Atlantic DAC - Incoming

**nicoludio** · September 23, 2016, 05:22 AM

Norman, just wondering. If SS Atlantic is essentially a Lite 7 with 4P1L tubes, wouldn't the tube recti Atlantic be a Big 7 with 4P1L tubes?

Plus, bigger case = more weight

even if similar power supply?

**wisnon** · September 23, 2016, 06:20 AM

The case weighs little comparatively, its the BIG iron underneath...chokes/transformers/power supplies, etc.

I picked up the units from the home of some pretty elderly friends and even they said the box, though huge, was light! Its true, its a double box and the inner box is tiny compared to the outer one. The GG weighs probably 3 times as much!

Anyone who knows Lampi knows that there are no fluff parts in any of his devices, quite the opposite. His philosophy is to jettison anything absolutely not necessary. Simplest signal path is best...that is his key design mantra.

B7/GG weighs THAT much because he went ballistic on the power supply design. The Atlantic is by comparison, just "significantly overspecified". He hit a sweetspot of SQ vs modest componentry with the Atlantic and that makes it a superb value. The GG is a more a "no holds barred" approach, but within the bounds of "sanity". No substitute for "big iron" though.

**nicoludio** · September 23, 2016, 06:28 AM

Thanks. Looking forward to more insights once you have had more time with it.

**wisnon** · September 23, 2016, 06:28 AM

Originally Posted by bonzo

I loved the car analogy write-up!

I wouldn't use those Shun Mooks. They are over 20 years old, and no marks on them for pointing (which the current ones have), and that affects sound adversely if placed the wrong way.

I will play around with them to see what works best. In addition, I have an industry pal who is experienced with SM and is a pal of Bill Ying too. he can likely advise me on how to proceed.

**wisnon** · September 23, 2016, 06:45 AM

Just to be clear, this demo Atlantic is souped up option-wise.
No preamp/remote option, BUT everything else for a SE dac!

Tube recti - Check (5c3 soviet)
Separate chipless DSD option - Check
Superclocked USB - Check (though not sure if just for 44.1khz family or also includes 48hz family)
Dual voltage switchable - check.

**tomy2** · September 23, 2016, 08:44 AM

What other tubes can the 5c3 recti be rolled with?

**Mike** · September 23, 2016, 08:57 AM

Norman - good comments so far. I agree, the footprint, price and most importantly, sonic signature are a home run. The $5K and under DAC market just shook a little.

**Mike** · September 23, 2016, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by tomy2

What other tubes can the 5c3 recti be rolled with?

Guys - I'm going to be honest...if we start with the whole tube rolling thing with the Atlantic DAC, we are guaranteed to scare many people away. If people want to roll tubes, Lampi offers many other options. The Atlantic DAC is meant to be a complete turn key solution at a price point that will attract first time Lampi buyers. If we start with "try this tube, try that tube", they will roll their eyes on move on. Trust me.

But, it's a free world...just giving my two cents.

**tomy2** · September 23, 2016, 09:34 AM

I had read where some were turned off from the Atlantic because there were no choices for either tube rolling or having tube rectification in the first place. Makes me wonder why then Lukasz changed his mind from originally offering only ss rectifier and no volume control and such if it weren't for people wanting more options.

I guess if the intended market was for those who don't want to roll then maybe sticking with the stock version would have been best.

**tomy2** · September 23, 2016, 09:37 AM

Just to add, I've opted to keep the stock version with ss rectifier and not send it in for the tube like I had originally wanted. I'm really happy with the stock version.

I was just asking about the 5c3 because I'm not familiar with it. Probably should have sent Norman a pm...

**bonzo** · September 23, 2016, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by wisnon

I will play around with them to see what works best. In addition, I have an industry pal who is experienced with SM and is a pal of Bill Ying too. he can likely advise me on how to proceed.

I know who you are referring to. Those SM footers were on sale at 1/3rd the normal used price for a reason. Otherwise I would have snapped them up myself, they were on sale for a while. Maybe they are as good as the real thing, only comparing will tell.

**La Dolce Vita** · September 23, 2016, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by tomy2

I had read where some were turned off from the Atlantic because there were no choices for either tube rolling or having tube rectification in the first place. Makes me wonder why then Lukasz changed his mind from originally offering only ss rectifier and no volume control and such if it weren't for people wanting more options.

I guess if the intended market was for those who don't want to roll then maybe sticking with the stock version would have been best.

If What Mike said is correct then I agree, best to stay SS (or go back to a 6X5 rectifier that has so few -or at least less exciting- options for rolling)

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**wisnon** · September 23, 2016, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by tomy2

Just to add, I've opted to keep the stock version with ss rectifier and not send it in for the tube like I had originally wanted. I'm really happy with the stock version.

I was just asking about the 5c3 because I'm not familiar with it. Probably should have sent Norman a pm...

Its nothing new. Its a 5v recti just like the ones in the B7. I think i even had one before...

I agree with Mike though, Atlantic is about keeping it simple. Makes no sense to have a $5K Dac and then hunting for a $1K recti. LoL
Much more interesting is a Superclocked USB.

**wisnon** · September 23, 2016, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by bonzo

I know who you are referring to. Those SM footers were on sale at 1/3rd the normal used price for a reason. Otherwise I would have snapped them up myself, they were on sale for a while. Maybe they are as good as the real thing, only comparing will tell.

Well cosmetically they were not spiffy and in my case with glass shelves, just the wood alone will help.

I am also using UNIQUE from Swiss cables made of similar Mapinga (sp?) wood. Not as footers, they are placed on the doc and or speakers.

**Christophs** · September 24, 2016, 05:48 PM

Hi Norman

Can you give us some news regarding the sound of the tube rectified Atlantic, compared to your GG?
In the meantime you should have put some hours on the Atlantic...

**Mike** · September 24, 2016, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by Christophs

Hi Norman

Can you give us some news regarding the sound of the tube rectified Atlantic, compared to your GG?
In the meantime you should have put some hours on the Atlantic...

Welcome!

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**Mike** · September 24, 2016, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by bonzo

How is it at resolving complexity compared to the B7

Brilliantly. Listened to Mahler Symphony No. 2, Beethoven 9th and a few other selections.

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**Radiohead** · September 25, 2016, 12:54 AM

How does it perform on rock music?

**wisnon** · September 29, 2016, 03:54 AM

I played mainly classical and jazz so far, but did listen to a DSD128 vinyl rip of Illusion -by Imagination and MJ's Thriller (DSD64). Both were excellent, especially Thriller which always gives me a sonic thrill!

Bonzo, complex music in Classical is well handled.

I have been busy the last few days, so not much progress on the listening front.

Here are a few pictures:

**waltersalas** · September 29, 2016, 10:40 AM

Wisnon,
Thanks for posting these pics and some of your impressions of the sound. Your Atlantic appears to be fully loaded. What rectifier tube do you have in the unit? Is that stock, or did you put in a different tube?

I ordered my unit over the weekend with the tube rectifier and superclock options. Now I will have to live vicariously through you guys that already have yours until mine arrives!

**wisnon** · September 29, 2016, 10:59 AM

Hi Walt,

The tube is stock, Soviet 5c3. Thus, any 5v recti could be used, but I have not done so yet. Lukasz says the Atlantic circuit has been optimised for this tube (on Facebook).

I will try more rectis later though...I have quite a few...just now WE 274b and Tak. LoL

This is not my Atlantic, rather a demo unit Lukasz sent here for interested prospects to try out (hence why it is so loaded). Switzerland is NOT in the EU, so has hard customs borders.

Your unit appears to be similar... with the only difference being that the demo unit also has separate chipless DSD512 for the person who may want to delve into the upsampling game.

**waltersalas** · September 29, 2016, 11:26 AM

Thanks for the response, Wisnon. I will not be in any particular hurry to roll rectifier tubes, as I am sure Lukasz will be using one that sounds fantastic in the Atlantic. I will check out that Facebook post as well.

When you get a chance to listen a bit more, please let us know what you think about how it is sounding. Great feedback on it so far across the board. I can't wait to hear it!

**wisnon** · September 29, 2016, 11:54 AM

Walt, be still thy heart. It sounds WONDERFUL.
As somebody very credible said...nothing Under $10k will beat this and maybe even nothing under $15K! It is darn good...but the B7/GG will have that much more weight, but perhaps less sparkle in the HF.

Mind you, I talk about the tube recti version with superclocked USB. I cant speak about the stock version, as I never heard that.

One unexpected treat is the autoswithing of formats. I frakking love that! LoL
If there was a SQ degradation when switching formats like in some other Dacs, then I would eschew the feature, but this Dac is a champ on PCM and DSD....so autoswitching is welcome and indeed LOVED by me.

**waltersalas** · September 29, 2016, 12:17 PM

Wisnon, you're making the wait all the more excruciating

Apparently, Lukasz hit this one completely out of the park! The auto switching was a major plus for me as well, not to mention the smaller, rack-friendly footprint.

**Mike** · September 29, 2016, 04:29 PM

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**waltersalas** · September 29, 2016, 04:42 PM

Beautiful, Mike! Do you have both the rectifier and non-rectifier versions of the Atlantic now? It would be a blast to hear them side by side.

Color me jealous...

**Mike** · September 29, 2016, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by waltersalas

Beautiful, Mike! Do you have both the rectifier and non-rectifier versions of the Atlantic now? It would be a blast to hear them side by side.

Color me jealous...

Ha! I did. Ended up selling the SS recti version to a customer. He picked it up a couple of hours ago.

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**waltersalas** · September 29, 2016, 05:41 PM

Any impressions to share on the differences between them? Have you had a chance to get acquainted with your new friend?

**Mike** · September 30, 2016, 09:39 AM

Walter - both of these DAC's are excellent. I would say the SS recti Atlantic would shine in a "soft" sounding system, one like my friend who has Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers and Pass XA100.5 amps. The extra detail and resolution of the SS recti would shine through. It's like listening to a DAC that has a good amount of tube magic and a good amount of solid state low noise floor, extension, separation, etc.

The tube recti Atlantic has another good amount of tube magic and is definitely sounds a lot like my Big 7. Really close. But the Big 7 remember has DHT and DHT tube options for flavoring. The tube recti Atlantic is more "front row" listening. The SS recti is more "10th row" listening. Both are excellent.

Exciting times.

Let me get some more hours on this one and I will comment back again.

**wisnon** · September 30, 2016, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

Walter - both of these DAC's are excellent. I would say the SS recti Atlantic would shine in a "soft" sounding system, one like my friend who has Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers and Pass XA100.5 amps. The extra detail and resolution of the SS recti would shine through. It's like listening to a DAC that has a good amount of tube magic and a good amount of solid state low noise floor, extension, separation, etc.

The tube recti Atlantic has another good amount of tube magic and is definitely sounds a lot like my Big 7. Really close. But the Big 7 remember has DHT and DHT tube options for flavoring. The tube recti Atlantic is more "front row" listening. The SS recti is more "10th row" listening. Both are excellent.

Exciting times.

Let me get some more hours on this one and I will comment back again.

I agree... the Tubed Atlantic is definitely more upfront than the DHT Lampis as well.

It also has a bit more HF sparkle it seems. Giant killing price.

**tomy2** · September 30, 2016, 10:14 AM

Interesting comparison. My stock Atlantic is being used with a Melody integrated that has dht tubes so maybe that's where I'm getting such a great match. I still would love to hear a tubed recti version of the Atlantic but I'm not willing to ship mine back to get it converted out of fear I would lose the synergy I'm getting with the ss rectifier in the my Atlantic and the dht tube rectifier in the Melody.

**wisnon** · September 30, 2016, 11:23 AM

You probably have great synergy...dont change anything...except maybe superclocked usb later on.

**waltersalas** · September 30, 2016, 11:27 AM

Thanks very much for sharing these exciting reports, guys. Honestly, your description is just a perfect match for my listening preferences, so this may be my "off the merry-go-round" DAC, at last.

Correct me if I am wrong, but for those of us who went with the tube rectifier option, there is a plug-in you can buy pretty cheaply that will effectively transform it to solid state? I either read that somewhere or misread that somewhere

In any case, these reports are thrilling indeed. Keep them coming!

**wisnon** · September 30, 2016, 11:32 AM

https://www.tubedepot.com/products/s...tate-rectifier

and banter here
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/ind...te-plug.18920/

**waltersalas** · September 30, 2016, 01:12 PM

Thanks for the links, Wisnon. I love that we have the opportunity to fine tune, even if it is just a little bit. Depending on the room or other gear in the system, this just might come in handy.

**wisnon** · September 30, 2016, 02:17 PM

The seller for the Foreign Brimar is none other than:

Dave
Arizona Tube Supply
http://www.arizonatubesupply.com/
(602) 803-6290

He also has more 1944 JAN RCA 5r4gy for $88 a piece. This is the double angled getter WW2 fabled recti, that many claim threatens the WE 274b.

**papermill** · October 3, 2016, 04:38 PM

Hello folks,
While I'm waiting for the delivery of the Atlantic - a question.
I've been using the Up-Tone Regen with the Esoteric K-03.
Any thoughts for use with the Atlantic??
Thanks,
Dave
PS- also posted this question on another site...

**joeinid** · October 3, 2016, 05:47 PM

Welcome to the forum Dave, thank you for joining.

**Mike** · October 3, 2016, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by papermill

Hello folks,
While I'm waiting for the delivery of the Atlantic - a question.
I've been using the Up-Tone Regen with the Esoteric K-03.
Any thoughts for use with the Atlantic??
Thanks,
Dave
PS- also posted this question on another site...

Dave - welcome to AS. I would try your Regen from your K-03 on your Atlantic. A:B and decide for yourself. At this stage, I prefer without.

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**wisnon** · October 4, 2016, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by papermill

Hello folks,
While I'm waiting for the delivery of the Atlantic - a question.
I've been using the Up-Tone Regen with the Esoteric K-03.
Any thoughts for use with the Atlantic??
Thanks,
Dave
PS- also posted this question on another site...

I suspect they wont be so useful with the Superclock option. Did you get them?

**papermill** · October 4, 2016, 05:40 PM

Thanks for the welcome and feedback!

I just got confirming shipment for the Atlantic to arrive on Friday! Should be a fun weekend!
My Atlantic might be a little different than most.
It's a SE PLUS with rectifier, clock upgrade, remote volume control/preamp. Not that, that is unusual. However, since I have no room on the top shelf of my rack,
Lampizator has sent me a full size chassis so that the rectifier tube is horizontal, and the power tubes are completely within the casing. I'll be able to fit the Atlantic on a middle shelf. Pretty nice. Talk about custom made...

As far as the Regen is concerned, I'll try it in/and out - as long as I'm not doing any "damage" to the signal....

Dave

**wisnon** · October 4, 2016, 05:44 PM

Wow. Very nice.

**Mike** · October 4, 2016, 05:54 PM

Congrats Dave.

Norman - my two Atlantic's have the super clock in them.

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**wisnon** · October 4, 2016, 05:57 PM

Audiophile Bill says his superclocks make Dsd extend the gap over pcm and that PCM is already superb. Seems superclock has even more magic for DSD...

**Mike** · October 4, 2016, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by wisnon

Audiophilw Bill says his superclocks make Dsd extend the gap over pcm and that PCM is already superb. Seems superclock has even more magic for DSD...

Not sure I agree. I hear much more benefits with PCM.

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**wisnon** · October 4, 2016, 06:44 PM

hmm...he is using a GG...or maybe system synergy?

**Audiophile bill** · October 5, 2016, 03:47 PM

Mike - are you talking about a super clocked GG or Atlantic? Is your Atlantic PCM engine r2r?

My dsd performance has taken quite a leap with super clocks (so has PCM) just that dsd even more so.

cheers

**wisnon** · October 5, 2016, 03:52 PM

Mike has an older B7 and a new tube recti/superclocked Atlantic. Atlantic is Only R2R Pcm.

He us indeed talking about the Atlantic.

**Mike** · October 5, 2016, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Audiophile bill

Mike - are you talking about a super clocked GG or Atlantic? Is your Atlantic PCM engine r2r?

My dsd performance has taken quite a leap with super clocks (so has PCM) just that dsd even more so.

cheers

Hi Bill - my new Atlantic has the super clock in it and the new PCM engine R2R (which is terrific).

Compared to my Big 7, the PCM took the biggest leap to my ears. DSD was always superb. But now PCM is damn close.

For ~$5K, this Atlantic DAC is stupid good - especially being fed from the Aurender N10.

**Audiophile bill** · October 5, 2016, 03:53 PM

Forgot to mention that the last PCM iteration was very, very close to DSD engine IMHO just that this has widened that gap again.

I see Atlantic is r2r PCM. Btw and fwiw, if super clock has significantly lowered jitter, then the dsd engine should benefit more.

Thread: Atlantic DAC - Incoming

Re: Atlantic DAC - Incoming

Re: Atlantic DAC - Incoming