Lampizator questions

[Powerman]

Well, I recently upgraded to a LTA Z40+ intigrated amp. Then I got some Dynaudio Heritage Specials. I very much enjoyed them with my Pontus 2 DAC. I thought I should have something comparable... Terminator 2, Holo May... Baltic 3...which led me to Amber 4...anf I ended up stretching it to a Baltic 4. Now the month long wait. Feeding from Mercury streamed to I2S I added. I'm pretty excited. It's going to be a long month... At least...

[Powerman]

Well it was a month, and now it's been almost 2 weeks. I simply did not know this was possible.

 

Everything to this point has been a minor upgrade. An improvement on the former. Yes, it was better... Timbre, extension, dynamics, resolution... The first leap was my tube amp. Truly next level. Rolling tubes was a significant improvement. I think that was a baby step. The Baltic 4...well next level now sounds stupid.

 

Everything isn't an upgrade, it's so better it's different. Bass is huge, full, detailed. Mids and treble are magic. It's not "better", it's no longer playing music, it's real. Never has any upgrade been such a huge leap in realism.

 

But nobody could explain how immersive it is to me. Going back it's a regular and often comment in reviews. Sounds great, no clue what that means. I know now. Everything, and I mean everything, I have ever heard is 2D. Yes it gets wider, better seperation, depth... Ehh. It's all a better 2D picture. This is 3D. It's damn near surround sound. It's not a reproduction, it's being in the space. It's such a crazy spacial reconstruction. Now I get it. My room is well treated with low ceilings. Not easy making low ceilings disappear. The Lampi makes everything HUGE, but now it's also intimate. It's like being in the studio.

 

Its not all recordings. It all sounds better, great. But crappy recordings are still not great ones. Rolling tubes was another step forward. Stock tubes are technically good, but bland and mundane compared to NOS. It's gotten better with burn in. It's made me revisit speaker placement and that is another improvement. The realism, texture, space... Just nuts. I've heard some very expensive systems that all sounded expensive, but nothing like this. The summit. Game over. I have a couple other tubes coming, but I'm not really looking for more. That will be it. Just amazed what this DAC did to my system.

[Powerman]

2 hours ago, Blake said:

Very well put @Powerman.   That sums up my experience with Lampizator as well.  The performers are in my the room.  It is actually spooky at times, in a good way.  

 

Ya... Voices! They are not located... Centered left to right. One dimensional. Most stuff with depth... There's no "depth". Frequencies are louder or softer which give an illusion of closer farther... If you think about it hard. No... Voices are 3D. They hold a place in space. They have weight, precense. Of all things... Kurt Cobain. "Something in the way". He isn't in my room... I am in the booth with him recording. That recording is just super weird. But some many say the same thing about Lampis... Just spooky real, swimming in a pool of sound... Bass isn't like a warm blanket... It's floating in a warm pool. I'm just floored.

 

Big picture I was super scared to put that much money in a DAC. I was skeptical it would be worth it... Just more of the same I knew, an improvement. I had to sell something I didn't want to. As much press as people talk about Holo May and Terminator... No way they do what Lampi does. And what I sold... Haven't given it a second thought. Didn't even know to expect what I got. It's litterally a whole new system. My amp can amplify, and my speakers can play, but that DAC, that's just magic.