Greg Drygala asked me to post my experiences of tube-rolling with my new Baltic3 DAC. I expanded the brief a little to talk about the bigger journey with Lampizator and to highlight the excellent service I received from Greg.
I've had the ambition to upgrade to a Lampizator DAC for literally years now and that opportunity presented itself, mid-pandemic, when all I could do was eat, work, walk the dog and listen to music.
Greg provided great advice. He talked me out of buying an Amber3 in favour of the Baltic3 and arranged with Lucasz to custom-build a version with volume/pre-amp. Once my order was placed, Greg drove out to Wiltshire with his demo Baltic3 and some spare tubes for rolling.
Coming from a BMC PureDac to the Baltic3 was a massive upgrade in of itself. I spent the first few weeks running through my catalogue rediscovering music with a stupid grin on my face. Greg checked in a couple of weeks later, asking if I had experimented with replacing the Psvane blue globes? When I asked “why”, he told me to “just do it,” and to start with the Sylvania 6SN7GTB tubes he had provided.
This first experiment with tube rolling was a huge eye-opener. The Sylvania tubes are simply so much better at everything. More detail and soundstage, a more organic presentation, better bass; they simply delivered much more engagement with the music. It was like listening to a different, better DAC. The Baltic3 manual does explain that the 6SN7 tubes deliver 80% of the sound quality, with the remaining 20% then split equally between the 5U4G rectifier and ECC82 output tubes. But who reads manuals?
With the wind in my tube rolling sails, Greg talked me into trying out a Psvane Acme 5U4G rectifier to replace the stock Russian version. It delivered a more modest, but still noticeable improvement to overall solidity and control of the musical presentation. In Greg’s words, it proved to be “a keeper”.
Some three months later, my new DAC arrived. Switching volume control from the digital domain of HQPlayer to analog relay circuits inside my Baltic3 made another huge improvement. The DAC was clearly driving my Boulder power amp much more effectively. As you might expect, I left the stock rectifier and 6SN7 tubes in their box and installed the Psvane Acme and Sylvania tubes in their place.
Whilst I was burning in the new unit, I ordered another set of tubes to experiment with. From Hong Kong, I ordered a matched pair of Psvane CV181-T Mark II Classic Grade tubes. And then I ordered a matched pair of Telefunken ECC82-TK tubes for the output stage. The inspiration for these tubes came from a Baltic3 owner who posted his journey on a Lampi tube rolling thread here on Whats Best Forum. More fun: the Telefunken added more drive and bass but the greatest surprise came from the Psvane tubes. Compared to the Sylvania tubes, these CV181s add more presences, detail and bass definition, tilting the presentation more towards the analytic and away from the organic presentation of the Sylvania tubes.
And therein lies the problem. As I said to Greg, jokingly, where does this all stop? The good news is that tube rolling with the Baltic3 is relatively inexpensive given the improvements on offer. And it’s fun in its own way to change the performance of the DAC. For now, I’ve decided to settle on the Psvane CV181s and allow them to burn in (300 hours minimum). It’s time to get back to the music.
I've had the ambition to upgrade to a Lampizator DAC for literally years now and that opportunity presented itself, mid-pandemic, when all I could do was eat, work, walk the dog and listen to music.
Greg provided great advice. He talked me out of buying an Amber3 in favour of the Baltic3 and arranged with Lucasz to custom-build a version with volume/pre-amp. Once my order was placed, Greg drove out to Wiltshire with his demo Baltic3 and some spare tubes for rolling.
Coming from a BMC PureDac to the Baltic3 was a massive upgrade in of itself. I spent the first few weeks running through my catalogue rediscovering music with a stupid grin on my face. Greg checked in a couple of weeks later, asking if I had experimented with replacing the Psvane blue globes? When I asked “why”, he told me to “just do it,” and to start with the Sylvania 6SN7GTB tubes he had provided.
This first experiment with tube rolling was a huge eye-opener. The Sylvania tubes are simply so much better at everything. More detail and soundstage, a more organic presentation, better bass; they simply delivered much more engagement with the music. It was like listening to a different, better DAC. The Baltic3 manual does explain that the 6SN7 tubes deliver 80% of the sound quality, with the remaining 20% then split equally between the 5U4G rectifier and ECC82 output tubes. But who reads manuals?
With the wind in my tube rolling sails, Greg talked me into trying out a Psvane Acme 5U4G rectifier to replace the stock Russian version. It delivered a more modest, but still noticeable improvement to overall solidity and control of the musical presentation. In Greg’s words, it proved to be “a keeper”.
Some three months later, my new DAC arrived. Switching volume control from the digital domain of HQPlayer to analog relay circuits inside my Baltic3 made another huge improvement. The DAC was clearly driving my Boulder power amp much more effectively. As you might expect, I left the stock rectifier and 6SN7 tubes in their box and installed the Psvane Acme and Sylvania tubes in their place.
Whilst I was burning in the new unit, I ordered another set of tubes to experiment with. From Hong Kong, I ordered a matched pair of Psvane CV181-T Mark II Classic Grade tubes. And then I ordered a matched pair of Telefunken ECC82-TK tubes for the output stage. The inspiration for these tubes came from a Baltic3 owner who posted his journey on a Lampi tube rolling thread here on Whats Best Forum. More fun: the Telefunken added more drive and bass but the greatest surprise came from the Psvane tubes. Compared to the Sylvania tubes, these CV181s add more presences, detail and bass definition, tilting the presentation more towards the analytic and away from the organic presentation of the Sylvania tubes.
And therein lies the problem. As I said to Greg, jokingly, where does this all stop? The good news is that tube rolling with the Baltic3 is relatively inexpensive given the improvements on offer. And it’s fun in its own way to change the performance of the DAC. For now, I’ve decided to settle on the Psvane CV181s and allow them to burn in (300 hours minimum). It’s time to get back to the music.
