Lampizator Baltic 4

[msimanyi]

@Tuckia Given that you have a Taiko and Horizon already, is that for an office system?

 

[Tuckia]

I got my tracking number Wednesday, it said Thursday. Thursday it said today... Then... Wah wah wah... Monday and it was still in Poland... But it did just clear customs. First Monday I will ever be happy for.

Congrats. Looks beautiful.

Oh, the dreaded wait through the weekend.

Yep, looks cool. A mini H. About 50 lbs. less, lol. Break in is a bumpy ride, but this is sounding way more like my Horizon than it should. Granted, I threw the H on the counter and slid the B4 in, so I’m feeding it with the same Extreme, Omega usb, path. But really? Suppose I should drop the Tak rectifier and ECC32‘s in just to hear what happens. Only 7 hours on the clock so far.

 

[Gregadd]

Anticipation...is making me wait.

 

[Tuckia]

@Tuckia Given that you have a Taiko and Horizon already, is that for an office system?

No, it’s actually my wife’s for her system. It will be paired with an Aurender N100h, Shunyata Alpha usb, VAC 170iq integrated, and Daedalus Poseidon v3 speakers. Yes, I am very surprised by this. She has been known to lurk here too . Wait. What’s your name?

 

[Tuckia]

 

[msimanyi]

Very cool! I’d love to hear your comparison comments with your preferred H tubes in the Baltic.

 

[Powerman]

I'm a black man... Thinning... Goes with everything... But the copper is giving me some regrets. Yes they have a few colors, but I didn't care much.... But damn that looks good. Of course it has to go on top shelf... So... Errrrr

 

[Tuckia]

All black can look good. Duracell was my only option as my whole house is Duracell. Even the floor in my lower level where I’m set up, my listening area, is sort of a copper color. Can always change the cover color down the road. I had two different color face plates for my GG - silver and black.

 

[Gregadd]

I'm a black man... Thinning... Goes with everything... But the copper is giving me some regrets. Yes they have a few colors, but I didn't care much.... But damn that looks good. Of course it has to go on top shelf... So... Errrrr

Me too
.Literally and figuratively.

 

[Tuckia]

Regarding tubes, I haven’t tried everything here yet, but like the Horizon, the Tak 274b and Mullard ECC32 rule. Huge delta between the stock tubes and these. I don’t have any 12bh7 to roll yet. It’s an early report as it will need a week for break in.

 

[Powerman]

OK... So this might take a bit. I was a SS guy. Got my LTA... Just damn! Single biggest improvement from anything. Rolled tubes, took it to another level. Everything just got bigger, space, air, stage... I go all out, get some DA Heritage Specials.. Treat my basement with 12" of fluffy insulstion... Amazing. My Pontus 2 was weak link I figured, last end game move to upgrade... But I was really worried just how much improvement I could get from DAC. Holo May/Terminator... It was a stretch for a B4. Now I'm just 36hrs in...

So many upgrades have been slight... Yes better, but meaningful... Ehhh. It's hard to put this into words... This may end up being a bigger improvement than the Z40+ integrated. I will go back and burn in the stock tubes, but I put my others in. RCA JAN 5R4GY, 3 hole Bad Boys, Mazda 12AU7s. I'm dumbfounded.

So yes, it's better, in every respect... But it's not resolution, not transpearacy, timbre, accuracy, bass, mids, treble... It's just live, it's "alive." I have low ceilings. The speakers image well, but not spacious as bigger rooms. I have had my speakers in bigger rooms, had others in my room. My room is limiting. And in bigger rooms, bookshelves can do an amazing job of disappearing... Now... My speakers don't disappear... They don't exist. I'm in the studio, the night club, the venue. I can't even comprehend how HUGE everything is.

Yes, before I had imaging. Pin point placement. Yes you can hear close or far... Space, air. But it was really like a 2D painting. Yes, there are things close and far in the picture... It sounds stupid, but now I'm in the picture... It's 3D. Emmensly wide and deep. Just HUGE.

The bass is just nuts, so accurate and detailed. The mids... Female voices so beautiful, rich. Treble is clear and not fatiguing. Everything, and I mean everything, just sounds so right and rich. But it doesn't sound right because of attributes, it sounds right because I'm there. Because I'm there, it sounds right.

It's not all recordings though... The weirdest part is its mostly electronic, not acoustic. I'm in the Club with Alicia Keys. Hanging out in the garage with Chris Stapleton singing... Snarky Puppy... Lettuce... Holy crap! Huge! But Steely Dan is a just bit more precise placement. AC/DC is same. Like Chesky stuff still sounds live... My current most incredible favorite of all... Agnes Obel "The Curse"... The live one in Berlin... It's such an incredible recording its not a lot different. More air and space, and it sounds "just right", but not "bigger" like I've been talking about. Not "in" the recording. Strange. Like as if live acoustic recordings represent exactly what they are. But more modern studio stuff... It's like the prossessing just comes out like surround sound.

I'm really not trying to gush. I know it will become the new normal. It still needs to break in. I'm not a pro reviewer that can spit out adjective ladened word salads... I'm just in awe how right it sounds, and can't wrap my head around how 3D things can sound. Pretty crazy. Definitely NOT a minor or meaningless improvement.

 

[Powerman]

Regarding tubes, I haven’t tried everything here yet, but like the Horizon, the Tak 274b and Mullard ECC32 rule. Huge delta between the stock tubes and these. I don’t have any 12bh7 to roll yet. It’s an early report as it will need a week for break in.

I've held off on 12 BH7s as I have a few 12AU7s to try to polish things off. I really do need to listen to stock tubes to know the difference between my others. Then I'll try to get what's needed with 12AU7s (RCA black plates, Tele, Mullard, Mazda). But I'll probably get some NOS 12BH7s just to know.

 

[Tuckia]

Powerman,
I understand what you are saying. I've owned LTA in the past (Ultralinear, Microzotl Pre, Zotl 40 Ref.). Might go back again some day. The B4 with the LTA's resolution and spatial accuracy should be fun stuff. These Lampi dacs can do 3D like nothing else I've heard. Finding the right tracks can be inspiring. The best recordings really pop and the room is alive.

I can't go back to the stock blue balls. Just too flat. Even switching from the 5u3c rectifier to the Tak was profound. The inner detail and clarity became an order of magnitude better.

I have bad boys too, but haven't tried yet.

 

[Ron Resnick]

At Shakti's suggestion I put in an Emission Lab 274B.

 

[lordcloud]

Me too
.Literally and figuratively.

Me too!

 

[charles1dad]

At Shakti's suggestion I put in a Mission Lab 274B.

Emission Labs (EML) 274b is my assumption. They consistently manufacture high quality tubes .
Charles

 

[mourip]

I received my AZ1 from Poland yesterday and posted about it in the B3 thread.

 

[tinkerphile]

A new toy arrived today.

View attachment 105897 Rather than running the supplied tubes, I threw in some others.
RCA Globe 80 with adapter
Tung-sol VT99 with Woo adapters
Supplied Psvane 12BH7

About two hours of run in so far. This may be interesting

Sounds interesting. Positive bold move with the tube mix; I'll bet it pays off.

 

[Powerman]

6 days in now. Got to play with some tubes. I put the stock ones back in to break in. At first it sounded pretty good, but then it was clear the magic was gone. It still sounded technically good. Still a big improvement. Like literally right in the middle of my old Pontus compared to new Lampi with my tubes. Putting my RCA rectifier back in was clearly better. Not drastic, but nothing I want to give up. The Sylvania bad bouys made the most difference... the magic was back. Incredible. Then I changed out the 12BH7s for my 12AU7 Mazdas... magic magnified!

With my LTA Z40 Int, I played around with tubes. It came with all really good NOS Mullards. Even selects. Different brands of course, but Mullards. Mullard EL-34s that will never leave. RCA black plates for Pre, and Mulard AX7s and Mullard AU7s input/drivers. I swapped out the Amperex branded Mullard AX7s for Telefunken AX7s... just holy crap. Next level stuff. I got some Tele AU7s for 4 pairs... nope, too much of a good thing. Lost that awesome Mullard low end. I got some RCA clear tops. I swapped every imaginable combination and mix. The RCAs were good all-rounders for Pre. I could never give up what Mullard gives, and I could never give up what the Tele AXs did... I was done.

Then Jessee suggested I try the Mazdas for pre.... I bought spares. I agree with him they are much better RCAs. But it is really weird what they do... they like amplify how good Mullards and Teles are. Sure, they allow more through to them, but again after swapping around.. I can't say they have a "sound", they just make Mullards way better, and Teles pure magic.

I said all that to say... swapping everything I have did not change the voice of the DAC. Nothing is more low end centered/high end centered. They all sound the same all around good from the bottom to the top. It is not like how I can play with voicing my Z40 and make big changes in the sound of the FR. My NOS tube just simply sounded much better in every respect, bass, warm mids, trebble, space, air, resolution.... Clearly. But when I put the Mazdas in... all of that doubled. Same thing. It didn't change the character, just made everything even better.

My thinking is I do not want to "voice' my DAC. I already voiced my amp. I want my DAC to be neutral so to speak. It absolutely is. Plust I don't have the same options with ALL the different brands to change sound. All the good stuff is generally US made RCA/SYL,Tung/GE. I could try my other AU7s instead of the Mazdas but don't see the point. (you know I will). It will skew things in that direction. Right now, for what I want for my preferences and what I listen to... I am still just floored by what this DAC does. I lost 2 hrs today I did not have to lose just flipping thru playlists... I just could not stop... jaw dropping.

 

[tinkerphile]

6 days in now. Got to play with some tubes. I put the stock ones back in to break in. At first it sounded pretty good, but then it was clear the magic was gone. It still sounded technically good. Still a big improvement. Like literally right in the middle of my old Pontus compared to new Lampi with my tubes. Putting my RCA rectifier back in was clearly better. Not drastic, but nothing I want to give up. The Sylvania bad bouys made the most difference... the magic was back. Incredible. Then I changed out the 12BH7s for my 12AU7 Mazdas... magic magnified!

With my LTA Z40 Int, I played around with tubes. It came with all really good NOS Mullards. Even selects. Different brands of course, but Mullards. Mullard EL-34s that will never leave. RCA black plates for Pre, and Mulard AX7s and Mullard AU7s input/drivers. I swapped out the Amperex branded Mullard AX7s for Telefunken AX7s... just holy crap. Next level stuff. I got some Tele AU7s for 4 pairs... nope, too much of a good thing. Lost that awesome Mullard low end. I got some RCA clear tops. I swapped every imaginable combination and mix. The RCAs were good all-rounders for Pre. I could never give up what Mullard gives, and I could never give up what the Tele AXs did... I was done.

Then Jessee suggested I try the Mazdas for pre.... I bought spares. I agree with him they are much better RCAs. But it is really weird what they do... they like amplify how good Mullards and Teles are. Sure, they allow more through to them, but again after swapping around.. I can't say they have a "sound", they just make Mullards way better, and Teles pure magic.

I said all that to say... swapping everything I have did not change the voice of the DAC. Nothing is more low end centered/high end centered. They all sound the same all around good from the bottom to the top. It is not like how I can play with voicing my Z40 and make big changes in the sound of the FR. My NOS tube just simply sounded much better in every respect, bass, warm mids, trebble, space, air, resolution.... Clearly. But when I put the Mazdas in... all of that doubled. Same thing. It didn't change the character, just made everything even better.

My thinking is I do not want to "voice' my DAC. I already voiced my amp. I want my DAC to be neutral so to speak. It absolutely is. Plust I don't have the same options with ALL the different brands to change sound. All the good stuff is generally US made RCA/SYL,Tung/GE. I could try my other AU7s instead of the Mazdas but don't see the point. (you know I will). It will skew things in that direction. Right now, for what I want for my preferences and what I listen to... I am still just floored by what this DAC does. I lost 2 hrs today I did not have to lose just flipping thru playlists... I just could not stop... jaw dropping.

+1 that first paragraph