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Holo May KTE vs. Lampizator Atlantic 3 TRP vs. Mola Mola Tambaqui

I've had months of ear time with all 3 of these extraordinary DACs. Holo and Lampi I own, and Mola Mola was borrowed from a friend. My thoughts:

All 3 of these DACs amazed me in different ways, and are a serious step up from the Denafrips and Oppo DACs I previously had in my systems.

Mola Mola Tambaqui - This is the most detailed DAC of the 3. It has a way of being hyper-detailed without a trace of sibilance. It opened my eyes to how a DAC can drastically improve the 3D holographic nature of sound. Ultimately though, I did find long listening sessions fatiguing. This may have been a result of a the mediocre streaming setup I was running at the time (cheap Intel NUC running Roon).

Holo May KTE - I fell in love with this component within minutes of plugging it in. It was preowned and already broken in. I can crank the volume without being bothered by high frequencies. The weighty bottom end made it seem like I upgraded my amplifiers, my guess is this was a result of the overbuilt monster of an external power supply. Most importantly, the feel of the music and the natural tones got me so much closer to the music, in the same way vinyl does for me. This thing is a tank and has given me trouble free operation nearly all year, staying powered up 24/7. Immense value with this DAC, highly recommended.

Lampizator Atlantic 3 TRP - After unsuccessfully trying to buy this DAC on the used market, I turned to Lampizator NA to purchase new. It was a good experience and Rob ensured everything went smoothly and answered my technical questions. When I received the unit and got it running, the sound was atrocious, the worst component I've ever tested, cheese grater to the ear drums bad. I kept it powered up for weeks and it slowly got better. But still something was missing. I rolled the stock tubes with some Siemens F2As I purchased from a former Atlantic owner (he moved to Poseidon). Instantly the soundstage got huge and lush and I was hooked. This took it to a new level of analog-like sound. I often would forget I was listening to digital, I was just listening and enjoying. Later I tried Tesla EL51 tubes and added a Sophia Electric 274B Aqua II rectifier. These aren't quite as magic in the mids as the Siemens, but they improve bass impact and have beautiful sparkly highs. 

In conclusion, the Lampi wins overall due to it's realistic analog sound and holographic nature. The Holo May gets pretty close but in subtle ways reveals a small amount of digital etch, very subtle. The Lampi comes with a lot of trial and error however, finding the right tubes that work for you, with the correct adapters. The unit I ordered is balanced and has volume control. The volume control is okay, but has caused issues feeding an external preamp, which I'm still trying to sort out. If I could go back I would forgo the volume control, and would save money getting a single-ended unit instead of balanced. Single-ended uses 2 output tubes, balanced uses 4.

Getting a proper streamer (Innuos) has made drastic improvements to my system as well. I now believe a great streamer is just as important as a great DAC.

audio_bidder

Showing 3 responses by carlsbad2

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
2,023 posts
 

@audio_bidder Sorry you had such trouble with your Lampi. I too bought new from Rob.  I was attracted by the Atlantic, but as a huge fan of the single ended DHT, I decided to go with the Golden Gate 3 with Engine 11.  It was perfect right out of the box, although I never used the tubes it came with.  I started with EML 300B, tried a few others, and ended up stuck on the 300Bs.  

I would love to compare to a Mola Mola.  I have a Chord Dave and at first I thought it had blown the DAVE out of the water and would never appreciate it again, but I've had several listening sessions, often to entertain visitors, and the DAVE is still an excellent DAC.  

I find the GG adds a lot of body and largeness to the sound of a non-DHT amp.  Now that I have a DHT primary amp, the improvements aren't as huge but I still love the sound.  

As for streamers, I have a Grimm MU1 that I love.  It developed an internal cable problem and Grimm said I should send it back.  Since they are in the Netherlands, I suggested they just send me a cable.  but they said mine is an early model and they want to bring it up to all the current revisions at no charge so I decided to send it.  Not difficult, only $117.  So it is off to northern Europe.  While it is gone, I am listening to my Innous Zenith Mk3.   Not sure what it is about it but it just doesn't engage me the way the Grimm does.   Still, I'm not complaining.

Thanks for your interesting post.

jerry

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
2,023 posts
 

@audio_bidder So your comment about Innuos Sense vs Roon made me go investigate it.  I've heard others say that Sense sounded better and I've dismissed it because my experience tells me that Roon is a control program, neither adding or detracting from the sound.  I stream Qobuz and use Roon without any DSP.

But as I said above, I \was a bit disappointed in the Innuos Zenith MK3 compared to the Grimm.  So I investigated Sense.  To my surprise, the Innuos sounded much more like it was supposed to.  I can't help but suspect that Innuos purposely implemented roon in a way that it sounds inferior to their App.  I have used Roon on many devices and have never had this experience before.

I'll have to get the Grimm back before I can compare them but it is nice to have the sound back at least closer to normal.  

So far I'm not loving the Sense App.  It has no windows version so I can't use it from my laptop like roon.  It's controls are very small and tucked into corners.  I'd much rather use a mouse.  There seems to be no "play from here" choice on a playlist, but maybe there is a way to make that happen. Seems more difficult to queue up songs, maybe I can work through that.   But it sounds better.

Jerry

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
2,023 posts
 

@audio_bidder Grimm is a great choice and there are MU1's for sale as people upgrade to the MU2.  The Grimm only works with Roon so it is built to sound good with roon.  It has a built in core so that simplifies your system.

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