[Designsfx]

Here’s a pic of my Lampi GA TRP3 setup with early 50’s Sylvania 6J5GT’s. I made other comments on this in the Reference 6J5 thread. Just getting into trying these but so far they’re providing a really nice presentation! More thoughts and comments to be shared as these wear in.

 

[Designsfx]

So just coming back to comment on the “FoMoCo” Philco/Sylvania tubes recently acquired now that I’ve had a few nights of listening with them. At first I noticed a slight difference with these that sounded like a shift in the upper mids- it didn’t bother me at first as I attributed that to the possibility they needed more settling in and/or I needed to readjust to them. But with more listening I realized this was an actual thing- some refer to it as a veiled presentation, kind of like the midrange info had been turned down in comparison to the surrounding information.
In an effort to give these guys a fair shake I left them in the dac and continued my listening with them for the next three days making sure I was queuing up titles that I was very familiar with. After much listening it just became more and more apparent that these tubes were not a good match within my system . While the bass was strong and impactful the treble frequencies did not have the normal sparkle I hear with other tubes. On certain tracks the upper frequencies were very clear but most of the time the information between mids and highs seemed to be too congested for my taste. I wouldn’t classify the presentation as being “romantically over warm” but more as if there was a tone knob that affected only the upper mids and treble that someone had turned down. Nonetheless a good experience as it’s shown me just how wide the voicing of the 6J5 can be. I’ve since pulled them and will hopefully trade them for another quad as it just wasn‘t a good fit.

 

[CHABO]

Bonjour,
En début d'année, j'ai eu la chance de pouvoir acheter un convertisseur Lampizator Pacific d'occasion à un prix raisonnable, avec le dessus en cuivre et le entourage noir : superbe !

Il était équipé d'une paire de tube redresseur 300B Shugang et KR 5U4G que j'ai rapidement remplacé par une paire de 300B EAT et, après avoir essayé plus de 15 tubes redresseurs 5U4G et équivalents, contre toute attente, j'ai opté pour un tube Heintz et Kaufman 5R4WGB : Je précise que la même référence dans Bendix était nulle.

Ensuite, un ami m'a fait essayer une paire de RCA Radiotron UX245 (position 45) et ce fut une claque !

Devant l'amélioration obtenue, j'ai repris les cinq derniers tubes redresseurs que j'avais préalablement sélectionnés et un USAF 596 révélait totalement l'écoute de la paire de 245 !

Le son restitué était dynamique, ouvert, avec une image stéréo parfaitement construite en largeur, en hauteur et en profondeur, tout le spectre sonore était là sans aucun excès, mais le plus touchant était la reproduction des harmoniques, restituant des voix d'une humanité inquiétante par le intelligibilité de la diction.

Pour l'instant, j'en reste là, mais plus tard par curiosité, j'essaierai d'acquérir des PX25 et 101D vintage...

Cordialement
Alain

 

[BlakeT]

Hi Alain,

Congratulations on the Pacific. It is an amazing DAC. I love my Pacific 2 (I use it in my separate speaker system).

I haven't tried vintage PX25 or vintage 101d, but I owned Riccardo Kron KR PX25 and Psvane 101d. The 101d was unimpressive, and quickly removed. RK KR PX25 is really good for a modern tube, and if someone didn't want to play with NOS, RK KR PX25 is a great option, although I slightly preferred the RK KR242 overall for explosive dynamics, for a modern output tube.

I haven't read much about user experiences with UX245. For the 45 family of tubes, my sense is, from other user reports is, EML Globe Mesh 45 is considered by many to be the best of this tube type, from those users who experimented with different tubes.

Philips PT14 and PT35 are the best I've heard for output tubes, but this is my personal taste, as I like a more linear/balanced/dynamic and highly detailed, but organic and natural sound. Telefunken RS242 and Visseaux TMBF1 are also exceptional. I think the 45 family is best on midrange focused music (like 300b), so a different sonic perspective, but definitely enjoyable.

Enjoy.

Blake

 

[keithc]

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

In my experience w/ Lampizators, they benefit significantly from a good power conditioner. I was using an Atlantic TRP when I added a Shunyata Denali and it was jaw dropping from the first minute; almost as if I had upgraded both amps and speakers, gained an octave of bass, way more transparency and tonality, less fatiguing, etc. I haven't used any of my Lampis without the Shunyata power conditioning since.

There's many Lampi options for all budgets. While one might be tempted to go for 'newer', but I'd say an older generation Lampi is like going for an 10 year old Porsche or Ferrari -- it's still going to be hella good. Unless you need DSD or similar decoding, my personal opinion is that the only difference between an 'older' Lampi, a new Lampi, or other new DACs is the voicing and what sound you're trying to get. The Lampizator price ladder is NOT a simple linear scale of "basic to best"; each one has their own personality and some prefer specific ones over even the 'higher end' ones. If you love the Big7 sound then that's all that matters.... some trusted ears have told me they prefer the Big7/GoldenGate to the Pacific.

BTW Lampi has a *GREAT* customer service and will support older machines. Trust me, I've tested this

 

[keithc]

@Designsfx @leftside Have you tried aftermarket fuses in your Lampis? It's a relatively cost-effective way to further tune/emphasize a sonic signature beyond your tube regimen. I've been sticking w/ the SR Purple (considered SR Master or QSA but they're not as warm as what I'm looking for... no pun intended).

 

[Designsfx]

Tonight should be interesting- I’m finally getting around to trying a quad of tubes that took a while to find, a quad of Sylvania VT-94 D. After being totally hooked on my recently purchased 6c5c’s I honestly had set these aside and not given them much thought until I noticed them this morning just sitting there. Pulling these from there boxes revealed the same dusty undersides one gets when buying old tubes but overall the tubes were in pretty good shape. I cleaned them up a little and dropped them into the dac for a “settling in warmup”. After 6 hrs of that it’s time to listen.

So where to start? These tubes are a little different from others that I’ve in the Lampizator. When compared to the late 30’s metal 6J5’s they have a slightly warmer presentation. The low end response is strong and one that can be easily felt through both your feet and seat. At this point I wouldn’t say it’s as deep/detailed as the 6c5c but it is present nonetheless- perhaps the best way to describe it would be “fuller” sounding.

The upper end of the spectrum is evenly blended with a pleasant midrange that doesn’t stand too forward but allows detail to come through without getting lost in lower mids. Vocals sound nice with a hint of warmth yet they are not quite as forward as they can be with other tubes.

The mids extend to the higher frequencies nicely giving higher frequencies a sense of warmth yet without any loss of detail. I can appreciate tubes with this quality especially when acoustic and electric guitars are in play with the former having a natural sound without the latter getting too crispy or edgy. The tracks I’ve listened to so far have all played with impact and have produced a great sense of space. I’ll report back on these as I get more time on them

 

[Designsfx]

It's not possible in the TRP2 - just pentodes. There's only about a million different versions of those, so plenty of tube rolling options.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...el51-el39-4654-4699-kt63-kt61-6v6-etc.959519/

I do have two headphone amps and a preamp that take 6J5 natively though.

Just an FYI on the TRP2 compatibility with indirectly heated triodes-
Post in thread 'LampizatOr Golden Atlantic + TRP'
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/lampizator-golden-atlantic-trp.27809/post-956834

 

[leftside]

Just an FYI on the TRP2 compatibility with indirectly heated triodes-
Post in thread 'LampizatOr Golden Atlantic + TRP'
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/lampizator-golden-atlantic-trp.27809/post-956834

The main reason I have so many KT88, KT77, KT66, KT63, KT61, EL34, EL37, 4654, etc is because of that darn dac lol. Very happy this "newly discovered tube" for the TRP is one that I already have plenty of. Lampizator owners will also push the price of the rarer variations a little higher I'd imagine.

 

[Designsfx]

The main reason I have so many KT88, KT77, KT66, KT63, KT61, EL34, EL37, 4654, etc is because of that darn dac lol. Very happy this "newly discovered tube" for the TRP is one that I already have plenty of. Lampizator owners will also push the price of the rarer variations a little higher I'd imagine.

I’m not sure of why it hadn’t been tried before- I started pushing the use of these in the TRP months ago. I tried it because I had been looking for an indirectly heated triode that would give the performance of ultra $$$ pentodes. That’s why I mentioned it too you a while ago- not that you’re lacking in the expensive pentode department

 

[leftside]

I’m not sure of why it hadn’t been tried before- I started pushing the use of these in the TRP months ago. I tried it because I had been looking for an indirectly heated triode that would give the performance of ultra $$$ pentodes. That’s why I mentioned it too you a while ago- not that you’re lacking in the expensive pentode department

I presumed (incorrectly) this was a new feature only added to the TRP3.

 

[Designsfx]

I presumed (incorrectly) this was a new feature only added to the TRP3.

Well I would love to hear your thoughts when you decide to give them a try- I think you’re in for a pleasant surprise!

 

[number1sixerfan]

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.

I think I totally missed this. Didn't realized they shipped worldwide directly. I just emailed them, as their list seems pretty old. Basically, a used Big 7MKII, GG or Pacific (pacific would be a stretch), preferably balanced would be great. The used market is pretty slim, but good to hear you can buy direct from Lampizator Poland.

 

[BlakeT]

I think I totally missed this. Didn't realized they shipped worldwide directly. I just emailed them, as their list seems pretty old. Basically, a used Big 7MKII, GG or Pacific (pacific would be a stretch), preferably balanced would be great. The used market is pretty slim, but good to hear you can buy direct from Lampizator Poland.

Just a note- I'd carefully consider whether you really need balanced. Balanced introduces the added expense and headaches involved in sourcing a matched quad of output tubes.

Going by feedback of other experienced users that owned and compared balanced vs single ended in the same Lampi DAC model, and according to Lukasz himself, only buy balanced if you absolutely need it, because it offers no sonic improvement over single-ended.

 

[Polygonhell]

I just emailed them, as their list seems pretty old.

I think it's kept up to date FWIW, I've seen items I know were traded in by friends appear within days.
It's pretty slim pickings at the moment, but it tends to be cyclic, the Horizon release put a lot of Pacifics on the list. And I would guess it predominantly populated based on people using the upgrade program.
Most of the rest shows up intermittently, I'd expect a small uptick in content because of Poseiden has started shipping.