The new Jupiter copper caps are outHi Bill, did you order these directly from Chris at Jupiter? I do not see them yet on the website but I was hoping to obtain some in time to use on a current project.
New Lampizator Level 4/ Version 4 DAC in the house
Wonder if any other new owners of this DAC are out there as I find it to be the finest digital playback I have heard to date. This is the first digital front end piece of gear I have owned that has transformed my music.
Ya, other digital gear does this or that better, but this Lampy breaks through to a new level of musical enjoyment. Clear view into the music helping the speakers just disappear. Only 24 hours of break in and the music flows so sweet, intimate and seemingly without boundaries.
Looking under the hood I see an impressive power supply with films caps and several high quality chokes. Point to point silver wired except for the digital and USB boards. This is a three tube player that is tube rectified. One has the option for SS rectification if desired.
Ya, I love this Lampy!
Ya, other digital gear does this or that better, but this Lampy breaks through to a new level of musical enjoyment. Clear view into the music helping the speakers just disappear. Only 24 hours of break in and the music flows so sweet, intimate and seemingly without boundaries.
Looking under the hood I see an impressive power supply with films caps and several high quality chokes. Point to point silver wired except for the digital and USB boards. This is a three tube player that is tube rectified. One has the option for SS rectification if desired.
Ya, I love this Lampy!
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I have been following this thread for months and months. And have re-read it several times. Here are a handful of questions: 1: How do I audition or get an L7 in my home for audition? 2: Pros/cons/experiences of the output tube options in the L7? 3: Lots of talk of the Lampizator transport. Is this a modern day disk spinner or is "transport" used freely to define a storage space of music files? I am pretty much done with dealing with disks. 4: In the many responses here, there were go's and no-go's with using a Mac Mini as the storage vs. a "transport". But the overall feeling here seemed to be that the MM was a well-respected source into the L DAC's. Still true? 5: How is the USB input on the L5-L7 or is it recommended to use the OffRamp devices to go from the source to this and then into the DAC via SPDIF? 6: Is the DSD option truly a no-brainer? And if so, is my entire music library of .wav files useless for this format? .. and do I need the music converted/captured to a whole new format to benefit from this DSD? John |
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! |
I just took delivery of the Big L6 tonight and I am going crazy with the clarity, smoothness and delineation! I am in the twin cities if anybody cares to stop by. Only sad thing is I am using a backup Counterpoint NPS 400 amp to drive the Soundlab A1s and not the CAT JL-3s as the system was moved to the living room and I have only one 20-amp circuit here. So I need an electrician! John |
Yes, I moved faster than the Flash to get the L6. Gosh I love this unit. Wow! And I will not part with the SL speakers. I have optimized the system around these. I just need to get the amps back online. But last night the lowly Counterpoint amp did its backup duty to show the pure magic of the L6. Right out of the box, the L6's resolution and tonality was exceptional except for one thing .."where's the bass?" I was thinking the Counterpoint was just not able to do it. And yet this was not a problem with the Manley Ref DAC or APL Denon player. And then an hour l realized the bass had arrived and everything had become silky smooth. This unit so rapidly made me forget about the system and got me into the musical enjoyment. It clearly takes the L6 an hour or so to warm up and I was just too impatient to wait this required time to listen before powering on a cold unit. Being a tubeaholic for 30+ years, I knew better. But I just could not wait to hear this. I will keep the unit powered on all the time now. |
Some great Axpona feedback: Nice. That is high praise from Myles given he is a vinyl head. Jafox, Remember what I said about avoiding hearing the $1790 BMC PureDac. I know someone who had both and he favored the Lampi by a wide margin. If vinyl is your frame of reference, there is no better choice than "from Poland with Love...." My L7 is finally on order. |
Jafox, you will also find that after a few hundred hours of listening you will be somewhat " re-conditioned" into how natural reproduced music has become via the L6. There will never be any feeling of "artificiality" to your music room ( not assuming you noticed or felt there necessarily was before but...) you will simply 'gel' with the music like you've never really known before...it's truly a beguiling experience. I have found Lampizator in general to have this simply natural presentation, my L4G4 hooked me into it but the Level 6 [IMHO] has completely redefined the notion of " personal listening experience" in your own home... Congratulations! |
Grannyring and Lissnr: Thank you for the support and encouragement. "Natural presentation" is indeed the best description so far. A temptation as a tube-roller is to try other tubes but the result here with the stock tubes is truly wonderful. This is not the typical purchase of a line stage or phono stage loaded with crappy Sovtek or EH tubes that immediately need to be changed. But it has been suggested that I try another tube type for the audio stage. So I will try that out next week when it arrives and report back. My experience with Counterpoint/Aria products has been that the Rectifier tube has a major influence on the performance. So one day when I am truly without anything to do, I will look into trying other rectifier tubes on the L6 as well. But this unit really does not have me itchy to try other tubes like virtually every other tube product has in the past. It's great to get something magical right out of the box. |
I finally compared the "stock" Sylvania VT-99 tubes with a pair of National Union VT-99 tubes. The NU tubes are far more dynamic, lively, spatial compared to the Sylvania having a rather dark and somewhat flat presentation. Three hours with the Sylvania was all I could handle after hearing the far more exciting NU tubes. If you're running an L6 with the Sylvania tubes, you are missing so much magic that comes with using the NU tubes. Perhaps the Raytheon or Tung-Sol VT-99's might bring on further magic, but the NU VT-99's for now are outstanding. It is easy to sit here for hours and hours and listen to music I have heard for 10-20 years, mostly on LPs and hear so much new detail. Now that's saying a lot! |
Hi, will like to use this thread to ask what's the best way to reach Lampizator? After reading all the feedback, I am interested in getting one (not sure of which level yet). I sent a mail the email address published on their web but have yet heard from them. So I am wondering how can I reach them. Thanks. |
05-09-14: Radiohead99 The 6 downsamples to 44.1. The 7, like the 4 and 5, plays the native resolution. As for sound, who knows. Ask Rob or Fred. They have heard both. Lucas uses DHT amps and big horns, so its hard to extrapolate that experience. Like Charlesdad, I like what DHTs do, and it was hard to resist the concept behind the L7.... Jafox, I spent over ten years in the twin cities for surgical training. Found memories and my wife still has family there. I know Bill Dion (Grannyring) well. Do you work for Medtronic? Rja, are you in the twin cities as well? I don't know if you remember, but you suggested I investigate Intuitive Design speakers. You sent me James Darossa's contact info in the context of a thread on Salk speakers. What a stealthy audio ninja you are. Slip in and slip out. Makes suggestions and comments and then disappear. I wanted to thank you for that recommendation over 10 years after the fact.... |
"05-08-14: Lampizator I am glad the Big 6 is liked, because more than any other DAC it is my baby and my favorite model. I use it at home myself. Lampizator" OK. Sir. In a sea of obsessive compulsive audio fanatics who live breath and eat the concept that the Flagship model MUST be the best, why would the guy who builds them and can chose whichever model he wants chose the model BELOW the flagship?!?!? You are morally obligated to clarify this or we, as a community, will lose many sleepless nights trying to resolve this conundrum so foreign to us . ;) Seriously though, dude A statement like that really needs clarification. |
Waltersalas: Yes, for the moment I run the Mac Mini straight into the L6 with a Vue VU-3 USB cable. http://www.vuedigitalcables.com/product/vue-cables-vu-3-audiophile-usb-cable/ I have an older Empirical Audio Offramp but it only has AES output. I would be curious as to any benefit of a state-of-the-art USB converter to SPDIF, but for now the L6 sound is magic. And using the one USB cable makes it easy for DSP once I start to buy such recordings. Agear: I was a contractor for Guidant 10 years ago and then it got gobbled up by Bos Sci. Then I worked for Cameron Health, a very specialized defibrillator made in San Clemente, CA, but we too were gobbled up by Bos Sci. So I am back to the twin cities. |
Hi, L6 is a pure redbook 16/44 R2R DAC, while L7 again is a 2014 technology 24 bit 384 kHz job. It handles all files. On red-book my heart is leaning to L6. I am just addicted to R2R multibit chips. I dont have any significant music collection on hi-rez so all I know are the silly samplers. (brrrr). |