LampizatOr Baltic 3

[wisnon]

Can anyone compare the B3 to the GA TRP? I’m looking to acquire my first Lampi and was wondering if the B3 gets one close to the GA TRP sound, without the massive amount of tube rolling options.

From memory, I would say so, though I only have good experience with the Non Golden VC version TRP. They both have a more forward and aggressive presentation vs the Pac with standard tubes. i need to try against Pac with KR 242 and KR PX25, for example. High compression/performance 4 cylinders vs big block V8. My subjective impression. All have that "lit from within" characteristic though.

 

[wisnon]

Well, three of my friends awaiting delivery of their B3s in the upcoming 2/3 weeks...will be lots of info from their side I would say .
Two of them newcomers to Lampi world, third one moving from Baltic 1 (but some special edition made for him)...

I guess at least one is doing backflips already, given that B3 trounces the already impressive modded Baltic 2.

 

[shakti]

Baltic 3 is arrived

It took a few days longer, as Lukasz offered to make a silver color scheme, which fits to my Audionet Stern Preamp.
As standard option, you can order the Baltic 3 top plate in many different versions, but matching the Audionet Stern means,
to customize the front as well.

And thanx to Lukasz and his team, they have done a great job, the Baltic 3 fits nicely to the Audionet Stern on the next shelf .

I heard the Baltic 3 with the standard tubes, coming the Baltic 3, first impression is very nice!

But the better is the better and part of the Lampizator fun, the tube rolling

Currently playing:

Emission labs 274, special Lampizator selection
Psvane CV181T
Telefunken ECC82

This set of tubes will make some more hours, seem to blend very nice with the Audionet Stern/Heisenberg sound

(picture with standard tubes)

 

[Golum]

Looks really great J.! Have fun with it and hearing it at my place I'm quite confident it will deliver...

 

[Golum]

I guess at least one is doing backflips already, given that B3 trounces the already impressive modded Baltic 2.

One owner already started wearing dipers...two others guess from tmr and weekend ahead of us...

 

[wisnon]

Thanks Goran, looks like the diaper club will grow soon. Ha

 

[wisnon]

Baltic 3 is arrived

It took a few days longer, as Lukasz offered to make a silver color scheme, which fits to my Audionet Stern Preamp.
As standard option, you can order the Baltic 3 top plate in many different versions, but matching the Audionet Stern means,
to customize the front as well.

And thanx to Lukasz and his team, they have done a great job, the Baltic 3 fits nicely to the Audionet Stern on the next shelf .

I heard the Baltic 3 with the standard tubes, coming the Baltic 3, first impression is very nice!

But the better is the better and part of the Lampizator fun, the tube rolling

Currently playing:

Emission labs 274, special Lampizator selection
Psvane CV181T
Telefunken ECC82

This set of tubes will make some more hours, seem to blend very nice with the Audionet Stern/Heisenberg sound

(picture with standard tubes)

View attachment 75124

Lovely match. More system pics please.

what rolling tubes have you set aside for it? I know GZ480 is a great recti match for the B3. Unfortunately, I don’t have many output tubes of that ilk, only 1 pair of 6sn7 and no ecc802.

 

[shakti]

I do a copy and paste from another thread:

Shakti:
Having had many tube DACs at home (Lampi 5, 6, 7, Atlantic, Big7, GG1, GG2, Pacific, Aqua LeVoce, Formula, Brinkmann Nyquist II, Yggdrasil, BAT Rex, and even more) I currently ended up to listen music to a Lampizator Baltic 3.

The Baltic 3 plays (depending on the set of tubes) on the warm side of neutral, has a lot of weight and energy, very nice vocals.
(EML 274, Psvane CV181T, Telefunken ECC82 is my current set up)
Changing to a Kron 5U4G and some modern ECC82 will give a more analytic and contoured sound, but still on the warm side.
Even if the technology is more close to Pacific, the tonal balance is more close to Lampi GG1, which I still like.
You can improve the standard tubes by ease and for a fair budget. But the standard tubes a nice as well.

I am not using the USB input (My K50 prefers the AES/EBU output)



Wisnon:
I was able to roll the gold base Psvane 6sn7 and the supplied Sylvania 12au7 and ONLY used my own GZ480 rectifier. I only had a soviet 6H8 and it did no beat the gorgeous gold base 6sn7. I found the Sylvania virtually equal to my Tungsram and Phillips Delta Code ECC82 and slighly better than my Adzam ECC82. Unlike DHT rolling, I did not find the changes due to rolling as very significant. A pal in Serbia did some rolling and found some changes he liked.
See quote: "I also have plenty of russian 6H8S which is 6sn7 equivalent. They are standard tubes in BAT amps and I uderstand why. They have aery energetic sound. With them, BAT amps sound more solid, not overly warm. Put two Sylvanias in BAT and sound became too tubey, slow and too warm for my taste. So I was combining Sylania and Raytheon. Raytheon is sophisticated version of 6H8S (my current favourite), more details but also very dynamic and fun to listen tube. All imho"

and will answer in the next post:

 

[shakti]

My Baltic 3 was shipped wit

- Psvane Blue Glass 6SN7
- Russian rectifier
- JJ ECC802s (which is a modern produced Telefunken sibling) tubes

as shown on my picture above.

A quick change to

- EML 274 rectifier

shows a little more soft , but more detailed sound, which I like.
(Unfortunately my Kron recty is busy in the Allnic Phono)

Different NOS and new ECC82, 12AU7, ECC802s types all showed the characteristic, so far now favorite,
the standard JJ is not a bad tube at all

Looking to the 6SN7 position, my current favorite is the

- Psvane CV 181 T MII/2

I will try in the future the

- RCA VT 99 (6F8G Type) (with the needed adapter)

But at the moment I like the Baltic 3 just to get some hours on to give the fine tuning some more substance.

 

[shadowlight]

Could 7n7 and 6f8g with adapter be used in Baltic?

 

[Golum]

Could 7n7 and 6f8g with adapter be used in Baltic?

Yup for both - 7N7 already played in friends B3...

 

[Fohlenfan]

Baltic 3 is arrived

It took a few days longer, as Lukasz offered to make a silver color scheme, which fits to my Audionet Stern Preamp.
As standard option, you can order the Baltic 3 top plate in many different versions, but matching the Audionet Stern means,
to customize the front as well.

And thanx to Lukasz and his team, they have done a great job, the Baltic 3 fits nicely to the Audionet Stern on the next shelf .

I heard the Baltic 3 with the standard tubes, coming the Baltic 3, first impression is very nice!

But the better is the better and part of the Lampizator fun, the tube rolling

Currently playing:

Emission labs 274, special Lampizator selection
Psvane CV181T
Telefunken ECC82

This set of tubes will make some more hours, seem to blend very nice with the Audionet Stern/Heisenberg sound

(picture with standard tubes)

View attachment 75124

Dear Jürgen, is the Baltic with better Tubes on Par with the Brinkmann Nyquist? For me this Would be a direct order decision, knowing how good the Nyquist is.
Kind Regards
Lars

 

[shakti]

Dear Jürgen, is the Baltic with better Tubes on Par with the Brinkmann Nyquist? For me this Would be a direct order decision, knowing how good the Nyquist is.
Kind Regards
Lars

between the time my Nyquist II has left me and the new Baltic 3 arrived were 3 weeks,
too much time gone to do a fair comparison.
Both are very good in their own way, from the memory, the Nyquist is better in details, the Baltic 3 is a little warmer blended and plays with more energy in the lower midband.

I am not a fanatic in details, always looking for a balanced "natural" sound, the Baltic 3 is in my set up (with Audionet) the better match, my previous Jeff Rowland set up (Criterion, 2x 825) was perfect with the Nyquist II.

 

[wisnon]

Hi Shakti,

Please post a full system picture (updated to current) when you can. Much obliged.

 

[Nikko]

Hello everyone, first time post here.

I am in the UK and cannot sing highly enough the praises of Greg from G-Point Audio, my local Lampizator distributor. Thanks to his influence with the mother ship, I have on order a Baltic 3 *with integrated volume control*. Hopefully arriving next month sometime.

In the meantime, Greg has most generously loaned me a demo Baltic 3 unit which I connect directly to a Boulder power amp using balanced cables. Volume control is currently achieved in the digital domain via HQPlayer and its integration with Roon. I hope to see better performance by moving volume to the analog domain in the new DAC.

Greg knows his onions and has sold me a Psvane Acme 5U4G rectifier, which tightens everything up. But the most significant transformation came from swapping out the blue Psvane globes for Sylvania 6SN7GTB tubes. As previously reported, the B3 is a superb piece of kit and has completely transformed the sound of my system. Tube rolling has further improved it.

If anyone reading this is on the fence regarding the Baltic 3, don't delay, get off it and order one. And if you are in the UK, Greg is a top man and highly recommended.

Nick

 

[wisnon]

Wow, blue psvane dethroned!

 

[Nikko]

Wow, blue psvane dethroned!

It wasn't subtle!

 

[Kenc]

I've done a bit of rolling now with my B3. As you all know, this exercise is very taste and system dependent...like most other things. Keeping my rectifier constant (1944 RCA 5U4G), my favourite tube in the 6SN7 position is a RCA red base 5692. I found the Sylvania 6SN7GT VT-231 to be a
bit forward and aggressive sounding for my tastes. The stock Psvane blue bulb is also towards the forward side in my system. Similarly, at the back position, I find the Mullard ECC82 long plates to sound a bit mellower than the stock tubes and even more so than the Tele ECC82 that I also tried. Perhaps because my speakers are on the less forgiving side, I am favouring a softer flavour in the B3. YMMV.

That being said, the stock tubes are more than acceptable and these rolling exercises provide relative subtle changes in my system. I have found that network isolation tweaks and working on my streamer provide me with a greater improvement in the digital sound than rolling tubes. It is still early days and I am waiting to hear about an ultimate must have tube for the B3 from others!

 

[Devg]

what are folks using as a source to feed the B3 ?

Did anyone experiment with different inputs other than USB ? I have a Matrix Audio X-SPDIF2 laying around and tried the other inputs just to see how it sounds. Apart from the usual bandwidth limitations on SPDIF/AES-EBU/Toslink, I was pleasantly surprised that the AES/EBU sounds better than the USB.

 

[shakti]

what are folks using as a source to feed the B3 ?

Did anyone experiment with different inputs other than USB ? I have a Matrix Audio X-SPDIF2 laying around and tried the other inputs just to see how it sounds. Apart from the usual bandwidth limitations on SPDIF/AES-EBU/Toslink, I was pleasantly surprised that the AES/EBU sounds better than the USB.

As the Antipodes K50 provides a very good reclocked AES/EBU Signal, the AES/EBU Input of the Baltic 3 is my favorite one.
I am not sure, if this is coming from the Baltic spec of the inputs or from the output spec of K50.