Golden Gate DAC arrives.

[wisnon]

Yes, I am sure I am not upgrading from B7 - else I will get stuck on the dac upgrade path forever without upgrading speakers etc

Well, us B7 guys have anotheroption. When the Dac is sent back for DSD256 upgrade or general refresh, we can ask for GG-like component upgrades, like the Mundorf PSU caps, the Duelund silver bypass to the Jupiters, the Vishay & Furutech stuff and the Teflon sockets. No Copper chassis, but I am not too particular there, more concerned about the innards. This type of upgrade will be more cost effective and should cut the gap.

Now, we just have to wait until Lukasz gets more capacity or for the current flood of orders to subside. The former seems a better bet than the latter.

 

[bmoura]

"It's depressing."

Wisnon,
Maybe we should be addicted to " good enough" instead off " the best " ?

Well, that's why Lampizator has different models at various prices. If the Golden Gate is out of range price wise, there is always the Big 7 or the new Lite 7 which costs around 1/2 of the Big 7 price.
Choices, choices....

 

[wisnon]

Well, that's why Lampizator has different models at various prices. If the Golden Gate is out of range price wise, there is always the Big 7 or the new Lite 7 which costs around 1/2 of the Big 7 price.
Choices, choices....

True, but a little hard NOT being the BIG man on campus. LoL

 

[bmoura]

True, but a little hard NOT being the BIG man on campus. LoL

Well, does that mean there is a Balanced Golden Gate in your plans?

 

[Brucemck2]

From the Uptone Audio Website:

"The USB REGEN takes the digital audio stream from your computer or other music streaming device, and generates a completely new USB data signal to feed to your DAC. It accomplishes this by combining a carefully chosen USB hub chip with an ultra low-noise regulator and low-jitter clock. Importantly, it does so with ideal impedance matching—right at the input of your DAC."

I'm interested in this device but I am wondering what's the purpose of the low jitter clock? Does this clock override the DAC clock, which in some cases is extremely high quality? Does this device work with asynchronous USB?

Thanks,
Ken

I posted on this device earlier:
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?17351-Great-little-hub-to-put-in-front-of-a-USB-dac

It works very well, in my case in front of an asynch MSB quad rate USB input, and I highly recommend it. At the price it's a no brainer. It in no way replaces the clock your current DAC is using. (As a former writer of assembly language code, I understand the theoretical arguments for why "it should not make any difference in an asych USB setting", but in fact it makes a material difference.)

... back to the regularly scheduled Golden Gate content ....

 

[wisnon]

Well, does that mean there is a Balanced Golden Gate in your plans?

Balanced would mean new amps and cables.…not very likely.

 

[wisnon]

I posted on this device earlier:
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?17351-Great-little-hub-to-put-in-front-of-a-USB-dac

It works very well, in my case in front of an asynch MSB quad rate USB input, and I highly recommend it. At the price it's a no brainer. It in no way replaces the clock your current DAC is using. (As a former writer of assembly language code, I understand the theoretical arguments for why "it should not make any difference in an asych USB setting", but in fact it makes a material difference.)

... back to the regularly scheduled Golden Gate content ....

Actually, in the explanation I gave it most certainly does explain why.

Noise comes from several sources and we are just beginning to understand these different sources. Some of the old working thoeries were just plain WRONG.

Even the digital music SIGNAL itself carries noise via the Mac, but short of radical buffering and shutdown of the upstream part and then restart of the downstream, the signal iself, the THING THAT YOU WANT, carries some noise.

Async does nothing to stop Mac Noise or PHY noise induction. The galvanic isolation is always AFTER the USB receiver and as I showed above (in this now working theory) the receiver (PHY) itself if stressed causes its own noise. The receiver is complex and part of its is trying to clean up the incoming signal. If it gets too active, it SWEATS and gets in need of a shower. LoL

 

[rjs]

Heard one of these today at a friends house, have to say the best Dac I've heard to date, my mate has had in the house over the past year or so all the Lampi Dacs including B7 and the GG Dac is in another league

Cheers mate, I'm glad you liked the Golden Lady. I got my GG from G-Point a couple of weeks ago, but I've held off posting thus far as she's been settling in - also I always smile at those "wow moment" posts written in haste. Still not fully cooked, Duelunds can take ages to settle but this last week has been an experience.

Gotta say I've learned a few new things about articulation, soundstage and presence in tracks I thought I knew really well. In terms of realism: this is the best I've heard thus far, and my L4 Lampi and loaner B6 aren't exactly bad in that regard. I'm suffering sleep deprivation due to ploughing through the favourite albums . Utterly silent background and runs so cool - I can hold the PsVane WE 101Ds tightly and they're just warm, as is the GG copper case. No tube-rolling yet, just want her to settle up, then EML Mesh 45's will be tested. Will get to rectifiers later, but from experience the EML Mesh provided is very good - will probably take some beating.

Happy.

 

[Steve williams]

Cheers to you rjs and welcome to WBF
what is that monster tube on your amp

 

[LL21]

Cheers to you rjs and welcome to WBF
what is that monster tube on your amp

I think that's an 833 tube...like the Wavac 833 or the Win 833.



Wiki defintion

"The 833A is a large tube of the type sometimes known as a "cookie jar" tube,[1] with the envelope nominally measuring 116.8 mm (4.60 in.) in diameter and 219.2 mm (8.63 in.) in height.

...A pair of tubes used in a class B modulator can deliver 1800 watts of "peak" AF power in ICAS service with speech, or 1600 watts in CCS service with music or high duty cycle operation. Two 833A's are capable of approximately 800 watts sine wave power in a class B audio amplifier or modulator. This assumes approximately 58% efficiency, 1400 watts input, and 300 watts per tube anode dissipation...

...The 833A was widely used in small (1 kW class) AM broadcast transmitters. Typically, a pair of 833As would be used in the final amplifier, plate modulated by another pair. It was also used in small induction heaters. This tube has also been used by hobbyists to construct a vacuum tube Tesla coil.[5]"

 

[LL21]

Steve,

Sunnyboy1956 here owns the Wavac 833 MkII in case you're interested...

 

[rjs]

Cheers to you rjs and welcome to WBF
what is that monster tube on your amp

Cheers, GU81/FU80.

 

[Steve williams]

Cheers, GU81/FU80.

And I thought the GM-70 in my amp was huge

 

[LL21]

Cheers, GU81/FU80.

Cool stuff...what is the difference between this and the 833 tube that looks similar and is used by Wavac?

 

[rjs]

And I thought the GM-70 in my amp was huge

GM70 (esp coppers) and 211 are two of my favourites. These monsters are new to me, I've not tried such powerful valves before but they're quite addictive imo - musical (in the good way) but punchy and extended.

 

[rjs]

Cool stuff...what is the difference between this and the 833 tube that looks similar and is used by Wavac?

Sorry LL I've not experienced the Wavac/833 design (though it looks stunning!). Here's a bit of info on GU81...

http://danyk.cz/gu81_en.html

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PageIndex=3&postID=16055#16055

Robert

 

[rjs]

Hi yes, the Lampi changes character based on the power cord which makes it more enjoyable. Adding mooks under it also transforms it tremendously. What I like about it is that not only does it sound great out of the box, but is also a tweakophile's wet dream with tubes, cords and isolation all affecting its sonics in a big way.

Can attest to the effect of the giant Mooks on the Lampi GG. Good lord that was astonishing Kedar. Ok, I try to avoid wow moments but that was the real deal.

Robert

 

[LL21]

Sorry LL I've not experienced the Wavac/833 design (though it looks stunning!). Here's a bit of info on GU81...

http://danyk.cz/gu81_en.html

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PageIndex=3&postID=16055#16055

Robert

Thank you! There is a member her who owns the Wavac 833 MkII (Sunnyboy1956), and i've asked him to chime in here with any insight into the 833 tube.

 

[rjs]

It's depressing.

I thought the GG would just be a blingier version of the B7 with a few minor improvements here and there. Initial opinions seemed to confirm this, but we all forgot that brand new - unbroken - GGs were being compared to 1 year old B7s and it was not a fair fight. Now that GGs have a month or 2 on their clocks, they seem to be blowing away the B7. Unbelievable. All the minor parst upgrade seem to be more than the sum of their parts and redefining Lampi SoTA performance.

This has really taken a bit of shine off my B7. Sigh.

Oh well, cant stop progress.

Couldn't have put it better. Only two weeks in, and I'm rediscovering my music even compared to the very sorted Lampi B6 I've been living with recently (thanks Greg!), and the L4, L7's I've owned/had here.

Something good is going on with the GG.

 

[Alpinist]

Yes, it is async.

To completely regenerate the signal, and keep Signal Integrity (SI) high, you need clean power, low jitter clock, impedance matching and optimized PDN. These are the supporting pathways for the main objective....HIGH SI! These are necessary but not by themsleves (in isolation) sufficient conditions for high SI.


When you pass on the high SI to the Dac USB receiver, then you cut down packet noise and all else functions as as one would desire. Dac clock takes over, etc.

Thanks for the explanation, Norman!

Ken