Lampizator announcement: launch of our all new TOTL HORIZON DAC

[Steve williams]

I’m sorry if this is posted but what dates and what city ?

Lampizator announcement: launch of our all new TOTL HORIZON DAC

I did not say the topic wasn't important or interesting. I just don't feel a deep dive belongs in the thread about the new Horizon. I suggest you start a new thread to discuss it. No. I only replied to one post, I know how dac works so i built my own. Have fun with your (new) gear.

whatsbestforum.com

 

[Golum]

Road trip!!

Actually I was seriously thinking about it as I have like 500k Miles to spend with Luftwaffe but with two small kids at home it's a big logistics where US visa which i need to get just complicates things beyond my current capacity to handle....crap

 

[Steve williams]

Actually I was seriously thinking about it as I have like 500k Miles to spend with Luftwaffe but with two small kids at home it's a big logistics where US visa which i need to get just complicates things beyond my current capacity to handle....crap

You, Christoph and dminches should make the road trip

 

[ctydwn]

Concerning the comparison to Pacific: I would say that the new tube section delivers more slamm, more PRAT, more legible soundscene, deeper stage, wider and higher boundaries of soundstage, better thread separation while the "togetherness" of musicians is also improved. Bass goes deeper and more bass nuances are there. The output impedance is much lower, making the amp interaction easier and bass better.
The digital section will add to it much higher resolution, extreme naturalness, human dimension to vocals, hair rising "you are there" factor. I dont wanna over-shoot here, but I would say the price difference perfectly reflects the superiority of the Horizon.

Thank you for this description Lukasz (and others’ reassurance). Very helpful for me. Sounds wonderful. Will sleep better too. Hope you still get a chance to do some fishing and enjoy what sounds like a transformational success.

 

[Zero000]

you could simply have deleted the text between the statement and the wink

Less of the jokes and more of the get yourself round to Steve's place.

Journey to the temple of Lucasz.

The title of your next Zero Distortion thread.

 

[joaovieira]

I saw many interesting posts about the i2s. Let me please go into details of this. i2s is a digital language through which the chips talk to each other on the PCB. It was not intended as a connection format. The use of i2S like a transmission format is a mistake of the industry. It is good for PCM, but at the same time useless for DSD. Many folks love DSD and they should stick to USB - the only format playing DSD properly. If you use i2S, the receiving part has no clue when to mute, because so called muting flags are missing. Consequently there may be big bangs in between format changes, foe example when clocks change, especially between the 44,1 and multiples and the 44 kHz and multiples. USB has embedded intelligence called firmware that can predict the bangs and mute them. i2S doesnt. We never experienced any SQ improvement in i2S versus good USB therefore i2S is not our format of choice. USB is. If your player knows when to mute i2S - be my guest and use it for PCM, it may be very good. RJ45 and HDMI are 100% equal in Sound quality, no difference at all. RJ45 cables can be hand made to any length, HDMI almost impossible to make unless "industral" machinery is used. Anyway, the sonic superiority of the Horizon over its competitors will be so vast, that the connection format will be completely unimportant. It will be like choosing tires for the Bugatti.

I was reading this interesting thread about this wonderful dac, and saw that post of Lukas about IS2. it calls my attention as my APL DNP SR streamer is connected to my APL DSD MR SE dac by a IS2 cable.
So I asked Alex Peychev from APL what is going on with iS2 and this was the answer he gave me.
I think that it can be interesting for the discussion as this is another approach.

“First of all, let us not mistake I2C, used for the chips to communicate, with I2S used for audio transmission.
I2S is an audio protocol developed by Philips, similar to Right Justified (Sony) and Left Justified protocols.
However, in the audio world, the I2S connection is referred as to such that transmits audio data and clocks on separate lines, so we usually have 4 lines with Data, Left Right Clock, Bit Clock and Master Clock for PCM. For DSD, the DSD_Left and DSD_Right are transmitted in the place of Data and Left Right Clock. Such connection is possible to use with a CD/SACD transport, but impossible to use with a computer. This is the reason why there are devices using the USB or LAN connections to communicate with the computer but then output I2S audio format to the actual DAC. In other words, we need a USB to I2S converter in order to connect a DAC to a computer. We are using a proprietary I2S-like balanced transmission between our CD/SACD transport, our DNP-SR MK2 streamer and our DACs. The streamer contains a USB device which communicates with the computer and outputs I2S to be transmitted directly to the DAC. The benefit is eliminating long USB cables (we use only 12 centimetres internal connection to the USB port) and transmitting the Data and Clocks to our DACs separately. This gives us a better performance.
As for the “sonic superiority of Horizon over its competitors will be so vast..” maybe some independent audiophiles would consider A-B test with our DSD-MR SE? USB connection will be just fine. ”

 

[mr.gregdee]

Yes, but you also have some folks in Lampi community who can loan you tubes to try without purchasing every variation possible

That's right. That is also the reason why we do keep a few sets of different demo tubes to exercise in every model which Lukasz build. Not just DHT, but also pentodes and IHT. Specially DHT tubes would cost a lot if one would like to multiply the number of owned sets it would easy exceed the price of the DAC itself. When the tube rolling is a fun, I must admit, on the end of the day the idea is to pick up the combinations which matches owner's system and personal taste best. On the end of a day that's the one which he is going to be listening to

 

[shadowlight]

That's right. That is also the reason why we do keep a few sets of different demo tubes to exercise in every model which Lukasz build. Not just DHT, but also pentodes and IHT. Specially DHT tubes would cost a lot if one would like to multiply the number of owned sets it would easy exceed the price of the DAC itself. When the tube rolling is a fun, I must admit, on the end of the day the idea is to pick up the combinations which matches owner's system and personal taste best. On the end of a day that's the one which he is going to be listening to

Yep, I was fortunate enough to have @K3RMIT loan me KR242, PX25 and PSVane WE101 tubes for my Big7+. It helped me decide that PX25 worked better in my setup, with KR242 being the next tube but I found it too hot in my setup. I heard the KR242 @christoph place couple of weeks ago and the experience was completely different in his setup.

 

[tedwoods]

So, with four triode sections and four pentode ones in place, I was wondering if one could use four ECL82/6BM8 tubes (with one triode and one pentode section within the same envelope) in a trickle down version. This tubes are widely available and along with a noval EZ81 rectifier would make for a pretty accessible DAC, tubewise. In single ended configuration maybe even two ECL82s would suffice...

 

[rau]

Concerning the comparison to Pacific: I would say that the new tube section delivers more slamm, more PRAT, more legible soundscene, deeper stage, wider and higher boundaries of soundstage, better thread separation while the "togetherness" of musicians is also improved. Bass goes deeper and more bass nuances are there. The output impedance is much lower, making the amp interaction easier and bass better.
The digital section will add to it much higher resolution, extreme naturalness, human dimension to vocals, hair rising "you are there" factor. I dont wanna over-shoot here, but I would say the price difference perfectly reflects the superiority of the Horizon.

 

[LampiNA]

Come Hear The West Coast Debut Of The Newly Released Lampizator Horizon

A Chance to Hear The Horizon and Meet Lukas Fikus (Master Yoda) And Fred Ainsley(LampiNA)

Feb 12, 13, 14 (although final dates to be determined)

over the past 6 months I have posted many times that I have reached the stage of my my system where I am finally playing my system to hear the music rather than playing the music to hear my system although I did say that I had 2 future upgrades to complete my system. Well not surprisingly I have purchased a Horizon and with the global launch of the product here at WBF I have been in contact with Fred and Lukasz for the past several months anticipating the release of the Horizon and getting to know quite a bit about the product. I have yet to announce the second piece of equipment that will be added and these two components should happily carry me off into the Horizon ( no pun intended)

To that extent I have been aware that Lukasz and Fred will be showing the Horizon at the Florida show in February. Well I would like to announce to alll who read this that I have encouraged Lukasz and Fred to come West first before the Florida show, as by that time, I will have my new Horizon with hopefully adequate tube burn in, such that I am going to open my house and my system to any and all interested who want to hear the Horizon in a well treated and set up room. Dates are still yet to be finalized but I am hoping Lukasz will arrive at my house on or before Friday Feb 11 and if so I will have an open house all day Feb 12 and Feb 13 as well as the evening of Feb 14

Although I have chosen which tubes I prefer Lukasz will be bringing a bag of tubes and we will hopefully have time to create a tube selection that will maximize the Horizon in my system As you all know I am not a tube roller. I prefer to seek the most natural sound and settle on that

So to all members and those reading this thread, this is an open invitation to all to come hear the Horizon at my house in my system and not have any worries about room issues at an audio show. Plus how much greater can it be to meet and hear Master Yoda , the brains behind it all, give personal demos. Also Fred will be hear as well. For those who don't know Fred, he is LampiNA here on WBF and is the USA distributor for the Lampizator products. Fred has helped me immensely in my Lampizator quest and he will be here as well for these day.

As I think about this post, I realize that this is actually more than the West Coast Debut of the Horizon but in all likelihood the USA and possibly even global debut. So to everyone reading, it's cheap to get here. Southwest Air into John Wayne Orange County Airport is the easiest. For those coming by car I am about 60 miles south got Los Angeles. I live in a guarded gate community so I am requesting that you contact me by PM so I can put names of attendees on the gate pass otherwise they will deny deny entry

Lukasz and Fred have been gracious to make this happen so I am hoping that those along the west coast and here in California will take the drive, have a listen and meet Lukas and Fred. I am very excited about this and I know Lukas and Fred feel the same.

I have a small listening room so I would prefer to give times for attendees so they can spend the most time listening. AsA Result I am posting this a few months early and I will give updates as we get closer but again this will be the big North American Debut



​

Alright! My plane tickets are booked! Looking forward to this event as well as meeting many of you.

Thank you again to Steven for hosting what I'm sure will be a fun and enlightening gathering!

 

[Steve williams]

So great news.

Fred arrives on Friday eve Feb 11 and I just received a message from Lukasz that he is arriving on Thursday Feb 10

Spots are filling up guys. I am betting this will not only be an enlightening few days learning about The Horizon but will also shape up to be a lot of fun. So if you’re interested in hearing the Horizon and meeting Master Yoda and Fred please contact me for info

 

[mr.gregdee]

Yep, I was fortunate enough to have @K3RMIT loan me KR242, PX25 and PSVane WE101 tubes for my Big7+. It helped me decide that PX25 worked better in my setup, with KR242 being the next tube but I found it too hot in my setup. I heard the KR242 @christoph place couple of weeks ago and the experience was completely different in his setup.

Txs Shadow for backing up my words on that matter, it would make lots of good to the brand and tho the tube rolling culture in general when the purpose of the rolling will be seen properly in the context of the system. You see in my systems there are usually 45s and PX4s which proof to fit best, when 25s and 242s are usually to muscular and hint dark side, especially 25s Still Love the game ...

 

[mr.gregdee]

So great news.

Fred arrives on Friday eve Feb 11 and I just received a message from Lukasz that he is arriving on Thursday Feb 10

Spots are filling up guys. I am betting this will not only be an enlightening few days learning about The Horizon but will also shape up to be a lot of fun. So if you’re interested in hearing the Horizon and meeting Master Yoda and Fred please contact me for info

Looking Guys like you are going to have a great time Envy You

 

[Steve williams]

Looking Guys like you are going to have a great time Envy You

I have space for you if you wish to visit. Sunday is filling up quickly

 

[bonzo75]

Yep, I was fortunate enough to have @K3RMIT loan me KR242, PX25 and PSVane WE101 tubes for my Big7+. It helped me decide that PX25 worked better in my setup, with KR242 being the next tube but I found it too hot in my setup. I heard the KR242 @christoph place couple of weeks ago and the experience was completely different in his setup.

The 242 rarely sounds right, and it usually has to do with matching with downstream preamp. when it does sound right, it takes the Lampi a few levels up then it does with 45 and PX25. So it is worth keeping a pair and rotating downstream electronics till you great the right match.

 

[shadowlight]

Txs Shadow for backing up my words on that matter, it would make lots of good to the brand and tho the tube rolling culture in general when the purpose of the rolling will be seen properly in the context of the system. You see in my systems there are usually 45s and PX4s which proof to fit best, when 25s and 242s are usually to muscular and hint dark side, especially 25s Still Love the game ...

Yep, I am more than willing to return the favor to other folks in the community if I have tubes that are usable.

For Horizon I have Russian metal 6sn7, 6n1p-ev and one pair of Phillips/Mullard xf2 el34 to loan if anyone wants them. I am likely to have more 6sn7 type tubes once I order some replacement tubes for my integrated that uses 6sn7 in the preamp section. I do have more options in rectifiers along with triode tubes for Big7+.

 

[shadowlight]

The 242 rarely sounds right, and it usually has to do with matching with downstream preamp. when it does sound right, it takes the Lampi a few levels up then it does with 45 and PX25. So it is worth keeping a pair and rotating downstream electronics till you great the right match.

Agreed but for me it is easier to ditch the 242 and not go down the rabbit hole on changing every component so I can optimally use 242. I do not have the money or the time to do that.

 

[K3RMIT]

Most Lampi dacs are fine on many tubes if we take the time to adjust gains with vol control on dac and software
Also gain on preamp input. there are many ways to the promise land. and if we stop looking for a new fix from others even faster

 

[mr.gregdee]

Most Lampi dacs are fine on many tubes if we take the time to adjust gains with vol control on dac and software
Also gain on preamp input. there are many ways to the promise land. and if we stop looking for a new fix from others even faster

Absolutely right, we are talking here about very fine tailoring the sound to the personal taste and the system only.