Excellent interview Ron. Great questions and always informative to learn from Lukasz and listen to someone so passionate about their audio pursuit. He is one of the most inspirational.
Updated sound comparison original Horizon vs 360 upgrade
Received the Horizon 360 upgrade early last week from Poland (I had sent back my second Horizon w/ XDMI to be upgraded to 360). As I mentioned, the shipment process was flawless and as always customer service and communication put me at ease throughout. Special thanks to Fred for monitoring my shipment to and from pretty much daily.
Upon receipt early last week, I quickly inserted the Horizon 360 back in my system. As it had been 5 weeks, as I had been out of town, I really could not tell how things were sounding in comparison.
Fast forward 9 days and 200 hours of break-in, I listened for 3 hours this evening. Nothing else has changed in my system in the interim (including tubes, and yes, i run balanced and pentodes do not all need to be the same) and I can unequivocally say that listening, via USB, is a component upgrade-like boost in sound quality. Every song now has the sound signature I have grown to love from Lampizator at an additional order of magnitude - now with increased density, liquidity, spatial rendition, and effortless rhythm. I also believe I hear additional resolution, but as my system already is tilted toward high resolution, I do not focus on that as much anymore. Most importantly, I feel like I can let my shoulders relax, lean back and sink into my chair.
I can definitely give a full throated endorsement if folks are considering the upgrade, especially utilizing USB. I am hoping the 360 upgrade also has side benefits versus the '2nd version' of the Horizon that offered XDMI but was not the 360, for use with the Olympus. I had sent my second Horizon with XDMI in for the 360 upgrade.
As previously mentioned, the 360 Horizon I received last week is a 5volt version vs the initial 9volt version release of the 360. In fact, I am listening at full 63 volume on the Horizon as I always have, but an additional 2 or 3 higher clicks of volume on my Soulution 725 preamp with the 360 versus the original version. I want to bump the volume up even more as the sound is so effortless and engaging.
I am not sure yet the volume I will be able to use once the Olympus (and Olympus I/O) arrives (also receiving Soulution 727 preamp next week), so keeping my fingers crossed that the gains/impedances all match up alright whether be via USB or XDMI.
Thanks again to the Lampizator team. Incredible. Also love the 20 year upgrade path and recycling efforts you all have underway. Back to listening. Take care all.