LampizatOR DSD Only DAC Generation 5

HQPlayer is superior to J River, but less convinient (you loose the Jremote app).

Haven't tried the Saracon. I believe you can use it to upsample offline (waste of time and storage space IMO), but also you can use it as a plugin to Jriver, Foobar etc, if your DAC supports ASIO drivers.
 
FlexibleAudio said:
Adam,

Thank you very much for this very valuable insight. Your findings regarding #3 are exactly what I suspected would be the case. As long as PCM sounds better when converted, why go PMC at all in the DAC if you are willing to convert on the fly. I know you have listened to a great deal of the better dacs in the market and you have immense credibility imo in digital. Anyone willing to sell his Diamond MSB stuff for a better sound (Trinity) has done his homework.

I am curious if you have ever found a difference in the SQ of DSD conversion software out there (example: Saracon, HQPlayer, JR, others)????
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This is why i ordered DSD only. And if best sound is dsd I didn't want to pay extra for PCM when I can use my Modwright 5400es or HUGo to play pcm. If I am missing something in my logic Pls someone tell me before they build my unit.
 
Elberoth said:
HQPlayer is superior to J River, but less convinient (you loose the Jremote app).

Haven't tried the Saracon. I believe you can use it to upsample offline (waste of time and storage space IMO), but also you can use it as a plugin to Jriver, Foobar etc, if your DAC supports ASIO drivers.
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Dpod4 said:
This is why i ordered DSD only. And if best sound is dsd I didn't want to pay extra for PCM when I can use my Modwright 5400es or HUGo to play pcm. If I am missing something in my logic Pls someone tell me before they build my unit.
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Elberoth said:
You are spot on Dpod4.
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Good stuff gentlemen. Thanks.
 
Dpod4 said:
This is why i ordered DSD only. And if best sound is dsd I didn't want to pay extra for PCM when I can use my Modwright 5400es or HUGo to play pcm. If I am missing something in my logic Pls someone tell me before they build my unit.
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Only that I prefer the Big7 PCM to the Hugo, by far. However, as you already own 2 PCM Dacs, i see the Logic.

According to most, HQP polysinc upsampling filters are the best around, better than Saracon, too.
 
wisnon said:
Only that I prefer the Big& PCM to the Hugo, by far. However, as you already own 2 PCM Dacs, i see the Logic.

According to most, HQP polysinc upsampling filters are the best around, better than Saracon, too.
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I think the other (and maybe more important) point is that if Dpod finds what Adam found, PCM upgraded to DSD and played on the Lampi DSD sounds better than PCM played native on the PCM side of the Lampi. If that's the case why bother with PCM on the Lampi at all (assuming you are willing to take the time to convert)???

Norman, do you find PCM in native on the PCM side of Lampi to be superior to what Adam preferred? Also, thanks for the info on HQP versus Saracon. Exactly what I was looking for.
 
I am never up sampling, so cant confirm.
Thing is, I also still spin discs, so I can't ever rely solely on up sampling.
 
Another question... is there a way to play a streaming service through a DSD only Dac. Can HQ Player convert streaming internet like Tidal to DSD on the fly????
 
I have been radio silent on this topic. It has been a journey - one where I was close to saying "not for me" with Lampizator. I was a critical listener and was not hearing what I needed to in order to commit. So I may now be the best testimonial for Lampizator on Planet Earth. I will share the longer story this weekend but cliff notes version is Lampizator folks were patient with me and I was with them, and just about the time I was going to punt the magic happened. Just as I was being offered a return label and refund, the DSD only unit (second one they sent) kicked into high gear and wiped the floor with digital sources in the $5-10k range. I was shocked. The initial sound of both units while pleasant wasn't impressive. Quite flat and homogenous. Then, wow, the DAC woke up in a brilliant manner. More dynamics and transparency than uber modded digital sources with thousands of dollars of nos tubes and fuses, but the Lampizator did that while not sounding as digital or constructed or artificial or facsimile in nature. It has a sweeping coherent analogue sounding rightness to it. I finally get it, right when I was ready to step away and send it back in. And that is comparing SACD on uber SACD player to dsd download on Lampizator with same vinyl playing on amg v12 with Benz. Compared via alo studio six with audeze LCD-x headphones and through main rig (air tight reference preamp into marantz reference monos driving magicos. Cabling all the same (Cardas Clear and Clear Beyond). So coming from doubting Thomas here, I hear the magic. I have no ties to Lampizator, no incentives to say good or bad.

I will also say, the customer orientation in the U.S. (Fred) and in Poland (the man himself) was unwavering, polite, responsive and accommodating. I shall be selling some digital sources shortly. Funny thing is, last email I received from Fred was him saying he was going to send a shipping label to me to initiate the return process and how he was bummed they had not nailed the sound for me. I hope he reads this and realizes that one of their most critical listeners is now a loyal lampizator-celebrator. Cheers
 
Darrin - glad you were able to turn it around. Now you must be thinking Big 7 or GG time! [emoji41]
 
madfloyd said:
Interesting. So you were sent 2 different units? Were both units Gen 5?
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The first unit sent was a custom version. Second was standard proven setup. Second one out of the box sounded decent (better than first even after first ran for a few weeks) but not better than my other sources. After 2 weeks of burn in the second one was mind blowingly good - not in an arresting manner but in a manner of doing everything right and musical - dynamics without glare, transparency without etch, bass without bloat, and interesting the soundstage is worth writing a white paper on - it was big and broad and not too pin-pointy like like a lot of sources that keep the music from sounding real and live. Voices that consumed a broader space like a live recording but a snare drum or backup vocal that did have pinpoint imaging. First time I have heard some things have proper breadth while others had proper targeted placement. And the first unit I had sounded compressed and small with the same music. So I was predisposed against Lampizator by the time it showed its magic.
 
Darrin, I am glad you were able to cross the Rubicon. Lampi caps take a while to break in and for the magic to arrive, but as you saw, patience is rewarded.

I am still in awe of the Purity of lampi DSD, but when the caps break in on the GG, PCM will be very, very close to DSD. Mike's GG for example, wont start really hitting stride until August, based on the history of his Mundorf caps and most benefit will go to PCM there. For some inexplicable reason DSD breaks in much faster...???
 
I have a Big 7 on the way. I still don't know too much about this unit, but I gather there are two discreet modes in the unit - DSD and PCM and that I need to switch the unit into one of the modes manually?

For purposes of break in, does it matter which mode or are both truly discreet such that they have to be broken in through separate usage?
 
madfloyd said:
I have a Big 7 on the way. I still don't know too much about this unit, but I gather there are two discreet modes in the unit - DSD and PCM and that I need to switch the unit into one of the modes manually?

For purposes of break in, does it matter which mode or are both truly discreet such that they have to be broken in through separate usage?
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Congrats Ian! Yes, you use the remote to switch between PCM and DSD. It's best to break in both PCM and DSD. I find PCM takes longer.

Have you started to think about tube rolling? [emoji6]

Will you be using a Mac or Windows or something like an Aurender? I'm using an Aurender N100H and it works great.
 
Mike said:
Congrats Ian! Yes, you use the remote to switch between PCM and DSD. It's best to break in both PCM and DSD. I find PCM takes longer.

Have you started to think about tube rolling? [emoji6]

Will you be using a Mac or Windows or something like an Aurender? I'm using an Aurender N100H and it works great.
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I have not thought about tube rolling. I have done SO much of that in the past that I have hundreds of tubes in various boxes around my house and to be honest I hope those days are over. I will evaluate the unit based on whatever tubes it comes with and if it doesn't do what I need it to do, it will be returned.

I use a CAPS v3 server as it allows me to use JRemote (the most amazing app). That said, if there's a sonic advantage of using the Aurender over a windows box, I might consider it, but the app would have to be really good...
 
Mike said:
Congrats Ian! Yes, you use the remote to switch between PCM and DSD. It's best to break in both PCM and DSD. I find PCM takes longer.

Have you started to think about tube rolling? [emoji6]

Will you be using a Mac or Windows or something like an Aurender? I'm using an Aurender N100H and it works great.
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Mike, I was having drinks with your ultimate Tune rolling source last night in Geneva (he is with a group doing watch factory tours). He gave me the whole story of how he tracked down BtB and found the easy supply for the Elrogs via Munich and even showed me your package as delivered. i bet you were sweating. That was a close call.
 
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