I've had these KR242's since before I got the GG last year, but could not use them due to the gain. looking forward to those tube choices along with the SGM which is killer.
should have the 'uber' GG back in 2 weeks.
Golden Gate DAC arrives.
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I've had these KR242's since before I got the GG last year, but could not use them due to the gain. looking forward to those tube choices along with the SGM which is killer.
should have the 'uber' GG back in 2 weeks.
My upgraded GG dac - dsd 512 board, two 'super' clocks for dsd as well as all pcm modes, trial period with the HQ player/Roon for the Lampi computer/server - should have been playing for a week now. Due to all kind of bad luck (very annoying indeed) the unit has still not arrived. I am not interested in using other tubes than (Elrog/Takatsuki) 300b or mesh anniversary valves.
Exactly!! This also was 100% my conclusion and one of the many reasons why I posted:
If the GG is considered the flagship Lampizator DAC, it should come standard with ALL of the best SQ bells and whistles. Because most of us have bought unheard, how the heck can we determine which Engine we prefer? It's not exactly like selecting an auto's Engine (e.g. one engine doesn’t go from 0-60 quicker than the other
)! I for one trust Lukasz making these sorts of determinations for his flagship product!Lukasz and his ears and expertise have managed to create wonderful sounding products. I believe that Lukasz’ ears and the ears of several of his business associates and distributors should be capable of A/B’ing and determining the best SQ options and upon doing so, make them standard on the GG. If the superclock sounds better than other card(s), put it on the GG. If the discrete R2R resistor ladder sounds better than whatever the other engine is, then make it standard on the GG!
In the same vein, I don't understand why the Anniversary mesh plate EML 45 is/was a limited production collector's item. I heard them in comparison with other output tubes and liked them so much, I'd be plain miffed if I were to order a GG and be told I couldn't get those. Tube rolling aside (I personally couldn't care less, I'd rather have an all-purpose tube that sounds just like the Anniversary mesh plate), they should simply be the standard tube for the GG, period. Needless to say, these are just my two cents worth…
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
Those tubes are no more in production and only two runs were made, one recently. Px4 and Px25 are close and the 242 if it works is better. Those are from KR.
Heard it through the grapevine - indirectly from you, no doubt. A new audiophile acquaintance of mine (a Kron fan) is going to get those for his GG, which he says he ordered with those tubes in mind. Looking forward to hearing them!
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
Following my above post’s -- for best SQ -- how should I configure a new Balanced GG with Volume Control?
BTW, I plan on running it direct to my balanced monoblocks (no pre-amp). My present SE Big7 setup: recent vintage modified Apple Mac mini with outboard P/S; Windows Boot Camp, using JRiver (because of JRemote); I’ve yet to find upsampling to my liking (but I've only tried with this software/hardware setup)! I do plan on switching to a Sonore microRendu and place the Mac mini elsewhere but still use it as the Ethernet cabled music server to microRendu.
The most subjective question first: Which (4) DHT's (PX4's seem to garner fairly ubiquotous praise)? Then 242’s – with a switch (is switch available on Bal GG?) – seem to be a great choice. What say you?
I do like my current NOS rectifiers: WE422 and RCA 5R4GY (1940s with double D bottom getters).
The superclock appears to be a given – correct?
Meaning of SGM &/or SMG ?
PCM Engine?
DSD Engine?
If I don’t upsample, will I miss 512? Or for future proofing and potential HQ Player use, should I get 512?
Anything else I’m missing, or you would recommend?
BTW, I plan on running it direct to my balanced monoblocks (no pre-amp). My present SE Big7 setup: recent vintage modified Apple Mac mini with outboard P/S; Windows Boot Camp, using JRiver (because of JRemote); I’ve yet to find upsampling to my liking (but I've only tried with this software/hardware setup)! I do plan on switching to a Sonore microRendu and place the Mac mini elsewhere but still use it as the Ethernet cabled music server to microRendu.
The most subjective question first: Which (4) DHT's (PX4's seem to garner fairly ubiquotous praise)? Then 242’s – with a switch (is switch available on Bal GG?) – seem to be a great choice. What say you?
I do like my current NOS rectifiers: WE422 and RCA 5R4GY (1940s with double D bottom getters).
The superclock appears to be a given – correct?
Meaning of SGM &/or SMG ?
PCM Engine?
DSD Engine?
If I don’t upsample, will I miss 512? Or for future proofing and potential HQ Player use, should I get 512?
Anything else I’m missing, or you would recommend?
I will answer some of your questions.
As for tubes I will let someone else give their 2 cents.
Yes, go for the Superclock.
Meaning of SGM is Sound Galleries Monaco for the Sound Galleries Music Server SGM 2015.
Do the chipless DSD engine
Do the R2R PCM
YES!! Do the DSD512. And do HQ Player. In fact do the following. Roon/HQ Player up-sampling to DSD512 ideally with the SGM 2015, otherwise with a PC that can do the processing.
I have been down the server road that you list above at one time (reminds me I have to sell my mod Mac Mini) and there is NO comparison. Not just in the hardware BUT also in the software.
My 2 cents
Cheers
Hi,
For tubes, the PX4 are very good all rounders (ditto the PX25) though the 242 come with a caution wrt the input sensitivity of your power amps as they are higher gain tubes. The 242 'switch' others mentioned above is about swapping tubes rather than a physical switch. Wrt rectifiers, should you wish to evaluate alternatives then Takasuki 274B is top notch.
Whilst ordering, definitely tick the options boxes for Superclock(s) and 512DSD. The former for performance today and the latter for future proofing. R2R pcm is a standard fitment on the GG model, though the website doesn't make this 100% clear.
Anything missing? Two small but very meaningful tweaks are to add an SR Black fuse and to use an unpowered USB cable. Those two alone can give@50% improvement in SQ. Presume you are already using a decent LAN cable, also the GISO galvanic isolator works well for me.
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A question for all GG owners here. Do you use a separate preamp in combination with the GG? What made you decide to use a separate preamp? Or the preamp functionality of the GG with volume control? Sablon Audio already informed me how the volume control works (thanks!). I am trying to make up my mind wether I should go with a GG with volume control, while I currently use an old but still well functioning Classe Omega Pre MKII...
Reasons I can think of are less interconnects, one power cable less, more space in my rack. On the other hand, with my previous DAC (dCS Paganini) the addition of the Classe was well worth it.
Reasons I can think of are less interconnects, one power cable less, more space in my rack. On the other hand, with my previous DAC (dCS Paganini) the addition of the Classe was well worth it.
Separate preamp will give its own color which some people like. IME it adds more weight and body. GG on its own is faster and cleaner. System results can vary. One guy sold off his Wavac PRT-1 to run the Lampi in directly. When I compared with Jadis JPL, I preferred the Jadis, two of my friends preferred it direct. I also compared with Shindo Giscours, same observations. Also in case there is a gain/impedance mismatch, an external pre will smoothen that out. Is the cost of a good external pre a must? No.
Sablon, how does the GG do directly into your Berning compared to a Berning preamp?
I have long been a fan of dropping the preamp for the reasons you both mentioned above and all of my several lampi dacs have been configured in this fashion without any power amp compatibility issues. I am currently between demo Lampi dacs and do not have a Berning preamp, hence am not in a position to provide you with any comparative notes.
I'm not a GG owner (a new audiophile acquaintance of mine is), and this is as concise a description as one can give of what a (great!) preamp will do compared to using a DAC driving a power amp directly. What I can contribute, however, is this: I've been using the digital volume control of earlier generation dCS myself, and it takes a Rossini (auditioned yesterday, hoping to find the time for a writeup) or Vivaldi for its effects not to be audible at all. With "older" dCS (as I call them, even if affectionately), there's a little give and take using the digital volume control (surely best to use it down to -20 dB only as recommended by dCS at the time, and -24 dB maximum for attentive listening). Basically, depending upon the total system gain, the total system resolution will make it difficult if not impossible to hear a loss in converter resolution. With the Rossini and Vivaldi, that problem would seem a thing of the past (I could no longer hear the effects of the volume control in the same range). But more importantly, the volume control in the GG is not digital, so one might say it's effectively its own preamp already, and that adding another might seem unnecessary:
http://www.lampizator.eu/Fikus/VOLUME_CONTROL.html
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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You nailed it in one David - the key point is whether the attnuation is conducted in the digital domain or on the analogue signal.
The Lampi falls into the latter camp, using a resistive approach in a similar fashion to many high end preamplifiers, albeit with a sophisticated implementation. I have had examples of a couple of high end dacs with digital volume controls and matching them with the input characteristics of the power amp is critical to keep them operating in the sweet spot without losing the resolution capabilities of the dac chip. Quite ironically, the model with the plethora of user changeable dip switches was the worse sounding of the two!
The Lampi falls into the latter camp, using a resistive approach in a similar fashion to many high end preamplifiers, albeit with a sophisticated implementation. I have had examples of a couple of high end dacs with digital volume controls and matching them with the input characteristics of the power amp is critical to keep them operating in the sweet spot without losing the resolution capabilities of the dac chip. Quite ironically, the model with the plethora of user changeable dip switches was the worse sounding of the two!
Running my SE Big7 direct results in the above description. However in my case, "faster cleaner" completely overshadows the slight amount of more "weight and body". Now that I'm not spinning vinyl, I no longer need a switching device. Thus, purely for SQ, I will continue running the B7 direct!
This conclusion is probably more system dependent than most. But the weight and body produced by the B7 is indeed more than sufficient with my monoblocks and full-range electrostatic speakers! Plus with the B7, the clarity and transparency obtained running direct, far outweigh anything lost by removing the pre-amp! I couldn't say the same about a former Wadia 861 CDP. With it, the pre-amp was necessary!
This was one of the players I alluded to above, GNSC Statement SE version thereof, and would definitely concur that it would likely need an active preamp. Preferably tube also.
I just spoke with Lukasz and he has confirmed that Superclock is now included in the standard specification of Golden Gate.
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