The New Lampizator Horizon DAC


On Saturday, I was lucky enough to be invited to the unofficial launch of the all-new Lampizator Horizon DAC in Los Angeles.  I have a Pacific and love it but I was intrigued to experience whether the Horizon was that much better.  So, My wife and I drove the 6 hours from Arizona to attend.  

The event had about 18 people in attendance and featured Lukasz Fikus, the owner and brains behind Lampizator.  We had a 5-hour listening session which included direct A/B comparisons between the Pacific and the Horizon, operating the Horizon without a preamp, and finally tube rolling.

My impressions were the Lampizator created a DAC that could change people's minds on comparing digital to vinyl,  The amount of detail, smoothness, clarity, speed was incredible.   For those interested in tube rolling the options are almost endless and I heard firsthand many different tube combinations which changed the SQ of the music.  Finally, at the end of the session, we ran the Horizon without a preamp.  The preamp used in the system was Lamm and the whole system was well over $700k.  So we are talking about a very high-end component grouping.   IMO, the Horizon DAC delivered about 95% of the sound without a Preamp.  It was super hard to discern any differences in SQ.

This DAC was so good that I ended up ordering one.  For anyone going to the Tampa Audio show, Lukasz Fikus will be there to officially launch the Horizon to the world this weekend.  It is definitely worth a listen.

 

willgolf

Congrats on the dac. Don’t ever be ashamed of enjoying what you earn, as long as you’re not hurting others. Sad when people shame others because they can’t afford the same choices. Make your choices with your wallet and hopefully no one shames you.

But let me get this straight…. Your wife accompanied you on a 6 hour road trip to listen to $40000 dac? Then you bought the dac and she knows what it cost? My only questions are where did you meet your wife and does she have any sisters?

@abd1 - yeah that's love.
My wife came with me on a road trip from Texas to Washington to listen to two systems, and I had to get trips to Arches National Park, Mt Reinier, Seattle, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite to sweeten the deal. My wife did agree to me buying a turntable, budget wasn't discussed.

Yeah his wife really loves him.

Lot's of good DAC's but what a great getting there. Arches and Yosemite and the other are wonderful places. Yep those places are better than any audio component.