Glory,
Did you ever compare results of the LampizatOr DACs on Sistrum vs. Solid Tech Rack of Silence reference shelves? |
Agear,
The Rack of Silence Reference is made by Solid-Tech. They definitely made a difference, especially for the components on the reference shelves, but I also love the Sistrum Apprentices under my mono blocks. I just took delivery of a pair of SP-101s an hour ago and will see how they do under my speakers.
Jimyork,
I'm keeping the couriers busy today. I also took delivery of a LampizatOr TranspOrt which I'm excited to get in my rig singing with the Big Six.
I'll get some feedback on the system w/changes posted this weekend, but for now I'll just say the upgrade to the Big Six is significant and obvious even to a non-audiophile.
Glory,
Thanks for the honest opinion--I will consider a 3 or 4 level Sistrum shelf for my remaining components.
Fred |
Jim,
The TranspOrt is in the house and making beautiful music with my Big Six. Its hard to describe what I'm hearing other than it being bold, dynamic natural and amazing. Its a very LIVE presentation, more so then I've experienced before in any medium-digital or analog.
Drumiha,
I'm not sure what those ECC40s are, but if they're the ones I had in a brown box with round holders that look like what you'd put coins in, they sounded fantastic when I used 'em! |
Glory,
Did you every change the rectifier tube? I've got the same Benedix in my TranspOrt as in my Big Six and it is a similar upgrade there. I tried one for the sake of experimenting, not expecting much--it is significant.
I'll take the Pepsi Challenge with my LT vs the MM stuff. :) |
Glory,
The Big Six is really fuggin' Big. The perspective changed slightly with more of a mid stadium vs. front and center perspective, but conversely image size and density, dynamic swings and BASS! MUCH bigger and my Duelands are still burning in.
Right now my favored 6SN7 is the Ratheon 6SN7GT and I'm liking a Triode Wire Labs 10+ on it. The stock rectis should be upgraded to unleash the beast.
Agear,
I remember that well. Either Larry Moore does something really profound or auditory memory is to blame. I won't speculate as to which without having heard the MM, but I love my transport.
Grannyring,
I'm sure its an awesome piece. I understand you'll have the opportunity to compare your DAC w/ Jensens to one with Duelands tomorrow? Looking forward to the thoughts on that! |
Mitch2,
I purchased a Level 4/gen 4 and sold it shortly after the purchase... Did it underwhelm? NO! I bought a Big Six and TranspOrt! I have two friends within 30 miles of my home that did the EXACT same thing as me.
I have a friend in Cali that did the same after about 2 months with his 4 and another friend in NYC about to take the plunge.
That accounts for 5 the Level 4 sales. |
The meet was a really fun event, but I think the sound in the main room (basement) was good not great. The Zu Omen Defs we used weren't playing well for some reason and we had some excessive brightness. Still sounded good though.
We swapped out the speakers and eventually put in Taras amp with the Big Six and got great sound down there, but they were 4ohm speakers and the GM70 didn't like that.
Overall the sound was good to very good, but we didn't get into the realm of excellence which I know for a fact its capable of.
Speaking with Lukasz last night the gear made a second showing into an Audio club meeting in New Jersey on Sunday where the DAC alone was inserted into an already optimized/synergized rig where no one had even heard of LampizatOr and the feedback was outstanding. I've been trying to find discussion of that meeting... |
I'm not sure what was wrong, but the Omen Defs were just putting out a lot of glare and brightness. I know the full range driver and the super tweeters well and it was not something I encountered previously.
I also spent a week with the GM70s on my Definition mk2s with nanotech driver and clarity cap MRs on supertweeters and the sound was divine and never resembled top end we heard at the meet. Admittedly mine is a much more expensive Zu with a more advanced cabinet design... |
"When I demos Lamp a year+ ago, Lukasz discourages tube rolling and doesn't apologies for his decision. So when did Lukasz changed his tune? Customers spoke up?"
I think there has been some mis-information going around with respect to tube rolling. I think, particularly with the ecc40s, Lukasz has cautioned customers that rolling is not worthwhile due to the fact that regardless of branding there are only two different variants.
On his flagship DAC's page he explicitly writes:
"Tube stage is supplied by dual mono, giant 5c3S tube rectified power supply (one can experiment with rolling different rectifiers like 5R4, 5c4, GZ34 , 5Y3, etc.)"
I also sat down with Lukasz last week and discussed the subject: he encourages it, but can offer limited feedback as he doesn't have access to the same plethora of American tubes we do due to the fact he's living in Poland.
In sum, roll to your hearts content! |
Jwm,
Lukasz Fikus, Robert Reich and myself will be at CES/THE Show on LampizatOrs behalfas well. Those of you planning on making it out to Vegas next month are invited to come visit us in rooms 4058-4060 at the Flamingo Hotel, January 7-10th.
We are excited to be debuting our Level 7 DAC, which we believe to be without peers, along with our GM70 monoblock amplifiers.
Our partners for the show will be Dale Pitcher of Mosiac Audio who will be showing his new Speakers, power conditioner and cables and tentatively Tube Research Lab who may be providing us with a DUDE preamplifier.
Hope to see some of you guys there!
Fred |
We will indeed be there, however, based on logistics I think we will only have an Level 7 dsd and L5 DSD.
Those DACs along with the GM70 monos, TranspOrt, two music servers, amp stands, etc., are already a tremendous amount to carry and we'd like the two DACs we do show to have both PCM and DSD capabilities (don't have a Big Six with DSD on hand). |
Getting back to the subject of LampizatOr, I am not sure the buffer size used by the Squeezebox driven TranspOrt. Its never been an issue with a wired or even wireless connection in my experience, but I will do some digging in case people with latency issues in their home networks have questions.
In the meantime, perhaps starting another thread for miscellaneous topics is appropriate? There is some good information getting buried in the off topic conversation. |
Outstanding, Charles and Jeff!
I'm so glad you guys followed up and heard a Lampi in your own environment!
As Lissnr say, let it burn in for now then drop me a line and I'll give some rectifier tube guidance.
Duelands take forever (400+ hous) to fully mature, but the good news is the break in is rarely rude and you should enjoy the majority of getting there.
Welcome to the Lampi crew! ;) |
He has a level 5 dac built into the larger "big" chassis which is an option instead of the two box Level 5. I personally prefer the one box look, but not everyone can accommodate the depth of the big chassis. |
Jeff,
I'm so pleased to read your developments. It sounds like you've got a wonderful synergy going.
Sistrum products are fantastic, but they aren't all aesthetically appealing... I recommend an SP-101 if you can deal with it, but otherwise an apprentice stance will be nicely hidden under your DAC and still provide a sonic uptick.
Keep us posted as the hours accumulate! |
I don't think Bruce has a qualm with the price of the SP-4, multi-shelf component rack. I think he believed the SP-004 was $3k for a single component. |
Funny you mention this... Lukasz has been experimenting with that cap position and mentioned results have exceeded his expectations of changing that input cap. |
For any of you out there planning on attending APOXNA in Chicago next month, please be sure to check us out in room 432
We will be partnering with Vapor Audio, Purity Audio Design and Verastarr and plan to bring our game faces!!
We plan on providing our Level 7 statement DAC along with one of our TranspOrts. |
Wisnon,
I know! I'm quite excited for this show--I think we will have everything dialed in on time and be ready for action when the doors open.
Vapor will be featuring their new "mini-Nimbus" speaker called Derecho. Per Ryan: it will look like a bulked up, floor standing Cirrus. It will feature dual 8" pro-sound woofers, a high sensitivity ultra low distortion 6.5" mid, and the RAAL 70-20XR tweeter and is supposed to be around $8k. |
To any New Yorkers curious about our Level 7 Statement DAC, we will have one on display this Saturday at the official New York Head-fi meet in Babylon, New York.
The unit is burning in now and should have over a hundred hours on it by show time and should be ready to impress! |
John,
1. Demand for the L7 has been quite overwhelming to the point that myself and my co-distributor are still awaiting our own personal/demo units to be able to show locally on Long Island, NY. Hearing the DAC at a show is your best option for the time being.
So far for 2014 were at THE Show in Las Vegas, Headfi in Cali, Headfi in NY and will be leaving on Thursday for AXPONA in Chicago (reminder all, come check out us in We have a cracker of a room shaping up in 432 where we'll be partnered with Vapor Audio, Purity Audio Design and Verastarr).
We will also be at T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach, the NY Show and possibly others. I know this is not the same as an in home audition, but we are dedicating a lot of time and energy towards getting our products heard by the masses.
2. Lukasz does not believe any of the tube options have a sonic advantage over one another necessarily, however 45 is the least micro phonic and coolest thermally.
3. No spinning disks or moving parts. There are two variations of the LampizatOr Transport. One is based on the Squeezebox DUET mainboard and the other is essentially a USB to SPDIF converter. Both are tube rectified units which offer a very unique TUBED spdif output.
4. I'm not sure anyone has made the comparison in this thread, only speculation. I will avoid adding my own subjective opinions.
5. Our USB input is very competent, but we have had people prefer going both with and without Offramps. I have not tried an offramp myself so I have no opinion either way.
6. That is a personal question. I have the DSD option but have used it exactly twice in my own home. Your PCM will never be true DSD, but you can convert it through software for use with the DSD section. If your computer is up to it, I believe "on the fly" is an option.
Thanks John and I hope to see some of you guys in Chicago this weekend! |
Reminder to check out the L7 in person in room 432 at AXPONA. Our room is shaping up quite nicely. |
Lol, Mattnshlip,
Don't fret too much over the individual levels and numbers. As I tell customers, there are NO wrong decisions with LampizatOr, but its a custom company, so its your opportunity to do things exactly how you want.
I owned one of the first Big 6 DACs in the US as a customer and, now that I've taken over as co-distributor I'm typing this as a Big 7 makes beautiful music in the background...
The Big 6 is a fantastic DAC and feedback has been universally positive, but the Big 7 is significantly my preference.
Lukasz loves those R2R DACs and I'm sure others out there feel the same, but I honestly feel the Level 7 is more than deserving of it's higher ranking. |
Hi All,
For those of you planning on attending the upcoming show in Newport Beach I wanted to remind you to come pay us a visit in room 829 of the Hilton Hotel where we will be partnered with Gingko Audio, Danacables and Wells Audio and are expecting to have a great room assembled with these top notch show partners.
We will be showing our LampizatOr Big 7 DAC complete with EML 45 tubes along with our TranspOrt. We are also making arrangements to have a presentation of DSD through the Big 7 which should be breath taking!
We will also be donating a free Amber DAC (not otherwise offered for sale in the US) as part of the give away.
Fred |
Though I do wish owners would stagger their sales a little better to avoid the appearance that the brand is being dumped, I am proud to inform that most sales are guys moving up the chain.
We had just had one gentleman order a Level 7 after spending just 1 week with his brand new Level 4. :) |
You must do a factory reset of both the transport and the duet remote. Follow the normal steps for initial squeezebox duet setup from there. |
Leicachamp,
I found little difference between a cat 5 wired transport and a wireless one. That said, I started using CAT6 from mono price on my computer and transport and this is the best I have heard it.
Wisnon,
The Big 7 is THAT good, but I'll allow someone who isn't biased to report specifics. I did get a teaser of a review between the Big 6 and Big 7 overseas this morning... should be a great read when its released. |
Bruce,
Glad you posted this as I'm getting ready to order a TRL Samson for one of my own rigs to be driven by a Big 7 w/ VC.
FWIW, a good friend of mine sold his DUDE last week in favor of running his Big 7 direct to TRL amp... |
For those looking for nice tube rolls for their Lampis, I can add the Kenred ceramic base 6x5s to my list of recommendations. Another great, affordable tube that takes things well beyond the stock rectifiers! |
After four fabulous years, generation 4 finally came to a close being replaced by gen 5.
Read what Wayne Donnely has to say about the Gen 5 Level 4 here: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1214/LampizatOr_Generation_5_Level_4_DAC_Review.htm |
