My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
There is an art to deciding the ideal ratio of carpet to bare floor to have. I enjoy playing my violin in a room with no carpet but a good amount of furniture. A totally empty room with no carpet or furniture sounds too reverberant which actually darkens the sound because of the HF smearing from too many reflections. A high ceiling always helps. All size pianos sound muddy unless the ceiling is high. |
We are all in agreement that the floor needs a carpet, back wall needs some and corners need bass traps. Im just not a fan of ceiling treatment, then the entire side wall is pretty much trrated etc. That’s when I feel like it just makes the presentation too laid back. Techno- you are probably right but I’m not there. Trust me the 30 min I heard yesterday was enough for me to hold back and check again today if what I heard was in fact the right thing. |
To each his own with sound treatment, I guess. I'm not big myself on bass traps, unless the room loads up too much with a full range speaker. But come on, the back wall and the floor are 2 places that send the sound to all the wrong places. They should have some kind of dampening material (Ie: rug, tapestry, and whatnot). Hey if your happy with reflections, more power to ya. I agree, that putting up some of those expensive sound soakers that are way overpriced can suck the sound out of the system. I had my Martin Logans refuse to sing properly till I got them in the right room. A little common sense goes a long way. |
A properly treated room will not sound dead. All room treatments don't absorb energy. Diffusion panels disperse mid range and treble energy and make for a more lively room and reduce echo. I use ASC tube traps to reduce the reverberation (decay time) of excess low bass in my room. The traps are 'tunable'. One side of the traps absorb mid and high range frequencies and the other side reflect the mid and high frequencies. I have mine rotated to reflect the mid and highs back into the room. The result is a tighter bass and a lively mid range and top end. |
WC, I totally agree about the negative qualities of overtreated, dead rooms. At a famous NY dealer, I heard a Wilson system in a moderate sized dead room. Trying to A/B amps in that room, one amp produced a sound like thick mud and the other amp sounded like a little less thick mud. But in his larger room with less carpet, a different Wilson system sounded respectable, enough to more easily hear the differences between the amps. This dealer had spent millions of $ on remodeling, but that carpeted dead room was a complete waste. |
Before I update on my thoughts on the dac, I wanted to say that I went to listen to some incredible equipment yesterday. I heard a full gryphon system with the $120,000 msb dac connected to it and it was just amazing. So clean, forceful and smooth with plenty of oomph. I really did not think I’d like the full gryphon set up as much as I did. However, the msb $120,000 dac was the most analog sounding dac I’ve ever heard. It was shocking to say the least. The one thing I can say is that I can’t for sure say HOW MUCH of the awesome sound was attributed to the dac or the gryphon components. Was it 60% dac and 40% gryphon? Hard to tell but it was a sublime experience. All that said, the biggest take away for me was that I realize I don’t like rooms that are overly done. This is why I realize that each time I go to listen to a different component at a store I feel it “relaxed and less lively” sounding. I get the feeling I’m probably the type that would like a room that is treated but that STILL has a little “lively feeling” to it. I want the music to still expand and spread without it being totally absorbed by all the room treatment. I’m not sure if you all can understand what’s im trying to say but essentially what I’m saying is that too much room treatment might not be my cup of tea. |
Techno, FYI, I just woke up and wasn’t able to do critical listening last night. I don’t like doing any sort of analysis when I’m tired because as I had previously explained on this thread, your ears don’t work the same when you are tired. The same effect that happens to your eyes when you are tired ( blurry vision and constant rubbing of your eyes) is what your brain does with your hearing (shuts it down). I will try to do some listening at some point today if I can (family duties). You also mentioned that this was an amp thread and that im not doing that anymore. Did you forget I have the musical fidelity titan arriving next week or do you only choose to hear/read what you want? I also stated a few weeks/months ago that the pool is getting shallower in terms of amplifiers that I want to try. Im not sure where the disconnect is? |
I am guessing it takes him a little time to adjust to the new sound and compare with the Ref10. Richer, fuller, 3d midrange, magical midrange, dense midrange, dense highs you can touch...is what we should get as impressions of the Lampi because of its tubes coloration. maybe it just sucks and he is already planning returning the unit. Sometimes no review is what happens when someone does not want to offend the relation who sent an under performing piece of gear... |
Long time Lampizator owner here. Currently have the Golden Gate 2 with the Pacific arriving in the next two weeks. There are some good threads on the “What’s Best Audio Forum” regarding tube rolling with the Golden Gate and Pacific DACs. The consensus for best tubes for the Pacific DAC are the KR Audio 5U4G (Ricardo Kron edition) rectifier and the KR Audio PX25 output tube. KR Audio just recently released a 242 Ricardo Kron edition output tube that could dethrone the PX25 if your system can manage the high output. If you find the 300Bs are a little too much of a good thing you may want to consider the PX25s. With my Golden Gate 2 I prefer the KR Audio PX4 to the Elrog, KR Audio and Emission Lab 300Bs. I have both the PX25s and 242s on order to determine what will work best in my system with the Pacific. |
He doesnt change fuses. He wont change tubes. I kind of agree with him about testing and comparing the gear stock without upgrades...for objective comparaison ´s sake... What I find unfortunate is that this thread used to be about what amp betters what amp. Now it is all politics...it’s all about synergy. That ´s whats happen when you become victim of your own popularity. Relations, dealers, resalers and contacts don’t want the readers to know the raw truth about how their products compares with the rest...because many of them are just priced too high... Someone then don’t want to offend relations...which is just normal when you think of it. So , if the Lampi gets destroyed by the Lux or Esoteric, we shall never really know. What we will know instead is that it is not synergistic with the rest of the system because of bla bla bla... |
WC, I know you said no tube rolling at this time, but I just want you to let you know that I got a huge improvement on my Big 7 after replacing the stock tubes with Takatsuki 300B's, KR 5U4G Lampizator Anniversary rectifier tube, and the stock fuse with the Synergistic Research Blue fuse. It's truly amazing how much these tubes can impact the performance of the Lampi dac in terms of refinement, details, and dynamics. |
It has two 300b and one 5u4G towards the front. @mitch2 i would say you should stick to a pair of 600.8s. I just can’t lie, I simply don’t like pass labs as much as I once did before. There are so many better amps out here. I’ve said to try the simaudio 860a and Luxman 900u instead. The xs300s are probably something magical though... that is an amp I must have at some point in my journey. Lastly, if the lampizator Pacific DAC ends up with better synergy than my ref10, I’d be sure to post it here. I still believe the ref10 is oustanding but I did hear it with Rockport speakers and I did not like it. |
Okay, sorry to keep asking , but , what tube type if you know , about the other 2. I see 3 of them .One is the Rectifier Tube .It is 5U4G (in the front) what are the other 2 tubes ? Do they have a number on the ?.I think there was many different tube options when you order a Pacific. I was wanting to know which ones in this one .It just makes a difference if i know the tube model number like 300B , cause i know what a lot of them "sound like " so to speak. |
WC, I have been considering Pass amps and remembered reading how much you liked the Pass Labs 250.8 and 350.5 when you wrote your OP back in 2016. I am interested in the 260.8 monos but also maybe the larger 350.8 stereo, or 600.8 monos so I am curious whether you still feel the Pass Labs amps are competitive after auditioning so many other fine amplifiers? I am also curious whether you have considered moving up the Pass chain, to something like the XS300 monos? |
I already know what will be written... Midrange is so enchanting, so meaty , so organic. So 3D. Makes me think of the Mac 2301s... music has soul, music brings emotions... Effect of tubes coloration in the chain. Something near can be achieved with an excellent vinyl rig. viber, if it beats the Ref10 , it will be funny. If it don’t , its just WC married to this sota preamplifier. |
Everything is stock on the dac. No tube rolling at this time. It also has the preamp option with remote but this is a single ended only dac. I plan to use it as a preamp down the road to see how it sounds with the block audios. as far as why I didn’t get the gold dac, well I was told it’s in a pain in the a$$ to keep it clean and it’s a fingerprint magnet. I will give my initial thoughts later tonight for those of you who are interested in hearing my impressions. |
WC, I suggest doing what bigddesign3 suggests--try the direct connection, bypassing the ref 10. Hopefully you have enough gain. My guess is you will enjoy the increased detail which comes from bypassing a line stage. The reputed luxuriant smooth sound of the Lampizator should give you enough of that quality. In any case, you can report on the system with and without the ref 10. |
WC,The Lampizator looks quite large. So did you get the one with the remote control volume? And second, does it have XLR outputs to go to the ARC 10? If it does have remote control, that would mean that you could go directly to the Block Audios, and not use the ARC 10 for a look at a more direct connection and sound. |
The Lampizator was chosen by me based on my knowledge of the synergy that tubes and panels have. I also want to try a source that is a totally different presentation than the solid state dacs I’ve owned. So yes it was picked taking into account the rest of my system. I am a sucker for that 3D effect that tubes give you and that feeling should be enhanced even more with this dac. Again, this is my preliminary feeling but I won’t know until tomorrow night. I also feel like I’ve gotten to a good point with amplification for my Neolith. Sure there will be more amps for me to try but I’m not really rushing to try more and more. Instead, I’m looking at the rest of my set up in order to tweak the sound to my liking. The ref10/block audio se combo is brutal. It will throw a sound that you keep looking behind your head checking to see if you have surround sound speakers. Lastly, over the last 4 days, there is something that’s been happening to my system. It feels as if things are slowly starting to “click in place” better which has given me more and more enjoyment. That said, about a week ago I wasn’t getting this same effect. I felt as if things were dull or muffled. Now they don’t sound like that anymore. Maybe that’s my ref10 still going through a break in process? I have not turned off the block audios since I got them. They are left on even if no music is playing since they automatically switch to eco mode after a signal hasn’t been played for 15 minutes. Who knows what is happening but I’ve been quite impressed over the last few days with how things are just working together. |
@ricred1 You used the word "everyone", and I would disagree with that. Especially since I also agree that it has to do with how the components compare in the system/room as a whole. It's not an absolute - just because it's better in one system/room, might not mean it will be better in another system/room. However, I think WC has done a great job identifying how components work better with certain systems and preferences, based upon the sonic attributes. It's your choice to stay or leave. Dave |
@ricred1 I think everyone knows THAT , by know (component in your own system ) , but more often than not , you usually do NOT get a huge mismatch ..... that is just ... no good . Most highly rated components don’t necessarily "Fall on Their Face". It is pretty unusual to have something that is a mismatch or major disappointment, at this level. It is still about a component being better or worse (in your own system), but you make it sound as if it could be a Total Dud . Unfortunately everyone has their own beliefs. and their own setup.. Better or worse than what .. BTW? I guess you just can’t take the pressure of everyone thinking that it is about a specific component being better or worse . It IS ALL subjective . I guess if you can’t take that , and have to leave Audiogon, then you might need counseling , to understand why ... ? |
I guess in the New Year it may be time for me to exit Audiogon. I left Facebook two years ago and don't miss it at all. Everyone still believes it's about a specific component being better or worse. It's about how a component sounds when inserted into a system. In one system the sound may be preferred and another it may not. In either situation it doesn't mean it's better or worse. |
Here was my Lampizator Big 6 It too, had the Jupiter Copper Foil output capacitors. This was my actual ad . Damn..... I let it go too cheap. ! Check out the pics http://www.audioasylumtrader.com/ca/listing/DAC-Processors/Lampizator/Big-6/With-DSD-Module-Transferable-Warranty-good-thru-7-08-2019/155165 |
@WCSS It will.....It will. !!!!!..It will take time to break in .You MUST be patient ... PLEASE . I am Damned excited that you actually are getting something that I would love to own and I HAVE owned .....well kinda...I had .the BIG 6 . Besides the Czechs, (Block Audio) are right next door to Poland ( Lukasz Fikus of Lampizator).They should play nice together :) I am going to go out on a limb and say that it will be similar to the ARC REF10,... in that it will be Damned hard to let go of . Patience on Break In. Patience If you want me to break it in for you, send it to me . I’ll take 2 weeks off of work and play with it the entire time. It already comes with some of the best tubes money can buy ( KRON KR45, or PX-4 ) SO.. i doubt very seriously that you would need to tube roll. It also comes with Mundorf silver /gold solder and copper metal foil output or coupling caps (probably the Jupiter copper foil Paper and wax...THE BEST), which are same caps that I have put in my Granite Audio 864SR. HELL YES !!! |
