LampizatOr Amber 2 - heavily underestimated gem

[VoicesInMyHead]

My Lampi journey started out with a Level 4 DSD, then moved on to Atlantic and Golden Atlantic (balanced with volume). After a while I guess I got spoiled with high performing DAC's and kind of forgot how important they are in the system. Somehow I believed technical advancement had come further and that I could live without my beloved LampizatOr.

For a while I was using streamers with built-in DAC's, and I'm not sure if I was trying to fool myself or others, but I kept telling everyone that it was great, I mean it played music, it sounded great, it wasn't bad at all. One day a member on a local forum asked me if I was happy or if I missed something, my immediate reaction was that "I'm super happy, I don't miss a thing".

This phrase about "missing something" got stuck with me though, why did he use those words, maybe I _was_ missing something. That very special feeling that just gets me hooked into the music, the joy and playfulness, that feeling that got me to return 3 times to the Lampi room in Munich last year, just to sit there completely mesmerized and falling deeper and deeper into the music.

Yup, I was missing that!

A few weeks ago I got the Amber III much thanks to reading this thread (among others). I don't know how I can express in words this wonderful feeling of "being back again", it's somehow like a love affair that was interrupted, but we managed to find each other again and now it feels stronger than ever before! The fact that I'm now back on the "entry level", here among all Pacific and GG owners actually doesn't bother me, it just makes me appreciate it so much more, to me this is the perfect LampizatOr right now and it sounds absolutely stunning!

So, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for getting me back on track again... who knows where it will end this time, but for now this little baby is not going anywhere!

 

[John57]

I just put an Amber III for sale in classifieds if anyone is interested.

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

I just put an Amber III for sale in classifieds if anyone is interested.

And I was a bit surprised to see that... of course it always comes to personal taste and matching with the rest of the system, but shortly after I got my Amber I told a local dealer I wouldn't exchange this DAC for anything (and gave a concrete example of a DAC priced at 5x Amber III). I just think it's tremendous value and that it can be a great partner in many high end systems to a certain level. But again, matching is everything...

Out of curiosity, what are you planning to get instead?

 

[John57]

And I was a bit surprised to see that... of course it always comes to personal taste and matching with the rest of the system, but shortly after I got my Amber I told a local dealer I wouldn't exchange this DAC for anything (and gave a concrete example of a DAC priced at 5x Amber III). I just think it's tremendous value and that it can be a great partner in many high end systems to a certain level. But again, matching is everything...

Out of curiosity, what are you planning to get instead?

Hi VIMH
Firstly financial.
Then choices choices.
I’m trying an Audio Research LS10 preamp next.
Later I’ll consider my options.
I’m working on taming or selling my Esoteric K03Xs SE.

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

Hi VIMH
Firstly financial.
Then choices choices.
I’m trying an Audio Research LS10 preamp next.
Later I’ll consider my options.
I’m working on taming or selling my Esoteric K03Xs SE.

A good preamp is always a good idea, I used a Music First Baby Reference v2 with my Golden Atlantic even though I had volume control on the Lampi. Today I kind of like the simplicity of the DAC being a DAC only, nothing else. Anyway, good luck with the sale.

 

[John57]

Thanks mate.

 

[Golum]

My Lampi journey started out with a Level 4 DSD, then moved on to Atlantic and Golden Atlantic (balanced with volume). After a while I guess I got spoiled with high performing DAC's and kind of forgot how important they are in the system. Somehow I believed technical advancement had come further and that I could live without my beloved LampizatOr.

For a while I was using streamers with built-in DAC's, and I'm not sure if I was trying to fool myself or others, but I kept telling everyone that it was great, I mean it played music, it sounded great, it wasn't bad at all. One day a member on a local forum asked me if I was happy or if I missed something, my immediate reaction was that "I'm super happy, I don't miss a thing".

This phrase about "missing something" got stuck with me though, why did he use those words, maybe I _was_ missing something. That very special feeling that just gets me hooked into the music, the joy and playfulness, that feeling that got me to return 3 times to the Lampi room in Munich last year, just to sit there completely mesmerized and falling deeper and deeper into the music.

Yup, I was missing that!

A few weeks ago I got the Amber III much thanks to reading this thread (among others). I don't know how I can express in words this wonderful feeling of "being back again", it's somehow like a love affair that was interrupted, but we managed to find each other again and now it feels stronger than ever before! The fact that I'm now back on the "entry level", here among all Pacific and GG owners actually doesn't bother me, it just makes me appreciate it so much more, to me this is the perfect LampizatOr right now and it sounds absolutely stunning!

So, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for getting me back on track again... who knows where it will end this time, but for now this little baby is not going anywhere!

I’m really glad you like it. Another friend of mine got it yesterday and he’s kind of in a same boat as you are regarding the performance of this “small” big DAC..Enjoy it!

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

I’m really glad you like it. Another friend of mine got it yesterday and he’s kind of in a same boat as you are regarding the performance of this “small” big DAC..Enjoy it!

Yeah, even though I've had Lampis before I wasn't sure what to expect and I guess I was almost as blown away as when you and wisnon shared your listening experience. Immediately it actually felt like one of the larger upgrades I had done in quite some time, but then my system is also quite revealing to what happens upstream. Add a great DAC and it will show.

My only minor "problem" with Lampi's has always been the size of the boxes, that's why I found the Atlantic series to my liking, and for me the Amber makes it even better by not having any tubes visibly exposed but still being an amazing performer. It simply has my name written all over it...

 

[wisnon]

Voices, I wish you got the VC...we have tricks with that to take the experience to another level again! And Yes, you still need the Preamp even with VC for the "magic trick" to work.

Next time, please PM Goran or me before making a move.

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

Voices, I wish you got the VC...we have tricks with that to take the experience to another level again! And Yes, you still need the Preamp even with VC for the "magic trick" to work.

Next time, please PM Goran or me before making a move.

Ohh, a magic trick with volume control? Sounds exciting... I don't think it would have changed anything for me at this time though, I'm using an integrated amp these days, it was part of my "scaling down while upgrading" project last year to move upwards with a better amp while getting rid of my monoblocks, DAC, preamp and tons of cables and in the end finding myself with a much better balanced system. I just had to revert what I did on the DAC front which obviously was a mistake...

I honestly feel absolutely zero upgrade need with the Amber for the moment, next up is going to be speakers....

 

[Golum]

Since I'm currently playing all my music through the Azure 851N, with Quboz and sometimes Apple Music (not really focusing on analog right now), would it make sense to try the Amber 3 in my system? From what my ears can tell, I find the order of sound improvement to be:

1st the speakers/room interaction, either the amp or preamp for 2nd, source the 3rd and everything else after. I've found difficulty in telling big differences in expensive transports or ultra high end cables for the money paid.

I was thinking of replacing the preamp with a HT bypass for improved 2 channel performance in a previous post but maybe the better improvement for the money at this point without spending in the five figures (for a preamp) would be a better DAC? It seems like this is a killer unit for a relatively low entry point that might make the biggest difference in my system? IMO Cary Audio is right up there with the Classe that was used in Golem's friends place and if he heard a big improvement...

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/new-member-saying-hello-and-needing-some-advice.29857/

A bit of a late answer but still. Your order of things to improve sound is quite ok. Except I would maybe put source on second place, as if you feed the amps with crap you'll get crap out. No amp will improve it. So if you can, try out A3 and see how it goes. I'm sure improvement will be massive.

Cheers;
G

 

[GT Audio Works]

I would agree...Lampi is amazing...my dealer now has a Pacific DAC for demo and I can tell you from first hand experience, it just crushed his Esoteric K01xs SACD unit.

 

[bonzo75]

I would agree...Lampi is amazing...my dealer now has a Pacific DAC for demo and I can tell you from first hand experience, it just crushed his Esoteric K01xs SACD unit.

I crushed 3 esoteric k01, one was with big 7. A couple of esoteric owners here disliked me for it

 

[John57]

Does anyone know how to contact Lukas Fikus or anyone at Lampizator?
Lukasz doesn’t respond to email despite asking me to email him directly. TIA.

 

[bonzo75]

Facebook

 

[John57]

Facebook

Yes it was there that he asked me to contact him directly.

 

[LampiNA]

Yes it was there that he asked me to contact him directly.

Hi John,

Times are a bit crazy right now, as you know. But I handle all sales and support in. North America. Is there anything I can help you with?

Fred A.

 

[John57]

Hi John,

Times are a bit crazy right now, as you know. But I handle all sales and support in. North America. Is there anything I can help you with?

Fred A.

G’day Fred
My unit is having significant distortion that rises and falls with the music.
It’s a brand new unit hardly burned in.
Thanks for your quick response.
John