that was looking into the TRP3 at the same time but he really loves the directly heated triode setup so he ended up ordering a new Golden Gate 3. He also owns a Chord Dave and has told me the GG3 is a major upgrade. We haven’t compared my TRP3 to his Dave so I can’t offer advice on that.
While I don’t know much about the Dave I have heard from many that it is an outstanding dac. I don’t know what kind of modifications you’re planning on doing but would advise caution there unless you’re planning on keeping it- many buyers are weary of mods and it could ultimately affect the resale value.

Thank you for this insight, that's really helpful. Assuming there isn't like a standard range for these upgrades either, just really depends on the unit and upgrade? Thanks for the tip on the mods, I'm aware and have given it thought. I do need a second dac no matter what and I've enjoyed the Dave for a very long time. If ultimately at some point I would sale it, by that time I would've gotten so much use out of it that the resale hit would be ok to me. But very likely I'll keep it.

The Pacific is a pretty big step up from the Dave, though they are also very different.
On the Lampizator Poland Site, the price list for used DAC’s pretty much sets the bar for pricing, there were a lot of used Pacific’s after the Horizon came out, and that depressed prices, the only one they have listed ATM has the Pac 2 upgrade, which was a ~5K upgrade, so it’s a bit more expensive.

Also with the above poster, it's very interesting to hear that some of these dacs are considered a major upgrade to the Dave (which I have read before). If I'm going to move away from the Dave, that's really what I'm looking for--a very noticeable step up. I heard some of the Lina dacs recently and I enjoyed the added timbre, warmth and slight improvement in bass, but I felt that came at a tradeoff of the Dave's holographic spacing and imaging. Hoping to find something that has the best of both worlds.

The Pacific looks amazing, but is a bit out of reach unless I can find one used here in the states. The good thing is I'm not really in a rush, so I'll just continue to keep an eye out on everything. And thanks on the pricing tip for the Poland site.

 

[Polygonhell]

unless I can find one used here in the states.

Just buy from the Lampizator Poland used list, shipping is a few hundred $$, I bought mine from a US seller and shipping wasn't any cheaper, and I know a couple of people who've bought used from Lampizator Poland.
Shipping is usually less than a week.
I shipped my Pacific back to Poland for the Pac2 upgrade, it was only out of my hands for 10 days.
Their used prices are often lower than things get listed in the US.
The big split in the Lampizator lineup is basically DHT's Pacific/GG and Tetrodes Poseiden/Horizon, the DHT's are all heading out of production, I have only owned the former, I do know people who've owned both, and there is a common house sound. What they are not (at least the more recent ones) is tubey, they present with a bit more body than the Dave, which can come across a bit thin, but for the most part they are a very neutral presentation, you can skew that a bit with tubes.
The Tetrode based Lampizators are probably cheaper to roll into a good tube set, but it very much depends how esoteric you want to get with tubes, there's been a lot of exploration of old postal tubes (with no commercial equivalents) more recently with lampizator owners, that's caused their prices to balloon if you want to play there.

 

[Designsfx]

The big split in the Lampizator lineup is basically DHT's Pacific/GG and Tetrodes Poseiden/Horizon, the DHT's are all heading out of production

@Polygonhell
Hey- which of the newer dacs are setup for tetrodes? I see the Horizon went with dual triodes and pentodes- does Poseidon use a different configuration?
I’m still using triodes in my TRP3 and think they are the best so far- I doubt that I’ll be chasing down any mega buck pentodes for while (but of course that would depend on what opportunities present themselves!)

 

[BlakeT]

 

[BlakeT]

The above is Lukasz Fikus (owner of Lampi) view on comparative sound quality from DAC to DAC. I've owned Atlantic, B7, GG2, and currently own GG3 and Pac2. From the models I've owned, this chart is quite accurate.

If you start adding in certain exotic tubes and "super adapters" and grounding wire, you can further boost performance.

Yes, all the info on Lampi is over on WBF. Not much going on here in this thread, unfortunately.

 

[ncampos]

I would love to know where the latest Big7 MK3 with Engine Eleven sits in this chart.

 

[BlakeT]

I would love to know where the latest Big7 MK3 with Engine Eleven sits in this chart.

This is the older chart, so you can roughly approximate things on the B7 (better than Atlantic, not as good as GG):