LampizatOr Golden Atlantic + TRP

[Ed_K]

Ok, so I'm just as confused as everyone else. In all my correspondence with Fred at LampiNA, my unit was called a "Golden Atlantic 2: TRP". It was also listed as this on their Audiogon listing. However, my spec page calls it a"Golden Atlantic: TRP.
So, who is responding now as LampiNA in the last post? Maybe you could answer the question as to what I have and what engine is in it. I've also included a pic of the back panel labeling.

Here are a couple of paragraphs from the listing on Audigon. As you can see, it is stated in different ways.
______________________
Available for your consideration is LampizatOrs' latest achievement in Digital Analog Converters, the Golden Atlantic 2: TRP. This DAC which features a tubed output stage and supports all PCM frequencies as well as up to 8xDSD (DSD512).
Don't miss this opportunity to purchase this as new unit, one month old, just broken in and shows as new. Full 5yr warranty left. Free domestic shipping in the CON USA.

This Single Ended Golden Atlantic TRP is loaded. Remote control with a state of the art volume control (can be bypassed if using a preamp) A pair of RCA inputs for another source like a phono. Digital inputs are USB, RCA SPIDF, AES/EBU. Golden Atlantic upgraded caps, chokes, copper chassis and custom flight case.

 

[Alrainbow]

Nice unit love that digital board.

 

[highstream]

@Ed_K Ok, I see on your photo where the PCM number is listed. I just have a slightly fuzzy photo for now, but I think it shows DS53. I wonder what the difference is.

 

[Alrainbow]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but the 5942 is a pcm chipset this means it uses a separate dsd board
A gg2 I had at my place was this type setup I loved it. It has an initmit there here sound I loved immensely.
The next chipset is the 53 an all in one digital board
The pac has the 57.
The 5942 or 53 are not old or new it’s simply what was made for that unit. A bud had the trp setup exactly like yours is. He felt it was of the best digital he has at his place. LAMPI owners all want the latest thinking it’s best at that time. The truth is the Lampi dacs made in the past 3 years are all great. Enjoy your trp as is I think it’s a fantastic TRP you have. Rolling some tubes will bring the TRP home in the end for you.
Enjoy.

 

[Ed_K]

that is a killer trp.

new kt77 as opposed to vintage ones. You have the correct ones. have you tried philips or red or siemens vintage el34?

@wisnon The trp came with a pair of EL34 but I do not believe they were vintage. I have not tried them yet with the 274B but will dig them out and try along with the EH 6CA7's over the next couple days.

 

[Ed_K]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but the 5942 is a pcm chipset this means it uses a separate dsd board
A gg2 I had at my place was this type setup I loved it. It has an initmit there here sound I loved immensely.
The next chipset is the 53 an all in one digital board
The pac has the 57.
The 5942 or 53 are not old or new it’s simply what was made for that unit. A bud had the trp setup exactly like yours is. He felt it was of the best digital he has at his place. LAMPI owners all want the latest thinking it’s best at that time. The truth is the Lampi dacs made in the past 3 years are all great. Enjoy your trp as is I think it’s a fantastic TRP you have. Rolling some tubes will bring the TRP home in the end for you.
Enjoy.

@Alrainbow Do you know if the GG2 got the new 57 engine or is it now running the 53. I was all set to buy a GG1 about 6 months ago and I think I remember Lampi telling me that the TRP had the new 53 and the GG1 did not. I was not as up to speed at that time and was a bit confused.
I am definitely enjoying the TRP I have. It is really interesting/fascinating how tube rolling makes a difference, definitely a good measure of added fun to the whole equation.

 

[Alrainbow]

What I hear is the 57 is pac only
The gg and so on can have 5942 or 53 where 53 is a one board Option. My gg2 has the 53 engine inside. the pcm and dsd are seemless but do show the sound of the two formats. The trp you have is a very fast sound and musical
The gg2 I have is a step up as it’s more powerful weighted the pac goes further still and has a bigger stage presence.
What you have is more they are here sound closer to the stage presence. Tubes we choose do effect these above comments.
I have some 14 pairs of tubes for your dac here. I had it for a while. somehow Lucas moves things up in his models I don’t know how but he does know how to shape the sound. the tak or acme rec are an update in sound the acme some say is close. I have two coming soon.

 

[newbiecapri]

What I hear is the 57 is pac only
The gg and so on can have 5942 or 53 where 53 is a one board Option. My gg2 has the 53 engine inside. the pcm and dsd are seemless but do show the sound of the two formats. The trp you have is a very fast sound and musical
The gg2 I have is a step up as it’s more powerful weighted the pac goes further still and has a bigger stage presence.
What you have is more they are here sound closer to the stage presence. Tubes we choose do effect these above comments.
I have some 14 pairs of tubes for your dac here. I had it for a while. somehow Lucas moves things up in his models I don’t know how but he does know how to shape the sound. the tak or acme rec are an update in sound the acme some say is close. I have two coming soon.

Hi Alrainbow.

Thanks for chiming in.
IF you don't mind me asking, have is the difference in sound of the GG2, GA TRP ?
Which of the two is more musical ?
More detailed ?
Bigger sound ?
Bigger soundstage width and depth ?
More forgiving of not so good recordings ?

Would appreciate some inputs....
C

 

[Alrainbow]

Ok I’ll try but I am known to be confusing to many lol.
I cannot comment on the GA I Don’t have one or have heard one at my place.
The trp is a smaller sound in general this makes it seem faster a bit. stage is in part smaller as well as over all presentation. over all details is less then the gg2 or pac.
But rolling tubes gets you to move sound in varying directions
The gg2 is a bigger stage with the 53 engine it has a wider deeper stage and is more weighted as well.
The trp and gg2 can be forgiving if the tubes you select do this.
Speed yields more details at the expense of nite decay. Again tubes help.
My first thought of The TRP was speed and the el34 shows me this. I own about 14 pairs of tubes for it.
The gg2 is more Musical if your setup is setup for it. An example is if your system is tipped up at upper freq the trp maybe to much unless you use tubes to dial or back.
I had both gg2 with the 5942 and the 53.
Closer is more musical to me but this is on my setup and having a large setup maybe I need it closer.
Clearly the architecture is trp , gg2 and pac. Each has a large variance in tube rolling but still each model warrants the price increase.
The digital board you have is a closer stage so it’s smaller
The 53 is a bit back more so larger stage.
The 57 in the pac is massive over all. A very different sound in scale.
Ask and I’ll help if I can please excuse my grammar and spelling. And this is my own observations it May not be how all feel.
this post has been edited so others may understand it better. Sorry guys

 

[newbiecapri]

Hi Alrainbow,

Thanks for the good write up... This is a good gauge of the sonics of those dacs hence making decision a little easier...
Appreciate it...

Best,
C

 

[christoph]

@wisnon The trp came with a pair of EL34 but I do not believe they were vintage. I have not tried them yet with the 274B but will dig them out and try along with the EH 6CA7's over the next couple days.

The EH 6CA7 did not sound as good as other tubes in my systems.
I will search for the write up on our big TRP tubes compare:
Here it is: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...lling-review-thread.26478/page-27#post-618460

 

[LampiNA]

Hello All,

I think I added more confusion than I eliminated here but let me try and add some clarity to the circumstances.

Golden Atlantic 2/Golden Atlantic TRP refer to the same thing. There was a generation 5 Atlantic and Golden Atlantic so the 2 was inserted to try and clarify we're talking about the newer TRP model not the older 4P1L Atlantics. The same is true if someone refers to Atlantic 2/Atlantic TRP. We are referring to Generation 6 Atlantic DACs.

There was some brief talk about condensing the Gen 6 Atlantic and Golden Atlantic into a single product which was in part due to vendor shortages. When people buy the Golden Atlantic package it is similar to the Big 7 vs GG package. Same topology but some meaningful upgrades both in sound and presentation as I was describing above. BTW--when I mentioned caps I meant psu, we've standardized our output caps.

I hope this adds some clarity and happy listening all!

Best,

Fred A.

 

[wisnon]

@wisnon The trp came with a pair of EL34 but I do not believe they were vintage. I have not tried them yet with the 274B but will dig them out and try along with the EH 6CA7's over the next couple days.

excellent.

I made a typo...RSD....not red.

 

[Alrainbow]

Hello All,

I think I added more confusion than I eliminated here but let me try and add some clarity to the circumstances.

Golden Atlantic 2/Golden Atlantic TRP refer to the same thing. There was a generation 5 Atlantic and Golden Atlantic so the 2 was inserted to try and clarify we're talking about the newer TRP model not the older 4P1L Atlantics. The same is true if someone refers to Atlantic 2/Atlantic TRP. We are referring to Generation 6 Atlantic DACs.

There was some brief talk about condensing the Gen 6 Atlantic and Golden Atlantic into a single product which was in part due to vendor shortages. When people buy the Golden Atlantic package it is similar to the Big 7 vs GG package. Same topology but some meaningful upgrades both in sound and presentation as I was describing above. BTW--when I mentioned caps I meant psu, we've standardized our output caps.

I hope this adds some clarity and happy listening all!

Best,

Fred A.

Oh it’s crystal clear to me now hahaha bro way too many models and adage after the title of each.

 

[Ed_K]

The EH 6CA7 did not sound as good as other tubes in my systems.
I will search for the write up on our big TRP tubes compare:
Here it is: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...lling-review-thread.26478/page-27#post-618460

@christoph Hey, thx for the link! I must have missed that.
Ed

 

[findog]

Just received my GA TRP and the only thing I have to say right now is: while listening both my son and wife came into the room, sat down, and said ‘whoa’. Then my son took the iPad and began queuing songs he wanted to hear and adding comments such as ‘I am feeling that bass drum like never before’.

Thanks to LampizatOr for quality family time.

 

[christoph]

Just received my GA TRP and the only thing I have to say right now is: while listening both my son and wife came into the room, sat down, and said ‘whoa’. Then my son took the iPad and began queuing songs he wanted to hear and adding comments such as ‘I am feeling that bass drum like never before’.

Thanks to LampizatOr for quality family time.

Congrats on your new TRP. It is an awesome little music machine
What tube complement are you using atm?

What DAC did you have before?

 

[wisnon]

Just received my GA TRP and the only thing I have to say right now is: while listening both my son and wife came into the room, sat down, and said ‘whoa’. Then my son took the iPad and began queuing songs he wanted to hear and adding comments such as ‘I am feeling that bass drum like never before’.

Thanks to LampizatOr for quality family time.

Hi Jason. That is great to hear.

 

[christoph]

Here is a the summary of the TRP tube rolling session we did at my place with David, Fabio and myself mid summer this year. I think it should also be in this Thread.

Setup: We tested a variety of output tubes to see which ones are working best in the TRP. We kept the setup simple with the SuperKomputer feeding the TRP DAC. Amp was the Ayon Crossfire. Speakers the hORNS. So no pre-amp and no subwoofer was used.

The first round we did with the KR Ann Recti. Second round we compared our favorite tubes with the Takatsuki.

Music: Stevie Ray Vaughan - Tin Pal Alley (2.30 min. & 5:00 min.); Yosi Horikawa - Bubbles (from start 1-2 min); Jose Carrera - Misa Criolla (from start 1-2min); Keith Jarret - Köln Concert Part I (1-2 min from start & 6:00 min); Blues Company - Dark Day (1:30 min); Jon Hopkins - Abandon Window (start 1-2 min & 3:40 min)

KR / Tung Sol EL34: clear over full spectrum, well defined bass (one of the better we heard)

KR / Philips EL24 Blackburn Code (NOS): warmer than the Tung Sol, pronounced mid-range, lacks treble extension

KR / RFT EL 34 (NOS): most dynamic and defined of the EL 34, clean over the full specturm, more details, good flow, clearly the winner of the EL34s

KR / Brimar 6L6G (NOS): less dynamic than EL 34s, soundstage moves slightly further back, beautiful organic tonality, very smooth, less treble then the RFT but nothing to worry about, good bass quantity which is softer than with the EL 34s, most emotional and touching of the bunch

KR / TAD KT66: most bass quantity, missing snap, polished and glossed over, a clear pass from all of us

KR / Genalex KT 77 Gold Lion: massive soundstage, cleanest of the all, quite background, has the fullness of the EL 34s but is more precise adn more transparent, good treble extension, tonality is spot on, involving and physical, fantastic intradynamics, most complete tube of the bunch and in all disciplines ahead except from emotionality wher the Brimar is slightly better

Elextro Harmonix 6CA7 EH: a lot of details, most powerful, good punch and dynamics, missing body in the lower midrange/upper bass, does not transport the chest voice as the KT77 and the Brimar.

Our favorite tubes were the Genalex KT77 and the Brimar 6L6G. The Brimar is mor emotional but the KT77 more involving. Tonality of the Brimar is beautiful but not as correct as with the KT77. We switched the rectifier to the Takatsuki to find out how these two favoites would do with the Japanese rectifier.

Takatsuki / Brimar 6L6G: Depth, focus and imaging improved a lot. Also the soundstage increased. The Takatsuki completes the Brimar. Very detailed but never losing the flow and the focus on the complete picture. The step up from the KR to the Takatsuki is impressive.

Takatsuki / KT 77: Also here, the soundstage increases slightly. There's more air and better separation than with the KR. But the difference to the KR is much smaller than with the Brimar. We all could very well live with the KR.

Overall, the Takatsuki and KT77 was the winner of the day. If you own a TRP it makes sense to own a Brimar and the KT77 as they are quite different in their presentation. The KR is doing a great job overall. If you got the spare money, go for the Takatsuki”

Later Fabio tried NOS GEC KT66 and wrote the following:

“Did some further comparison between the GEC KT66 and Genalex KT77. After having had the KT66 in the system for several weeks I changed back to the KT77 and was first impressed by the presence, slam and details I got. The soundstage moves much closer to the listener. Dynamics and microdetails are great. At times I almost had a heartattack when an unexpected impulse hit my body. It reaches slightly deeper in the bass than the KT66. However, bass control is inferior to the KT66 with more focus on the very low end and a slight dip in the upper mid bass. The high gain, dynamics and details come at the cost of being less musical. Some music can sound a bit forced and nervous at times. The KT66 is more relaxed with lower noisefloor. Music just flows better. Details are presented in a more natural manner. Both tubes have excellent treble extension and reach deep down (the KT77 a bit deeper). Think of the GEC KT66 as a better version of the Brimar 6L6G.

If your system is a bit sleepy, you’re looking for more dynamics and punch or your pre-amp has a low input gain I would chose the KT77. If you want to calm down things and you are rather into long-term relaxed listening go for the KT66. Both tubes are exceptional in their own ways. I compared them in the TRP with the RK Ann. Rectifier.”

 

[newbiecapri]

Thanks for the write -up, where do you guys source your GEC KT 66 or KT77 ?
has anyone here tried the re-issue one or the non-noS KT66 or KT88 :
https://www.vivatubes.com/brand-new...-kt77-kt-77-vacuum-tube-plate-current-tested/