Lampizator DSD DAC

Mine arrives today.
SE but all the rest like you. Also my tubes are kron px25 and kron 5u4. I have never been a fan of the 5u4. But luk says the combo is very good and since I have to trust his judgement.
I have so many tubes to try as well. Glad you love the combo. I just did not want to spend the extra money on a bal B7 and the additional cost of tubes I have effectively doubling almost all I have .
Can you still just the two rear tubes in SE mode ?

Apparently, yes. I can run the DAC Single ended by just using the rear output tubes. I spoke to Lukas in Munich and he was quite clear that I will benefit from going balanced.....and I think the biggest difference is in terms of the drive and how quiet the DAC plays...
 
One of the many great things about Lampi is luk is driven by sound not just money.
Next is there cheap in considering the level of performance.
And his upgrades are another great feature to own one.
 
Thanks. And DSD is surreal. I could swear I was sitting watching the performance live. The only thing I can't comment on is different tubes set ups as I don't have a reference point other than my current set of tubes and recti.

Also as it breaks in and if you change tubes all attributes will change. The px25 are px4 on steroids. KR 242 have all of that in spades plus transparency
 
Sorry I have Mundorf gold what ever they are hahhahaa. I do have Mundorf in my new IRS crossover I do like the improved sound texture. I guess I told him I like them. How long to break in the caps any thoughts
 
Also as it breaks in and if you change tubes all attributes will change. The px25 are px4 on steroids. KR 242 have all of that in spades plus transparency

You had the chance to compare these three tubes already?
 
No haven't compared but know that px25 is the px4 variation more powerful. Regarding KR 242, they were considered more dynamic and bassy than px4 which is why I had bought them. So the thing for me to go is compare px25 and 242. I am not interested in comparing px4 as such.

I had suggested to Sujay to get a single ended, try these tubes and a 300b and then jump to balanced with tube of choice. But I guess he was too worried SE won't sound right so jumped directly to balanced.

Regarding his transparency comment, 242 are very transparent
 
Hi,

So I finally did the deed.... My lampizator big7 arrived 10 days ago and I am still coming to terms with what hit me. Here are my initial impressions

Brief look at key specs:
- Lampizator big7 balanced
-KR Audio Px4 output tubes
- KR Audio 274B recti
- Dueland caps
- new R2R board for both DSD and PCM

Notes
- the drive is off charts. My speakers have never been controlled like this before. Neither has room fill been so good. It's like a giant headphone experience
- dynamics, speed world class and better than anything I have heard
- soundstage width and depth best in class and equally lit throughout which is the biggest difference
- attack and sustain better than anything else I have heard.
- completely transparent. I think I can hear all the way down to the hiss.
- clarity and headroom especially evident on dense passages like rock and classical
- I am playing at least 10 points down on my volume control ( which goes up to 60) I fear sometimes that I will find the woofers on my lap.
- to sum up, the experience is as raw as it gets and as raw as I like it

Whilst this may sound a bit unfair, I am, nevertheless, compelled to draw comparisons with BADA alpha ( not the reference) and Bryaton BDA -3 which have been in my system. Both the Berkeley and Bryston were well run in and stayed in my system for well over a month each. Furthermore, fwiw, my comparisons are based on lampizator via USB and both Berkeley and Bryston via AES/EBU and all music was PCM only (16/44). Furthermore, I have only had 50 hours on the lampizator. So it's not fully run in.

Soundstage: in terms of width, the lampizator wins by a mile. In terms of depth, the Berkeley is a reasonably close second followed by the Bryston which is relatively 2-dimensional though I found the Bryston better than the Berkeley in terms of width

Drive and dynamics (PRAT): no contest at all... Not even close. The lampizator trounces both of them. Music is that much more raw and has more life. Especially when playing brass, my speakers transformed to almost horn speaker levels in terms of conveying the brashness.

Tone: once again, the lampizator wins easily although the Bryston is quite amazing for its price. I think the Berkeley is a third here. I am guessing the DHT output stage is what makes a big difference.

Transparency: The lampizator wins but not by so much of a margin as in the other parameters. The balanced lampizator is very quiet though and let's you hear more. Though I think the BADA reference is a fairer comparison but I haven't heard it extensively to offer any comparisons.

In short, I can't get enough......I will continue to post impressions as the lampizator breaks in.

Cheers

Sujay

Congrats! Did you get this from the Singapore dealer?
 
Today is the first time I had a chance to listen to Lampi stuff, they had the GG and monoblocks there + unfamiliar horn speakers. When I was there, they were playing Bach organ classical music with pretty low volume and a not very good recording. Also there were quite many people in the room talking and chatting, so I could not listen properly and see how the system sound. But in general, there is nothing really special to my ears due to the lack of ideal environment + familiar music.

When I came back, the room was even full then I gave up and moved on to another room before heading home and watching football. I do not fancy tubes stuff at the moment and therefore even being offered to try to GG at home, I will save this chance for somebody else who appreciates it.

Today is also the first time I listened to Magico S7, same Magico sound but really different to my Q5 probably because of the differences in room + electronics etc. But the s7's do rock with huge sound and very dynamics. They are really nice although bass was too much with some tracks despite the room is fairly large + treated with bass traps as you can see from the picture.

The Zellaton speakers are also superb albeit they are the entry level and standmounters. Very clean, transparent and musical sound. Price is pretty expensive at 20k gbp for those small ones. I hope I will be able to listen to the reference mk2 one day later this year.

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Hi Thanh, you really can't judge a dac based on a demo at Cranage show. When I visit you next I will get the GG over. I know your aversion to valves but it will be fun
 
Hi Thanh, you really can't judge a dac based on a demo at Cranage show. When I visit you next I will get the GG over. I know your aversion to valves but it will be fun

Thanks Keda for your kind offer but if you are doing so, you might need to bring hell a lot of things over here as you see I don't use computer to play dsd files, also not sure if my esoteric transport will work with the GG.
 
Thanks Keda for your kind offer but if you are doing so, you might need to bring hell a lot of things over here as you see I don't use computer to play dsd files, also not sure if my esoteric transport will work with the GG.

It does with an spdif
 
It's here and playing now at 530. All inputs work fine. It's dead quit as dead quit as my msb , the low level details on these tunes is as Luke says very quite . How it will sound later meaning I am not making any claims how good it sounds just yet. I will,put in a set of tubes I don't like and let it play today while I am away. Just cooking it as I have no idea how long it takes the Mundorf silver copper 2.2 caps to arrive at there final sound. Caps like so many other parts of our systems need time drives me crazy . As it makes no sense in any other application just audio. Jut how crazy is the collective in this for us. So far good for now all I can say is . It's clean , amazing low level details and no more switching the inputs for dsd and PCM. Aaahhhhh just this alone is fantastic. .
 
#88
07-19-2016, 06:20 PM
Ok just got home. Removed some tubes I don't like had it burning in all day and overnight. Tubes used to burn were vt52 Sylvania nos
land made in China made 274B. A stock recti for woo audio. Not a bad recti and I never liked the upgrades from Sophia electric. God there tubes look great but always wear on me I shirt while. Probliby how most feel i do to,them on forums lol. Anyway. The new dac is now using the now using
The Kron 5u4b recti and a pair of Kron px25 tubes as Luke felt the combo was something I should have. To,go with the new USB converter and firmware. First off to not have to switch is a nice thing while never a deal breaker it did make things dicy to pic format as well as tunes.
Now In sound it takes awhile to pick up all I hear and I will,be posting a few times over the next few days.
I was going to do a post called closing the gap. The gap I am referring to is PCM and dsd. While some upsample to get that so called dsd sound from PCM . One reason I spent the money on the msb was not dsd it was PCM shiny disc or downloads. The msb gave me a much more clean but not offensive sound. I did and still love the bite of PCM with some music . As dsd became more avalible and I bought into it , it became clear it was more lifelike and musical . At first glance lampizator Has gotten much closer than what I have heard as far from any DAC playing PCM to an analog system . But it's dsd was the sweet spot I loved while more and more dacs began playing dsd very few really did play it well. I argued on many forums to make my point . While my msb played the best PCM I owned it's dsd was real and began the journey into finer details in music. In digital playback noise floor sounds are not as it is in analog . In analog it's much more obvious it's noise we can here in most cases. In digital it's less low level details. It's even the color of tha background of music it's played from . Blacker background is a term that many use. The low level details of my upgraded B7 now gives me more low level,detail while a much closer to dsd PCM playback. In addition it's less edgy sound PCM make me play louder than before. As I have changed tubes it's the new sound of the DAC . I hope my ramblings are cohesive enough for most to enjoy.
 
Hi Al,

what do you mean by "it's playing at 530"?

I reckon the mundorf caps will take more than a day to break in, at least that's my experience with Der Siebener and also with my GG.
 

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