Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD
I found the second smaller room with the Lampi 7, Ginkgo speakers and Dana cables to be excellent sounding. In some ways better sounding than the Vapor room. The Vapor room was hot sounding to my ears on the first and second day. The third day was much better so I assume the speakers needed burn in time. I also noticed the Raal tweeter pads were placed on the driver and that helped. I have the same tweeters and they can be hot and problematic to deal with. The room that most impressed me was the Triode of Japan and Accoustic Zen Cresendo room. That room placed beautiful music. All with a $3200 Triode of Japan CD player. That certainly garnered my attention. |
Wisnon, I saw 2 rooms with Lampy. The Big 7 room was very good, but I'm not a huge fan of those speakers. It's always hard to identify what, In a show room, is holding the room back but in that room I think the speakers were the limiting factor. The main room downstairs with the Golden Gate was exceptional. Big big big speakers, but the music was there and very enjoyable. Interestingly, they were using an Antipodes DX as source along with some killer Lamm gear and the very intriguing Plasmatron power conditioner, which I will eventually have to pull the trigger on. There were lots of Aurender W20's and lots of Lumin in various models at the show. Only one Antipodes. A few others as well. Startups as well as several well established one guy shows (ie. Music vault, Scaena music server, etc) Overall a way better show then Montreal. I won't go back to Montreal. Axpona was WAY better and bigger. Merrill Audio showed with their affiliate speaker, a massive horn system that was stunningly musical, fast and engaging. They also had a relatively unknown music server running their music, Blue Smoke Systems running through the brand new MSB V DAC. There was NOTHING holding this room back. Every step of the signal path was doing what it should. I have considered the MSB DAC before; now I will take a more serious look. To me, the Lampy Golden Gate took the step that many have been waiting for Lukasz to make with his product, from gear looking like it was made by 4 guys in a basement to well manufactured top tier audiophile equipment. Congrats to him. I also heard, In a few rooms, the Bricasti M1 DAC which sounded excellent. The current top tier DAC stuff is, I think considered by all, the premier digital rig to own. But it's multi unit system with interconnects and power cords and space and cost and all makes it insane for all but the most die hard of listeners. I only had one day at the show. If any can get there, it's a good show and a lot of fun. |
Matt, I have heard good things about the Antipodes although I have not heard one personally. The Beast is very expensive, and for me personally, I would go with the Antipodes and give it a couple of years. I think there will be lots of better servers years down the road (and may be cheaper), And who knows, the Beast may be in its second or third generation with better performance. |
Any opinions on Request Audio's The Beast server? Has anyone heard it? Anyone compared it to the Burmester server? Thoughts on whether to go with a CAD, Antipodes, Aurender type dedicated server from a relatively new/small,server only company or does anyone think those companies will fade as the mainstream companies like McIntosh, Audio Research and such come out with their own servers? PS- we are over 530k views. Sorry I've been quiet on the posts. Work has been insane and the new room has taken up quite a bit of my time. I'm getting closer and closer to where I want to be. I went to the Montreal show. Was anyIne else there? Any thoughts on good/bad rooms? Also, trying to go to Axpona. Anyone else? |
Mitch2, I decided on the CAD USB cable because Scott (Mr. CAD) also makes a high end DAC. To me that differentiated him from the other cable makers. He has skin in the game. A friend of mine is in the process of breaking in a CAD USB cable. He is going from a Mac mini to a pair of Devialet 400s to Vivid Audio G-2 speakers. I hope to hear his system in the next week or so. I did talk to him a few days ago and he was sounding very positive about the cable. I have a new DAC on order and hope to have it by the end of the month. I will share my findings once I have some runtime on the system. I did reinsert my original USB cable (Wywire Litespeed - no longer made) after I had 500 hours on the CAD. It was not a difficult decision to keep the CAD. |
The ODSE is much better through Empirical Final drive transformers direct to the amp. The effect is not subtle. When compared to EMM Labs DAC2x with Allnic L3000, it is as if wool blankets wrapped three layers thick were removed from the speakers. The clarity was better, by a wide margin than using High Fidelity Ultimate Reference cables that cost $$$ used. In my experience, a preamp that cost 22K would provide added value but the value is not worth the price. |
Still need to get that hard drive and drive to rip my CD;s, but listening to all the great music on my server through this OSDE is blowing my mind. I don't even have my Vandy Quatro's yet. This is all through the Treo and Ayre AX7e (waiting on my AX5/20 to get here in a few weeks) and WOW>.. This is nearly the best I've ever heard for a DAC. I recently heard the DCS stack and it was special and also the Bricasi DAC with all Tidal gear. I didn't know the other components, but I'd put my OSDE up against both of them and it won't embarrass itself. When I had the AX5 in my system it took it to levels beyond which means that I haven't heard the best from the DAC yet. It just keeps getting things right and I want to thank Steve for making this unit and supporting it like he does. I'm a convert guys. I never was going to buy from a small maker, but I'm glad I did and I hope that he is training someone to take over from him eventually. Genius is a word I'd use. I think I have auditioned nearly every DAC that's been talked about in this thread as well as others, so I think I have a decent reference. Thanks again to Matt who started this thread as I'd never have heard about Empirical otherwise. |
I have been following this thread with great interest since it's inception. Today I finally pulled the trigger and ordered what will most likely be my last DAC. The final 3 candidates were DACs from Empirical Audio, Bricasti and Lampizator. Unfortunately there is no possible way to listen to any them here in the Middle East. The winner teams up with the Antipodes DX server and CAD USB cable. After reading everything I could find for each DAC I selected the Lampizator Golden Gate DAC. Now comes the 4 week wait while the DAC is built. It's going to be a long 4 weeks. |
Or you can buy the new .001uf Duelund silver bypass caps from Parts Connextion for under $100 and... Steve, let the Jupiter caps break in as they have never sounded the way you describe. They actually have a more airy top end compared to the CAST caps after proper break-in. This has been my experience in tube gear and speakers. Never tried them in a dac however. |
I hear they both take many hours to break in. But I have not heard either myself. What do you like about the duelund? If I am able to source some silver duelund caps I may have you run those. What spec caps are required? I remember there are 4 total. I believe the Jupiter caps are silver, and if so ups wonder if they too will have a similar affect. Does duelund offer discount to industry Manufacturers? |
"XMOS USB (which I find better than M2Tech) compared to your external ethernet to I2S converter compared to internal ethernet to I2S direct." It will be about 3 months before I can do this comparison. I will be out of town starting March 20 for 4-5 weeks. "What qualities do each brand of caps bring to the table in your SX design? Will you have a few units in possession and be able to directly compare simultaneously?" I have two ODSX, one with Jupiter and one with Duelund caps that I am running currently. Either the Jupiters have really overblown bass and somewhat recessed highs, or they are not fully broken in yet. They sound great on older 70's tracks that have thin bass, but newer tracks are just over the top. Ketcham - You are too kind with your kudos, but on the other hand I'm glad somebody finally gets what I'm about. Steve N. Empirical Audio |
You go Charles! Mandate the cars we must drive? Come on, perhaps we better get back to audio folks. The wheels have come of the track here. I let my car warm up here in Minnesota when it is below zero so I don't drive shivering and become a dangerous driver. Ok if I burn a little fuel. I am proud to be an American and love my neighbors! |
Steve- I believe your Diamond SX is something special and will quickly be noticed in the audio community. Since these units are now in very limited supply, would you post your thoughts on the sonic qualities of for each build option? For those who have never been to Steve's auditioning system, his perception is spot on. What I am curious to learn is the benefits and disadvantages of: XMOS USB (which I find better than M2Tech) compared to your external ethernet to I2S converter compared to internal ethernet to I2S direct. For those unfamiliar with the overdrive, the internal USB input card can be replaced by Ethernet to I2S. No dac will have both USB and Ethernet due to the compact chassis design. Currently on loan to me is a dac that has all these inputs and Ethernet direct is by far the best. But again, implementation is important. I have yet to see a dac better implemented and designed than Steve. There are so few dacs with direct Ethernet, that I am uncertain if the concept or implementation makes it better. Steve, what are your thoughts on Ethernet direct input? I have from two sources that in Asia that the majority of audiophiles do not use a server and dac design focus is more on Ethernet because 80, 90, 95% of the consumers solely use this input. Second comparison: What qualities do each brand of caps bring to the table in your SX design? Will you have a few units in possession and be able to directly compare simultaneously? This insight will pay dividends for us who have specific needs tailored to our system. What I have learned is benefits do not translate to each system uniformly. Steve, I commend you on your years of service both as an engineer continuously improving on already amazing products and creating a successful business. Rarely I find a one man show able to do both so well. You are genuine in your advice to your consumers and foremost genuine in your advice to your competitors. What most manufacturer would consider propriatary, you openly share for the good of the community. In this regard, I consider you a Professor. This is the highest respect I give anyone in my field. |
Ghosthouse, You make very good points, this issue is more about political ideology than true science. That change from "global warming" to "climate change" did not go un noticed by astute observers. Once I moved away from the NPR and NY Times influence and overt selective bias I began to see how political this topic is(sadly). There are many in sciwnce who dispute the whole model/idea of climate change. The artic caps are expanding, the model incorrectly predicted/said they are diminishing at a raid rate(wrong) I realized you have to seek alternative viewpoints and do lots of reading. Otherwise there's the risk of buying in to agenda driven filtered information. There are numerous meteorologists who say the CO2 CAUSE/EFFECT CLAIMS ARE FLAWED. READ AND LISTEN TO "BOTH" SIDES AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND. This dedate is far from settled.Now we want to mandate what cars free citizens can drive? Many people feel the federal government has become to large and powerful(I agree). What next? what to wear and what to eat? how many children we can have? When is enough, enough? |
The ODSX diamond is in production. I am building 2 orders now. Some will be built with the Ethernet interface. I am ironing out the last issue with the XMOS interface. I have one built for a customer and testing with the older USB interface right now. Lead-time is around 75 days. Steve N. Empirical Audio |
Our efforts are important. But it's SO frustrating to do our part and then travel to Russia or China or India or any other one of 40 other countries and oberve the level of polluting there. One car in India or China probably puts more crap in the air then 30 US cars. And the manufacturing over there goes completely unregulated. One of toxins pumped into the air every day. It's sad. |
You can get an idea of the impact of just jet aircraft on the atmosphere by studying 9-11. All air traffic was grounded for a few days in the US. In just this few days, the atmosphere changed dramatically and it was measurable. Unfortunately, the majority of the excess CO2 in the upper atmosphere will take 100 years to dissipate. This evidently changes slowly. The difference on the earth now compared to two decades ago is that third-world countries are becoming developing countries. This means a lot more power generation, automobiles and more forest being cut down to grow crops and build houses. All contributing to CO2 emissions. Another thing is that due to the more common droughts, there are a lot more forest fires now than even 10 years ago. I live in a national forest, so I have seen this first-hand. This not only puts more CO2 in the atmosphere, it takes out CO absorbing trees. Many phenomena like this one are causing global warming to accelerate beyond what it would, given only the human caused pollution. Scientists have models that emulate and simulated the atmosphere. Both of these models show conclusively that our pollution is the major contributor to global warming. Its not just anecdotal evidence of melting ice-caps etc.. I don't use the term climate change. That would be giving in to the republican stance that it is not our doing. Similar to their stance that their policies represent what the vast majority of people in the US want. Try the vast majority of business and big money... I think the federal government should: 1) mandate only hybrid personal vehicles be built and sold 2) outlaw fireplace use that does not create needed heat 3) shut down coal-fired power plants or convert to NG 4) make the car manufacturers put an automatic shut-off if the vehicle is in park and the outside temp is above 50 degrees F 5) make it illegal to idle your car if it is in park Obama should be doing these things. The focus entirely on power generation is only half the puzzle. Steve N. |
Having been trained and employed as a scientist, my perception of science is that it is almost more about process than achieving some permanent end-state of knowledge. Disagreement and debate and a search for alternative explanations for available data are key to that process. When socio-political agendas stifle the debate and marginalize dissenters, the process becomes perverted and is fodder for the propanda machine. Let’s not forget the Nazis used "science" to justify and drive their social agenda. This is what I refer to as Kool-aid. With respect to climate change (conveniently enough, no longer referred to as “global warming”): - It isn’t new. (Is there a possibility what we are experiencing is within normal variation over a much longer time-frame?). - It does not take “geologic” ages to be manifest. - CO2 levels have varied cyclically over hundreds of thousands of years though reported industrial era levels are much higher than long term historical highs. For those who believe our 100-120 year history of industrialization with attendant rise in CO2 levels is the cause of current climate change, this is definitely the 97% majority position. Visit the NASA site - they’ll tell you. I guess funding sources have never influenced agency views. Regardless, last I knew, science isn’t based on a popularity contest or poll numbers. There are a tiny minority of professional organizations and individual scientists who remain skeptical or at least take a more moderate position on the current “climate change gospel”. Suspect their agendas and motives just as much as those of the majority view-holders. Information at the links below might be of interest. http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_lia.html http://news.agu.org/press-release/monster-hurricanes-reached-u-s-northeast-during-prehistoric-periods-of-ocean-warming/ http://greenecon.net/should-we-be-concerned-over-elevated-co2-levels/energy_economics.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientists_opposing_the_mainstream_scientific_assessment_of_global_warming |
Interesting thread turn, but worth it for sure. Yes we all need to do our part. The sad thing is that greed from big oil as well as the car manufacturers not named Tesla are giving us what they tell us we want. They just block the infrastructure to build out charging superstations for all electric cars. There could be a standard and it would benefit all. They are close to having the ability to have a 90% charge in only ten minutes or less. They can do a 3 minute full batter pack change if there were standards. I'm a retired Navy Commander. I drove ships around the world in the 80/90's and knew many of the weather guesser's as well as many NASA guys. They all complained back then about these problems. My buddy Al predicted this problem in the 21st century and he was correct. Yes, if everyone started to do their part and each person got ONE other to do the same, it would start to make a difference within a few years. Too bad the word 'GREEN' is misused and hidden behind by so many. |
The crazy thing is that the cell-phone is probably responsible for at least 90% of the idling cars in the US today. It never used to be this way. People are just on auto-pilot. They get in their cars, start them up and then proceed to sit there for 15 or 20 minutes looking at their cell-phones or talking on them. Ridiculous, wasteful and hazardous to the earth IMO. Americans (US) are the most wasteful people I have seen on the face of the earth. Sometimes I am ashamed to counted among them. I practice what I preach too. I don't start my car until I have my seat-belt buckled and everyone is in the car with their belts buckled and I am ready to drive. I am also looking to get an electric car. This will make a significant difference in my carbon fooprint. The majority of the power here is hydroelectric. Steve N. Steve N. |
"If you are not a climatologist or scientist at NOAA or NASA, then you only know a tiny bit about the subject." That's true thanks to our modern media which seems no longer capable of reporting the news in an unbiased and purely factual manner. For every part of real information there are thousand parts of noise. Wikipedia is often the best source for news. Not perfect, but the best system for getting to the facts fastest over time. |
If you are not a climatologist or scientist at NOAA or NASA, then you only know a tiny bit about the subject. These are the experts and it's time we acknowledged that. Believing that there is nothing you can do anyway because you are just one person is a recipe for disaster and the eventual extinction of man. This is not an exaggeration. Global warming is currently the #1 threat to mans existence, as well as many other species on the earth. This is acknowledged by at least 80% of the worlds climate scientists. Steve N. |
Thing is climate has always changed drastically throughout geologic The other thing is we know things we do today can impact climate. The other thing is we can control the second but not the first. If you choose to do nothing about something that you do have control over that is known to be desctructive, you are either a fool or making money off it somehow. If you choose to do what you can well, then you might still be a fool in the end but at least you tried. |
Everyone sick of the snow and rain? If you want to do your part to slow this trend, I recommend that you turn your vehicles engines off when they are parked. If everyone did this, it would eliminate more CO emissions than 2 coal power plants. If we don't have a grass-roots change of these behaviors the weather will just get worse and worse. It should be mandated that all personal vehicles be hybrids for instance. We have mucked with Mother Nature big time and she is letting us know. By the time we have political will to stop this trend, the salmon runs will die out as will most other critical foods from the sea. The reefs are dying at an alarming rate and the small organisms are declining. Weather disasters will become daily news (they already are actually) and will prevent any world economy from being "normal". Growing regions will fail and crops will have to be relocated, like California. Next thing you know, we will be buying our produce from Canada. If you believe that global warming cannot possibly be due to man because of all of the cold weather and snow in the east, you don't understand climate. Okay, I'll get off my soap box now. Steve N. |
