Lampizator DAC measurements.

[spiritofmusic]

I think everyone needs to calm down a bit.
Everyone should, dare I say it, take a shill pill

OMG! I leave you guys alone for ONE DAY, and this is what I come back to!

 

[spiritofmusic]

The thing is a really low distortion valve amp will sound like ... a solid state amp.
There is nothing wrong with added distortion ,a friend has a box where you can dial in the amount and order of the distortion you wish to add.
Keith.

What is that box called Keith? I'd love one.
One day I could switch to "euphonic distortion like GG" and melt into the music.
The next I could switch to "measures beautifully like DCS" and paint my nails.

 

[spiritofmusic]

who buys gear based on measurement data?

Erm, Purite does.
He's already publicly on these forums said he's invested in the Kii before hearing it, 'cause you know, it measures well.
IQ is a great measurement, but it sure don't take account of damn stupid ideas that some so-called intelligent people hold.

 

[Blizzard]

Excuse me for my ignorance, but who cares if the GG adds colouration or that the Horus is "transparent"? Surely what matters is that the converter pleases the purchaser?

I'm not trying to be argumentative; I'm just unsure what the utility of it all is. It assumes that transparency is/should be the paramount consideration; I am not sure this premise is valid.

Edit: I suggest an alternative premise may be we all like different sound, and chose our equipment accordingly.

I never said there was a problem with the coloration. Like I've said many times, this coloration is why people buy products like this. Which is perfectly fine. It's just that some mistake this coloration as being more accurate.

 

[Blizzard]

Dude - no one is denying it is adding coloration. It is your theory that people who buy valves only do so for coloration. Two entirely different things, and the way you state things. You can do the same test with the Horus and Lampi Level 3 instead of Horus and GG, and prove Level 3 adds distortion. Does that mean a Big 7/GG user will buy Level 3? I can tell you that I would give up up to Level 6 for certain SS dacs (if they came in at a good price). So, can you start looking at what makes Big 7/GG special instead of simply saying distortion?

Sorry if you don't like the word distortion. But that's what causes colorations. Yes the distortions might sound nice, but it's still distortions.

 

[Blizzard]

Who cares about measurements and colorations , Lampi is a better source of legal drug than ss designs imo . Sorry to post it in polish - in short means " listening to the music result in producing dopamine , the hormon of hapiness".

Nobody is claiming there's any problem with this.

 

[Blizzard]

It is interesting that throughout the history of HiFi designers strived for lower and lower distortion and hence 'hi fidelity' now
distortion is actively sought, the more distortion the better it seems.

Keith.

One thing Bruce's test will prove, if the sound of the GG and Horus playing back the GG sound is identical, a completely transparent DAC has the potential of being able to emulate the sound of 1000 coloured DAC's. But not vice versa. If the DAC is coloured, your stuck with it's sound and only its sound for life.

 

[Blizzard]

Everyone is talking about the "Lampi sound" and how wonderful it is. When a person goes to a live acoustic music event, in a perfect acoustic environment, do they say "Wow listen to that Lampi sound"?

 

[bonzo75]

Everyone is talking about the "Lampi sound" and how wonderful it is. When a person goes to a live acoustic music event, in a perfect acoustic environment, do they say "Wow listen to that Lampi sound"?

I average once a week/10days to classical concerts - and then I come back to the Lampi and say Wow listen to that live music sound produced closest here. Fyi, the more concerts I go to, the less I can listen to pure SS gear. I take it you don't go to classical concerts

Audiophile Bill, the other Lampi lover, used to be a first trombonist

 

[bonzo75]

One thing Bruce's test will prove, if the sound of the GG and Horus playing back the GG sound is identical, a completely transparent DAC has the potential of being able to emulate the sound of 1000 coloured DAC's. But not vice versa. If the DAC is coloured, your stuck with it's sound and only its sound for life.

lol - people buy Lampi because it sounds great out of the box, and because you can keep tweaking it's sound for life. If you buy a SS dac, you are stuck with it for life. Fyi, you can also change the Lampi sound by changing the frequency curve of your software

 

[bonzo75]

One thing Bruce's test will prove, if the sound of the GG and Horus playing back the GG sound is identical, a completely transparent DAC has the potential of being able to emulate the sound of 1000 coloured DAC's. But not vice versa. If the DAC is coloured, your stuck with it's sound and only its sound for life.

You still haven't answered - no one is denying it is adding coloration. It is your theory that people who buy valves only do so for coloration. Two entirely different things, and the way you state things. You can do the same test with the Horus and Lampi Level 3 instead of Horus and GG, and prove Level 3 adds distortion. Does that mean a Big 7/GG user will buy Level 3? I can tell you that I would give up up to Level 6 for certain SS dacs (if they came in at a good price). So, can you start looking at what makes Big 7/GG special instead of simply saying distortion?

 

[Blizzard]

I average once a week/10days to classical concerts - and then I come back to the Lampi and say Wow listen to that live music sound produced closest here. Fyi, the more concerts I go to, the less I can listen to pure SS gear. I take it you don't go to classical concerts

Audiophile Bill, the other Lampi lover, used to be a first trombonist

Well if the Horus is capable of emulateing the GG, you can have the GG sound from a Merging Hapi for $4200. Then if you want to switch it up, you can change it to the level 5 sound, then maybe the Audio note sound the next day, then the Mcintosh sound the day after. Then maybe if you decide one day that whoever mastered the recording your listening to did a great enough job on their own, you can simply disable the coloration.

 

[Blizzard]

lol - people buy Lampi because it sounds great out of the box, and because you can keep tweaking it's sound for life. If you buy a SS dac, you are stuck with it for life. Fyi, you can also change the Lampi sound by changing the frequency curve of your software

You will never be able to emulate the exact sound of something else with something that's colored. Nor will you be able to get an exact rendition of what the original producer wanted you to hear. Personally I think guys like Bruce B are doing an excellent job as it is. But at the same time, I agree when you have tracks that aren't so wonderful to begin with, it's nice to have that coloration to sweeten things up.

 

[bonzo75]

You will never be able to emulate the exact sound of something else with something that's colored. Nor will you be able to get an exact rendition of what the original producer wanted you to hear. Personally I think guys like Bruce B are doing an excellent job as it is. But at the same time, I agree when you have tracks that aren't so wonderful to begin with, it's nice to have that coloration to sweeten things up.

You mean Channel Classics DSD recordings of Mahler? But you wouldn't know Mahler from Madonna, so that's fine

 

[marslo]

Nobody is claiming there's any problem with this.

Thank you - drug( Lampi), sex and rock' n roll

 

[Blizzard]

You mean Channel Classics DSD recordings of Mahler? But you wouldn't know Mahler from Madonna, so that's fine

It's nice how you always assume I don't know gear or music, just because I understand the difference between products that add coloration, and products that are transparent.

 

[bonzo75]

Actually this would make sense , a large percentage of the sound you hear in a concert hall is reverberant , ie reflected sound.
IME nos dacs tend to sound a little fuzzier than over sampling designs.
Adding distortion to every record, whether a great or poor recording ,doesn't sit well with me, I would rather hear a recording as it was intended to be heard.
Keith.

In your opinion, NOS dacs that you haven't heard, especially the Lampi, sound fuzzier? What else does gear you have never heard and don't sell do that's not correct?

 

[bonzo75]

Classic NOS designs tend to roll off treble, and introduce distortion, because they do not use a reconstruction filter, see John Atkinsons review of the Zanden nos dac in Stereophile.
Keith.

So, by reading a review of the Zanden NOS dac published in 2006, you think that's sufficient to cause noise on the page of a competing product that came out in 2014. Competing product for you, not the Zanden

Not to mention that LL21 rates the Zanden, and most people here probably rate his ears more than yours. You can take a vote

 

[FrantzM]

The personals attacks have littered this thread. The premises are valid though : .. Do we have measurements on the Lamp or not? SO far it is a slugfest and it is childish. It is downright ugly

Now can anyone point me toward the Lampi measurements?

 

[Bruce B]

Bruce is going to record some tracks via the analog outputs on the GG with the Merging Horus and Pyramix. Then he's going to play them back on the Horus DAC, and compare with the original tracks played on the GG. If the Horus's ADC and DAC section is completely transparent, they should be indistinguishable from each other with the levels set the same.

I never said I was going to do that. I'm not recording DAC outputs. That's a rabbit hole no one wants to go down.
I said I was going to record some good analog sources in DSD256fs and play them via the Horus and GG to see which is better to me. I've decided to add PCM 352.8kHz as well. That's it. If you or anyone else wants to record DAC outputs, then go right ahead.