GG, Nagra HD, Aqua Formula, and SGM server.

[abeidrov]

At its price the Lampi server is only worth buying if it beats servers well above its price point, and so far there have been no such compares, so we will have to wait. I have asked for one to be taken to someone who has a W20 so that I can compare, but no luck so far. I know that PhilipAc on the UK forums replaced his W20 with this, but Philip is a more private individual so difficult to calibrate ears.

I am now using Lampizator Superkomputer and comparing it to the latest Antipodes DX. They are roughly the same price and I am having very hard time trying to choose between the two servers. They both sound very good to my ears with Antipodes sounding maybe a little bit more detailed and analytical. This is with non-upsampled PCM and DSD. Antipodes can only upsample to DSD64 through Roon, it is simply not powerful enough to upsample to higher rates. Lampi has Roon + HQPlayer and powerfull processor with lots of memory, so upsampling to DSD512 should not be an issue, although I have tested only DSD128 as the amanero module in my DAC does not support higher rates with Linux.
It would be very interesting to compare SGM to Lampizator Superkomputer. In any case, for those people, who cannot afford the SGM, Lampizator Superkomputer is the only other commercially available product, I am aware of, which can upsample any material to DSD512 and DXD.

 

[bonzo75]

I am now using Lampizator Superkomputer and comparing it to the latest Antipodes DX. They are roughly the same price and I am having very hard time trying to choose between the two servers. They both sound very good to my ears with Antipodes sounding maybe a little bit more detailed and analytical. This is with non-upsampled PCM and DSD. Antipodes can only upsample to DSD64 through Roon, it is simply not powerful enough to upsample to higher rates. Lampi has Roon + HQPlayer and powerfull processor with lots of memory, so upsampling to DSD512 should not be an issue, although I have tested only DSD128 as the amanero module in my DAC does not support higher rates with Linux.
It would very interesting to compare SGM to Lampizator Superkomputer. In any case, for those people, who cannot afford the SGM, Lampizator Superkomputer is the only other commercially available product, I am aware of, which can upsample any material to DSD512 and DXD.

Not sure if Lampi server has been his focus as the Lampi dac.

 

[wisnon]

Yes--

View attachment 31029

Yup...Luv it!

 

[tunes]

Received the Sablon USB cable promptly from Mark. Very fast service! Will be trying it out tonight.

 

[wisnon]

Received the Sablon USB cable promptly from Mark. Very fast service! Will be trying it out tonight.

Excellent!

 

[Blue58]

Woah! What's going on with Sablon Audio.
Has Mark become Merlin the magician. Why are his cables so impressive and continue to confound all my expectations?
I extolled the sound quality of his Reserva (2017) USB cable not two months ago and was so taken aback by the jump in sound quality that I used expletives, very unlike me, in my short post.
Additional comments by Edward Hsu of Sound Galleries Monaco, Mike Lavigne and Audiophile Bill confirmed what I was hearing. An expansive soundstage with, what I can only describe as, Gravitas. A solidity to the presentation that elicited that big wide grin. Couple that with lower noise floor and increased resolution it was at least +50% on the original Reserva USB cable.
Well Mark continued to refine and experiment with his Reserva 2017 cable and has now confirmed that it is 'finalised'.
I have now had this 'finalised' cable; named Reserva Elite, joining the Sablon Elite range, in my system for two days and it is just outstanding.
How can this be? How can the noise floor be reduced still further to zero?
It is simply remarkable how the soundstage has expanded in all directions, solidity of performers, now holographic in detail, and a reality to both vocals and instruments that is breathtaking.
I'm currently playing Agnes Obel, Citizen of Glass and the punch, physicality and realism of this music is beyond words.
Mark said it was another +50% - 75% increase in perceived improvement and as usual I take it with a pinch of salt but honestly I now have to believe every word he says in the future.
This is a world class USB cable.
If you have a Sablon Reserva USB you must get it upgraded a.s.a.p. before Mark runs out of 'pixie dust' or 'Merlin's magic'.
I can't thank him enough for producing a cable that brings me so much musical pleasure.

 

[wisnon]

Wow, Shakti had a great thread going on a German Forum. Some of these Dacs compared. Use google translate to follow.
http://www.aktives-hoeren.de/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8055

 

[bonzo75]

Wow, Shakti had a great thread going on a German Forum. Some of these Dacs compared. Use google translate to follow.
http://www.aktives-hoeren.de/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8055

I actually spoke to this guy, called him up because he had multiple NAT models, KR, now has Airtight 211 and Reference preamp. He has both YG Anat reference with Krell Evo 600 and high sensitivity Zingali client names. On phonos he has Aesthetix IO Sig, Kondo m7 phono pre, and has done shootouts with Thoeress, VDH Grail, and generally this is a gang that does a lot of shootouts. Interestingly he had Lampi over many years and is now experimenting with his canadian ANK 5.1. Whether amp or dac, he experiments with a lot of tubes. His take on 211 was to add the Kron 211 tubes as they have the details of 211 and the richness and fullness of 845s

Anyway, on the thread that wisnon linked -

"@Christoph

at the last workshop we had the comparison of

- Aqua La Scala
- Aqua Formula
- Lampizator DER7

followed by

- Aqua Formula
- Lampizator Golden Gate

The performance of the performance was surprisingly even times the price
La Scala played Great, but DER7 was a corner better. The Formula once again passed the DER7, but had to be hit again by the Golden Gate. "

He goes on to further say he likes PCM on Canadian ANK 5.1 a bit more. I am using Google chrome translate here, which automatically translates the entire page. Chatting with him, his preferred choice of tubes was Elrog 300b, and he found the 242 good but would overload his preamp. Good to see ZD mentioned on that thread. Thanks to tsaett for that.

Shakti has put up his first post on the forum a couple of days ago

 

[Zeotrope]

Can you elaborate on what you meant by this, Mike:
“then last night I connected grounds from the Tripoint Troy Signature to the SGM and Formula”

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Can you elaborate on what you meant by this, Mike:
“then last night I connected grounds from the Tripoint Troy Signature to the SGM and Formula”

hi Surge,

first; this thread is now almost 5 years old. the SGM (2015 server), and the (Aqua) Formula (dac) are long gone from my system. replaced by the Taiko Extreme server and the MSB Select II dac.

the Tripoint Troy Signature is still in my system, although it has been moved to near my amplifiers. i've since bought the Tripoint Elite grounding box, which replaced the Troy Signature near my sources

https://tripointaudio.us/tripoint-products

Tripoint products are for chassis grounding. this is a different thing than the A/C power grid grounding. chassis grounding improves the realism of the music presentation, making the music sound less processed. so with all that explained, i will now answer your question.

when i connected grounds from the Tripoint Troy Signature to the SGM and Formula i was attaching ground wires from the Tripoint box individually to the chassis of the server and dac. this made it more real sounding. the music was more disconnected from sounding like it was coming from speakers, it was more holographic, with greater life-like textures, and more natural.

this is what i meant.

 

[Zeotrope]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply. I've been wondering about the purpose of the ground connector on my Nagra Tube DAC, when the AC plug already has a ground (3 prong).
Do you think that connecting the ground to another ground will improve the sound? Not sure why, if it's already grounded?

 

[Jeffy]

The idea is to clean up the ground which can and does pick up noise. I've gone a step further by detaching all my grounds at the equipment plug ends. I'm talking about the cords that plug into all of our equipment. This is not code so do this at your own risk, but it sure made the sound super clean and far less grainy and got rid of some ground loop problems I had.

 

[Zeotrope]

Ok thanks.
I don’t have ground loop problems, nor grain in the sound, so I think I’ll leave this be.
I always thought those expensive grounding boxes were just snake oil… and I fully believe in better power cords and AC regeneration and better cables.

 

[Jeffy]

I never said those boxes don’t work. I’m sure they do. As far as cleaning up the grounds you need to try it and see for yourself. You may feel your line is clean, but believe me until you try it you will never know.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply. I've been wondering about the purpose of the ground connector on my Nagra Tube DAC, when the AC plug already has a ground (3 prong).
Do you think that connecting the ground to another ground will improve the sound? Not sure why, if it's already grounded?

here is the deal with grounding boxes like the Tripoint, or Entreq. i have both in my system.

chassis grounding is a 'final touch' system thing. until you have your system worked out and set up where you really like it, it's better to not involve 'grounding boxes', since they will confuse you as to cause and effect.

but when you are really happy with what you are hearing, then this is that extra step you can take to put the cherry on top of your system performance. and then you can judge whether it takes you further. and not only that, but what those boxes can do is not otherwise accessible.

like a $100/$200/$250 shot of un-obtainium whiskey, this is not basic system building, this is really stepping up.

Ok thanks.
I don’t have ground loop problems, nor grain in the sound, so I think I’ll leave this be.
I always thought those expensive grounding boxes were just snake oil… and I fully believe in better power cords and AC regeneration and better cables.

grounding boxes are not fixes, they are performance boosters.

fix first, then contemplate these type products.

 

[defride]

I'd concur with Mike.

I've had the Troy SE in my system a couple of times. Connect it up and you loose a degree of distortion you never guessed was there, the system relaxes in a natural way. Rather than additive it allows the system to be more itself

I've not tried them in my system but have experimented in other systems with Entreq and Nordost grounding but didn't feel in those implementations there were great benefits so didn't pursue them for my system. The Troy is out of reach for now so noted it as one for the future.

Since then I stumbled on Signal Ground Solutions, a small company out of Scotland. I heard good things and their entry products are a fraction of the cost of some of the other systems out there. I took a punt and have been impressed. In my system the Signature version of the entry model offers not dissimilar performance to a Troy, in particular when connected to digital devices.

Sorry off topic..