New DAC recommendation after Lampizator ?

Nikhil said:
Paul,

I am sure you know of Lampizator's generous upgrade route so that should be your first choice IMO.
But if you are on the lookout for alternatives, two brands that have impressed me are TotalDAC and Aqua.

The TotalDAC sound is very organic and the least "digital" - forgive the cliche.

At Munich in May, three very good rooms had TotalDAC stacks - Engstrom, Marten and Absolare.
I have no idea about sales support for TotalDAC in Canada.

Regards
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I concur on the TotalDac. I’ve been auditioning a TotalDac d1-12 with a custom power supply. It ranks up there at the very top with the best I’ve heard in my room. It has the right level of detail plus the necessary harmonic structure to produce REAL music. Very engaging.


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Hi Paul, the difference between generations in Lampi is big and as is between big 7 and GG. Also, tubes themselves are a phenomenal upgrade. I suggest that if you do not have a Canadian distro, go via Gopher or Mike. Lukasz unfortunately is not the best at emails, and I heard he lost an office admin recently who would sift through emails. The clock upgrade, R2R, other circuitry changes, the DSD 512 are massive upgrades.

Also in R2r you do not have to press the button to change between PCM and DSD
 
I moved from the Lampi GG to the Aqua Formula.....so a similar move you are contemplating.

the Formula does have excellent levels of mid range body and weight for solid state. nothing thread bare or lean about it. and I would agree that as it's modular it's more future-proof than many choices.
 
Paul said:
Hmmm I would love to hear the Aqua. Which I never heard/seen it before. Have you heard it Keith ?
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Paul, yes I've heard the $14k, SS Aqua Formula - though not the less expensive tube-based dac they produce which also gets good reviews.

Mike sums up its qualities quite well - which I feel goes along with your prior purchases and musical preferences. It is also upgradeable which I feel is mandatory at the 10k+ level.

full disclosure- I prefer MSB to the Aqua (and all dacs I have heard for that matter), but feel you would prefer the latter. The Totaldac would seem another good option, but I have not personally heard one to comment.
 
bonzo said:
Hi Paul, the difference between generations in Lampi is big and as is between big 7 and GG. Also, tubes themselves are a phenomenal upgrade. I suggest that if you do not have a Canadian distro, go via Gopher or Mike. Lukasz unfortunately is not the best at emails, and I heard he lost an office admin recently who would sift through emails. The clock upgrade, R2R, other circuitry changes, the DSD 512 are massive upgrades.

Also in R2r you do not have to press the button to change between PCM and DSD
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Thank you so much for great information. Quick question though. Do you think the DSD512 is necessary ?

Mike Lavigne said:
I moved from the Lampi GG to the Aqua Formula.....so a similar move you are contemplating.

the Formula does have excellent levels of mid range body and weight for solid state. nothing thread bare or lean about it. and I would agree that as it's modular it's more future-proof than many choices.
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Thanks Mike. Good to know you are happy with Aqua. Only problem is buying the stuff without hearing is my question....

KeithR said:
Paul, yes I've heard the $14k, SS Aqua Formula - though not the less expensive tube-based dac they produce which also gets good reviews.

Mike sums up its qualities quite well - which I feel goes along with your prior purchases and musical preferences. It is also upgradeable which I feel is mandatory at the 10k+ level.

full disclosure- I prefer MSB to the Aqua (and all dacs I have heard for that matter), but feel you would prefer the latter. The Totaldac would seem another good option, but I have not personally heard one to comment.
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Thanks Keith as always,
 
Necessary, no, but good to have, yes. The DSD 512 engine on some music sounds better than all otter DSD and PCM, even if you are running it at DSD 64. But the PCM itself is good enough.
 
bonzo said:
Necessary, no, but good to have, yes. The DSD 512 engine on some music sounds better than all otter DSD and PCM, even if you are running it at DSD 64. But the PCM itself is good enough.
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Thanks I will give some thought. I never had one and was toally happy with the sounds with my Big7.
 
Paul said:
Yes, I hear you. I brought my Lampi to PS audio dealer to compare it and it was same result. The Lampi sounded much more big and bold.

I sent message to Lukas but haven't heard back from him yet. I'm sure he's busy with new Dac he launched. I get too much hissing sounds from my DAC its so noticeable now and time to do something.
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Cheaper to send back to Poland for a refresh than to shell out $8K!
Call Lukasz directly, as its easier than trying to stand out in a cloud of 500 daily emails.

As Bonzo said, current B7 with superclock, R2R, DSD512 will be 2 levels above what you have now and all in will not set you back more than about $3K. AL has a B7 HeadDac that has gone back to Poland at least 3 times for tweaks and he says it clearly beats his retail $40K MSB diamond (or platinum) with Galaxy 2 clock upgrades.
 
Speaking about Lampi... have you guys seen the new and much needed refreshed website? It looks to be official, not sure why there's a new domain name though....

https://www.lampizatorpoland.com/

It has prices and details about the new Pacific in various configurations. But the most interesting page is the customer care page which I think anyone ever having doubts about buying a Lampi should read. This is how you work with your customers during several DAC generations... all thumbs up!
 
wisnon said:
Cheaper to send back to Poland for a refresh than to shell out $8K!
Call Lukasz directly, as its easier than trying to stand out in a cloud of 500 daily emails.

As Bonzo said, current B7 with superclock, R2R, DSD512 will be 2 levels above what you have now and all in will not set you back more than about $3K. AL has a B7 HeadDac that has gone back to Poland at least 3 times for tweaks and he says it clearly beats his retail $40K MSB diamond (or platinum) with Galaxy 2 clock upgrades.
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Thanks. Would you able to tell me the difference of new B7 vs Atlantic ?


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Hi Paul,

Please keep in mind, as good as the Atlantic is, the Golden Atlantic we talked about is a whole other beast than the regular Atlantic. This is the same as how the Golden Gate is clearly a different beast than the Big 7.
 
Paul said:
Thanks. Would you able to tell me the difference of new B7 vs Atlantic ?


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Atlantic is more HF extended but not as "full" as the GG, cant recall vs the B7 (générations of GG and B7 also matter). Output tubes not rollable, only the recti, which does make a big difference to the sound. The Lampi anniversary KR5u4g and the "cheap" double mica 5r4gy are Kings here.

GA is a cut above the Atlantic Plus, and comes with standard goodies like Superclocks and DSD512 engine. Mike had one in his showroom in Sarasota with the AG Unos driven by Lampi 211 monoblocs and the room was GREAT.

You wont go wrong with the GA.
 
It's very difficult to do better than Lampi if you like the sound. I've lived with Lampi dacs for several years starting from L4, G4 to the two box version L7. I wanted to move away from tubes and settled with T+A DAC8 DSD. I exclusively upsample everything to DSD 512 through my T+A. I'm extremely happy with T+A for the past couple of years or so.
 
I rejected the two box big 7 as an upgrade. Theoretically there should not have been a difference, just that by the time he had got the one box he had improved it, and his ongoing improvements make that a far cry from what he and the newer tubes have done over the last three years.
 
wisnon said:
Atlantic is more HF extended but not as "full" as the GG, cant recall vs the B7 (générations of GG and B7 also matter). Output tubes not rollable, only the recti, which does make a big difference to the sound. The Lampi anniversary KR5u4g and the "cheap" double mica 5r4gy are Kings here.

GA is a cut above the Atlantic Plus, and comes with standard goodies like Superclocks and DSD512 engine. Mike had one in his showroom in Sarasota with the AG Unos driven by Lampi 211 monoblocs and the room was GREAT.

You wont go wrong with the GA.
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Thanks winsnon. I meant the Golden Atlantic from beginning anyway. Sorry I can't keep up these new product and names. Lol.

According to Gopher the DSD512 is still option on GA. Not standard. I wish it was.


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Radiohead said:
It's very difficult to do better than Lampi if you like the sound. I've lived with Lampi dacs for several years starting from L4, G4 to the two box version L7. I wanted to move away from tubes and settled with T+A DAC8 DSD. I exclusively upsample everything to DSD 512 through my T+A. I'm extremely happy with T+A for the past couple of years or so.
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You are the second person went to T+A. Must be nice sounding dac.


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Yes, I'm using the Roon engine to upconvert everything to DSD512 to the T+A DAC8 DSD as well. I'm using a high powered liquid cooled gaming PC as the core to do the heavy lifting.
 
bikeman71 said:
Yes, I'm using the Roon engine to upconvert everything to DSD512 to the T+A DAC8 DSD as well. I'm using a high powered liquid cooled gaming PC as the core to do the heavy lifting.
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Is the PC connected directly to the T+A or do you have some kind of streamer in between ?
 
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