LampizatOr - Any Golden Atlantic, Amber II or Atlantic dac users here? or other recommendations ...

Paul said:
Joe, I just ordered Golden Atlantic for myself :)
Click to expand...
Welcome to the club! Goes very well with the Mac gear.

Edit: Just checked out your thread. I'd be more than happy with the system from the first post in 2013 (+ the GA of course).
 
GA is good but quite a compromise to GG for extension on either side, dynamics, and complex music. Energy. The main reason to buy Lampi is to tube roll, not just for flavor but because different voltage and gain and impedance match with preamp helps to tune the system, much like a cartridge. While analog do this gain tuning as bread and butter, digital, including the Atlantic does not offer that flexibility. Atlantic is great to get back in the Lampi game and then upgrade to GG, and on simple music gets you most of the way to the GG.
 
Bonzo,

With all due respect, I doubt very much that an Atlantic is less able to reproduce complex music than is a GG. Companies would like their "perceived value" chart to line up that way. But Lukasz kept giving away features (like tube-rectified power & DSD512) to demanding Atlantic buyers until the only technical difference was the Atlantic reliance on the small Soviet tubes. The big tubes make a difference in sound signature and many attest to a definite "magic." But nobody buys or sells a $10,000 DAC with the intention for listeners to be confined to "simple music."

My A+ is very deluxe and used to belong to Our Man Mike. He opted for the DSD512 engine in addition to the R2R engine (with all superclocks). So I can engage the DSD512 engine if I want a different sound. (I do prefer DSD512 for DSD to the auto-switch DSD in the regular R2R based engine, but only by a sliver.) One consideration I would make is that my A+ is a little bit too DIY looking, not to say homely. The GA adds a measure of beauty in addition to whatever sound quality that Lukas's self-described "Gucci Dac" adds. At the end of the day, Joe, I won't ever sell my Atlantic Plus. If I upgrade, the A+ will be used for a secondary system in a den. I've never heard digital sound so convincingly analogue (on good recordings, of course).
 
Nor does someone price a dac twice the price unless it was substantially better.

Incidentally my GA and GG compare happened in the Lampi factory. Like I said, I was impressed by the GA, but it is far from GG.

Also you miss the point. About having a dac that is fixed as to having one that's flexible. With GG, you can transform the performance of a stock dac.
 
I’m ‘slumming it’ with a recently purchased loaded A+ :S Sounds like I should of gone with a more stripped down GA instead :sigh:
 
GG is better than GA, as good as the GA is. Unless you do a head to head you wont realize. A local buddy has a GA. When he heard my GG when he brought over his GA, he said to stop as he spent enough and didnt want any more temptations! LoL

The GG weighs 3 times the GA...the difference is the power supply!

The PACIFIC, not the GG is the Gucci of the lineup.

Final point, I even did a 3 way with the A+ (super clocks and DSD512), GA with no DSD512 and then GG with SC and DSD512. The results reflected the relative pricing. GA has more Gucci parts compared to A+.
 
Base GG is 13000 Euro, balanced GA is 9000 Euro (this is the one I have). To hear the differences you are likely going to need the preamp, amp(s) and speakers to match. I also went down the rabbit hole of tube rolling with a tube amp - never again! :)

Even though I have a GA, I did start with an Atlantic+. Yes, the GA is better, but I think the best bang for the buck in the lineup is the Atlantic or Atlantic+. I'll be looking at one of these for another room in the near future.

Pacific is 22000 Euro :)
 
Hi Leftside.

I heard them all in my system at the same time.

I think the best bang for the buck is indeed the A+, but we tend to chase the last 1% as usual.
No rabbit hole for tube rolling for me. I just rotate from the set I have...most I got used from the local tube Barn for cheap.
The vintage CX 345 for example are sublime with jazz vocals.
 
It's the power supply, the heat sink, and most importantly tubes. Tubes are rolled not just for fun and flavor - it's essential to match the tube to your pre and to the system gain to performance by multiples. Otherwise it is just another very good dac.

When you keep two dacs together, one can sound better than the other as there is nothing you can do about the lesser sounding one. The GG you can transform within the hour.

How many analog people would buy a TT with a fixed arm and cart, and try to fit it to any phono?
 
There are a lot of moving parts and other variables to consider. How would an A+ with the R2R ladder compare to a GG with the standard PCM engine, for instance? Surely the enhanced engine is going to beat more exotic capacitors, etc? Regarding power supply, I thought Lucasz told us that the Atlantic supply was the the same as the Lite 7. But then he permitted tube rectification, which would make the supply the same as the B7, GG. So the superiority would seem to be in the big tubes and the ability to roll.

bonzo said:
Nor does someone price a dac twice the price unless it was substantially better.

Incidentally my GA and GG compare happened in the Lampi factory. Like I said, I was impressed by the GA, but it is far from GG.

Also you miss the point. About having a dac that is fixed as to having one that's flexible. With GG, you can transform the performance of a stock dac.
Click to expand...
 
I compared R2R to R2R. Lukasz prefers non R2R sonically, be understands why some prefer R2R. R2R has more details, resolution, dynamics. You can have both in both. There is a big difference between Jupiter and Mundorf completed dacs, and I assume there will be between duelund and Mundorf, though when I blind tested one cap for the other in the same dac with Lukasz waa unable to hear a difference. However testing between two completed GGs, one Mundorf and one Jupiter showed more body and ease on crescendo, and more flow.
 
BayStBroker said:
There are a lot of moving parts and other variables to consider. How would an A+ with the R2R ladder compare to a GG with the standard PCM engine, for instance? Surely the enhanced engine is going to beat more exotic capacitors, etc? Regarding power supply, I thought Lucasz told us that the Atlantic supply was the the same as the Lite 7. But then he permitted tube rectification, which would make the supply the same as the B7, GG. So the superiority would seem to be in the big tubes and the ability to roll.
Click to expand...

Bay, the GG is LITERALLY 2 to 3 times bigger and heavier than the GA. I have had ALL of them side by side at home at one point. ALL GGs were R2R from the start, i think. The FW on the R2R was improved over time.

The A+ existed BEFORE the GA, by the way. GA is A+ with Gucci internal parts, shiny case, and Kron 5u4g stock rectifier and DSD512 module as standard. Throw on a flight case as well and that is the premium package.
 
bonzo said:
I compared R2R to R2R. Lukasz prefers non R2R sonically, be understands why some prefer R2R. R2R has more details, resolution, dynamics. You can have both in both. There is a big difference between Jupiter and Mundorf completed dacs, and I assume there will be between duelund and Mundorf, though when I blind tested one cap for the other in the same dac with Lukasz waa unable to hear a difference. However testing between two completed GGs, one Mundorf and one Jupiter showed more body and ease on crescendo, and more flow.
Click to expand...
Which GG did you prefer, the Jup or Mundorf?

I have heard the Der Siebener (German light 7) with Mundorf caps and found it infereior to my GG according to my taste. However, the L7 was also chipset 57, the delta sigma, so that may be it too.
 
Can the Golden Atlantic be upgraded to something close or equal to a GG or higher? Or is it hampered from the start?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top