Anyone with Lampizator DAC? Oldie Lamp opinions

[WhiteSE]

I have a failing Parasound DAC2000, ancient but I loved the sound of the Ultra Analog D20400A...really gave me that ultra analog feeling to the music.

I am tempted to buy a Lampizator 2.5, gen 2.5 with the 6H6G tube....

Do you guys feel its a big step upwards? the transport is a Sony DVP-N999ES

 

[nyhifihead]

big fan of r2r NOS dacs, if the output on the lampizator 2.5 is true tube not a buffer I'm sure it will sound excellent. that ultra analog chip is a fan of many.

cool thing about older dacs is that their weakness (jitter control) can be solved easily by using a new high quality interface w. external clock by gustard or breeze audio if your main source is a PC via USB. gustard u12 is only $160 usd and it is a seriously nice interface. If not your CD source would be fine over spdif

I have burr brown 1704uk, TDA 1541, TDA1543 NOS dacs I believe the addition of tube is a great option and perhaps can take the r2r chips to the next level, all about the quality of the output stage.

 

[gvl]

big fan of r2r NOS dacs, if the output on the lampizator 2.5 is true tube not a buffer I'm sure it will sound excellent.

What is the difference between a buffer and a "true tube"? Gain/feedback? Why is the buffer inferior? More neutral?

 

[SoNic67]

"Buffer" is just a fake tube solution, cheap, done just as marketing to build to attract buyers.
On the other hand I don't have a good impression about any of the lampizator's products.

 

[gvl]

"Buffer" is just a fake tube solution, cheap, done just as marketing to build to attract buyers.

Not to hijack the topic, but there is a tube in a buffer, are you implying it is there just for decoration and the signal never goes through it? There must be some technical difference.

 

[SoNic67]

Signal goes through it, but for no reason. You still have an OpAmp in front of it doing all the work - I/V conversion, analog filtering...

 

[gvl]

Signal goes through it, but for no reason. You still have an OpAmp in front of it doing all the work - I/V conversion, analog filtering...

Got it, thanks.

 

[belgianbrain]

I have a couple of the older lampizators. One is a L2.5, the other a completely tricked out Amber that is probably more of a L4.

Honestly, my Schiit Yggdrasil completely destroys them.

I'd look elsewhere. I think Lampizator products are expensive for what they deliver.

 

[restorer-john]

The guy is a hack. He hacks the guts out of perfectly functioning machines, straps an ancient tube in and proclaims how wonderful it all is, all without even a scintilla of technical basis, measurements or theory. It's hilarious if people weren't actually handing money over, but then again fools and their money are easily separated.

 

[belgianbrain]

I wouldn't characterize him that way.

He started out years ago on a mission to discover why most CD players sound so bad. There is actually a lot of explanation that accompanies his chronicles of trial and error over the years on his archived web site. I read nearly every page as he posted them. It's only in the past few years that he turned his hobby into a commercial business.

He subscribes to a "listen and judge" approach to engineering, as opposed to theory first, for the sake of theory.

I think his biggest mistake was using delta-sigma DAC chips, and now he seems to have gone off in a very expensive direction with his newer gear.

I ended up migrating to a Schiit Yggdrasil, which I think is a much better value, but I do respect the Lampizator gear - or at least what he is trying to achieve.

 

[restorer-john]

...He started out years ago on a mission to discover why most CD players sound so bad.

Thing is, 'most' CD players don't 'sound so bad', and they never did.

His 'mission' was searching for a solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place. A very common pursuit in the audio world. Along the way, he wrecked a bunch of CD players and dragged poor mindless souls along on his journey of destruction. I've read all his stuff too- right from the outset- it's a good laugh.

 

[frankbooth]

So John, you've heard many of these DAC's?

 

[WhiteSE]

For now I am going with Audio Gd DAC...I tried one and I liked it..

 

[pete_mac]

For now I am going with Audio Gd DAC...I tried one and I liked it..

Good choice - Kingwa's DACs would cost many, many times more if they were marketed and sold by any western audio company. Sensational sound for the money!

 

[belgianbrain]

Thing is, 'most' CD players don't 'sound so bad', and they never did.

His 'mission' was searching for a solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place. A very common pursuit in the audio world. Along the way, he wrecked a bunch of CD players and dragged poor mindless souls along on his journey of destruction. I've read all his stuff too- right from the outset- it's a good laugh.

I beg to differ. I tried some of the modifications Lampizator suggested to CD players several years ago and the sound quality improvements were real. It's part of what launched me on this hobby/journey 10 years ago.

It was the same motivation that sent Mike Moffat of Schiit (previously of Theta digital) on the same quest, in the early 1980s, and caused him to develop the first stand alone audio digital to analog converter.

Why do you think most people have the misconception that vinyl sounds better than digital? It's not because most CD players sound great.