Lampizator DSD DAC

[joaovieira]

I am now in Spain for this week. Tuesday will be a very important day for me, as I will receive my Big 7 with dsdx256, no preamp, to take with me to Brazil.
Thank you Bruce B for kind answers to my questions about what dac to buy. Thanks everyone in this forum for posting their experiences with Lampizator products.
Will pair it initially with an Aurender N100 streamer.

 

[Bruce B]

I am now in Spain for this week. Tuesday will be a very important day for me, as I will receive my Big 7 with dsdx256, no preamp, to take with me to Brazil.
Thank you Bruce B for kind answers to my questions about what dac to buy. Thanks everyone in this forum for posting their experiences with Lampizator products.
Will pair it initially with an Aurender N100 streamer.

Congrats!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on its sound....

 

[bmoura]

I am now in Spain for this week. Tuesday will be a very important day for me, as I will receive my Big 7 with dsdx256, no preamp, to take with me to Brazil.
Thank you Bruce B for kind answers to my questions about what dac to buy. Thanks everyone in this forum for posting their experiences with Lampizator products.
Will pair it initially with an Aurender N100 streamer.

That should be a nice setup. Enjoy!

 

[Alpinist]

So which produces superior DSD sound quality, the Lampi DSD DAC or the Lampi Big Seven DAC?

Thanks,
Ken

 

[bonzo75]

So which produces superior DSD sound quality, the Lampi DSD DAC or the Lampi Big Seven DAC?

Thanks,
Ken

Big 7 much better circuitry with DHT. Like I said, B7 blew my L5 away, especially on complex orchestral which I have yet to hear anything come close to it, and the DSD dac is based on L4 or L5.

 

[Elberoth]

Big 7, no question. Both have same DSD engine, but the Big 7 uses DHT output tubes.

 

[bonzo75]

So which produces superior DSD sound quality, the Lampi DSD DAC or the Lampi Big Seven DAC?

Thanks,
Ken

Please don't be misled by DSD alone. It is a superior pcm dac to anything i have heard, and the dsd is better than pcm. Kind of like led zep is my favorite band, but zep live is better than zep studio, but zep studio still better than other rock bands

 

[Alrainbow]

I have never heard a dsd only dac. But since the B7 can roll Many tubes on this alone I think it can fit more systems with perfection
Al

 

[marslo]

I will receive tomorrow a GG for audition . I hope pcm will be as good as bonzo75 says , could have just one dac instead of two : Audio Aero for pcm and lampi dsd dac for dsd.
Cant' wait

 

[bonzo75]

I will receive tomorrow a GG for audition . I hope pcm will be as good as bonzo75 says , could have just one dac instead of two : Audio Aero for pcm and lampi dsd dac for dsd.
Cant' wait

Haven't compared with Audio Aero, will be good to know your PCM comparisons, and then your DSD. You can upsample everything to DSD using HQPlayer anyway. Also, please allow Lampi time to burn in

 

[Alrainbow]

Having owned a few B7 now. It's pcm is very nice on par with it's great dsd. Relax and enjoy it.

 

[bmoura]

Having owned a few B7 now. It's pcm is very nice on par with it's great dsd. Relax and enjoy it.

PCM on the Big 7 is impressive. And DSD on the Big 7, well that's even better.

 

[Alrainbow]

I have a funny story to share.
When my first B7 arrived Norman was more nervous then it was. Him knowing other dacs I owned he wanted to know his ot stacked up.
It sat in the box for about a week as I run a business and thus demands many hours of me. So the day I promised norman I would try it. Of course I had no driver and could he thee device to work withiut it. And luks website was not functioning for me to get the download. Finally emails back and forth and who kiwis what time it was for him. Like 2 am on weekday. But he really wanted to know very badly. More so then me lol.
My cpu was an old gamer a I3 no less.
So I played pcm yak g the eml 45 tubes it came with. Wow that pcm sounded very good
Really good. But normans main concern was dsd. Now this was still fairily new to me.
I played but it was ok but not dsd as I knew it.
I emailed him. Now my phone rings he is upset I could hear it in his voice. He said but why is not good. I explained to him and went back and forth to another dac and confirmed what I was hearing. He was not happy
I then suggested I have an iMac with a I7 cpu
And solid State hard drive a monster of an iMac.
I then loaded aurdivana and he helped me through the settings.
The pcm was still very good but the dsd now was very good. Something as good as my other dac that costs me about 40 K.
From there it just got better as better cpu setups are very much neeeed for dsd
Even if pcm is fine dsd needs some real horse power.
This is the point of this tail.
I hope this helps others.
Al

 

[steve williams]

Al why have you owned a "few" B7's

 

[Alrainbow]

A very good question sir.
My first was a one box B 7.
That went back to Poland to get a makeover
For the new pc board and single Recti as Before I had two.
Next it went back to remove the output transformers
And some other stuff like new caps. Also headphone output jacks in the front and a SW to roll more tubes.
The next thing was the head dac it's a B7 and an amp for headphones. This went back to for other mods and personnel suggestions
This is coming back.
Also I have had a few other lamp is as well but did not own them.
Hope this helps

 

[marslo]

Bonzo75,
My idea is to use W20 as a transport, I do not intend to convert dsd with a computer using SW like HQP, just want to play as they have been recorded , purchased and stored on W20 HD.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to listen at home a dac which converted every file to DSD 128 fs, was not impressed.
For time being I prefer " native " pcm over La Fontaine and native dsd played with lampi.

 

[bonzo75]

Bonzo75,
My idea is to use W20 as a transport, I do not intend to convert dsd with a computer using SW like HQP, just want to play as they have been recorded , purchased and stored on W20 HD.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to listen at home a dac which converted every file to DSD 128 fs, was not impressed.
For time being I prefer " native " pcm over La Fontaine and native dsd played with lampi.

That is correct. If you upsample in a dac, it won't sound good. Because a dac is limited by its upsampling ability due to cost constraints and lack of ability to improve constantly, moreover the designer's skill set might be the dac and not the upsampling software.

With a HQP, you are upsampling outside the dac - the software engineer's skill is upsampling, period. That's all he does. Upsampling is a DSP, and some DSP will be better than others.

Once upsampled, you can send it in to a native DSD dac like Lampi. Very different experiments

 

[marslo]

That is correct. If you upsample in a dac, it won't sound good. Because a dac is limited by its upsampling ability due to cost constraints and lack of ability to improve constantly, moreover the designer's skill set might be the dac and not the upsampling software.

With a HQP, you are upsampling outside the dac - the software engineer's skill is upsampling, period. That's all he does. Upsampling is a DSP, and some DSP will be better than others.

Once upsampled, you can send it in to a native DSD dac like Lampi. Very different experiments

Yes, I already thought about such an external conversion, at least to evaluate the differences in SQ.
My first task is to answer if GG plays pcm as good as La Fontaine does and how much better is DSD compared to dsd only dac.

 

[bonzo75]

Yes, I already thought about such an external conversion, at least to evaluate the differences in SQ.
My first task is to answer if GG plays pcm as good as La Fontaine does and how much better is DSD compared to dsd only dac.

Understand

 

[wisnon]

Al why have you owned a "few" B7's

One is just a B7 Dac and the other is the first B7 HeadDac…with separate Head amp and Dac sections.

Al has a double recti 6X5 setup on the B7 Dac and that limited his ability to roll rectis to just brands rather than tube classes. With the single 5v recti, he can now roll classes of DHT and IHT rectis by brand and characteristiecs, so HUGE potentail chabnge in sound, ie GZ34/type 80 with adapter, 5u4g, GZ37, CV578,5Y3, type 83v, 5u4wga, WA422, U52, 5R4, 54r, etc, etc. Here plate voltage drop is the most defining sonic characteristic, they say.