Lampizator Golden Atlantic DAC

[Nikhil]

Lampizator has finallly launched the Atlantic DAC page on their website.

All the info you need on the options available have finally been listed.

 

DAC ATLANTIC

 

 

 

 

** How many on here think Luk needs to design a decent remote?

[Solstice380]

Thanks for the update! I should have a "loaded" Atlantic to demo within a few weeks. The worrisome part is that the specs keep changing. Not sure that what's available now will still be available one or two months from now. I'm confident that most changes will be for improved sound quality but some of the features have been changing.

 

Really looking forward to hearing the Atlantic in my system! And yes, reports will follow. [emoji41]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[VoicesInMyHead]

** How many on here think Luk needs to design a decent remote?

This was actually something I was thinking about before I got my Golden Atlantic, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how well the Apple remote actually does the job. It's simply a nice little remote control... I haven't tried or seen the other one though.

[Nikhil]

The 2 Button Bent Metal Remote from Bent Audio ($60)

BentAudio.com :: TAP

 

They really should have a better remote for the price of GG or GA.

 

[Miszny]

With GA and GG you get Apple remote.

Also please have in mind that Lampi with remote allows you to switch sources and PCM/DSD so not only volume buttons are needed.

[firedog]

What's wrong with the Apple remote? Costs about $20, looks good, and works well.

[VoicesInMyHead]

What's wrong with the Apple remote? Costs about $20, looks good, and works well.

I agree. And even if the volume control display or what to call it maybe doesn't look that hot on picture either, I really like it as well. It's dead simple to use with the Apple remote, but the best part is how it displays the decibel numbers in very large text and then just fades out. You can see it from several meters away. Simple but wonderful...

 

I'd say let Lukasz fokus on doing his tube magic instead of designing remote controls...

[VoicesInMyHead]

Thanks for the update! I should have a "loaded" Atlantic to demo within a few weeks. The worrisome part is that the specs keep changing. Not sure that what's available now will still be available one or two months from now. I'm confident that most changes will be for improved sound quality but some of the features have been changing.

I think this is what bothers many people at first, but I'd say you shouldn't worry too much about it and I personally think the options has settled now, and will stay this way "for a while" at least... It's like buying a new TV, you have to stop looking at what comes out the next month. I find improvements encouraging and inspiring, it feels good that my DAC brand is "alive" and continue to develop. I'd much rather have this than never hearing or seeing anything new coming out from another manufacturer. And you can always have your "old and outdated" Lampi upgraded with those "hot and must-have" features if you want to....

 

Really looking forward to hearing the Atlantic in my system! And yes, reports will follow.

Just remember to give it time, both to settle in after transport, but also to burn in for something like 400 hours at minimum... I thought my old standard Atlantic kept improving way beyond those hours as well...

I think Lampi's and tube gear in general probably are way more sensitive to transports and starting up from cold than many other brands. I learned this the hard way with my very first Lampi, bringing it to a kind of "DAC shootout", it was just that it had stayed in the trunk of the car in the cold winter weather for too long, and then it was plugged in to impress right away... that did not happen and I had serious issues with understanding what had happened for weeks after that...

[nfnc]

Thanks for the update! I should have a "loaded" Atlantic to demo within a few weeks. The worrisome part is that the specs keep changing. Not sure that what's available now will still be available one or two months from now. I'm confident that most changes will be for improved sound quality but some of the features have been changing.

 

 

I think Lukasz might better serve audio and his customers by simplifying his line, anyone else???

 

+1.

 

When the Atlantic was launched, it was declared that there would not be any options/upgrades available for it. And now, there's the bells and whistles Golden Atlantic.

 

It's all good for one who is patient and is willing to wait for the final iteration before buying. Buy too early and you need to send it back for upgrades.

[VoicesInMyHead]

When the Atlantic was launched, it was declared that there would not be any options/upgrades available for it. And now, there's the bells and whistles Golden Atlantic.

It's all good for one who is patient and is willing to wait for the final iteration before buying. Buy too early and you need to send it back for upgrades.

Today it feels like I'm defending everything LampizatOr do, that's not really the case.... BUT, with the Atlantic I think the success it had wasn't really expected... it was recieved with open arms and praise everywhere, and at the same time proposals and requests, just like above, has been to simplify the product line. And if one reads on the new updated Atlantic page that's actually exactly what it says and what they're doing....

 

"Based on big demand for the Atlantic DAC and also considering the phasing out of our Level 4, Big 5 and Big 6 DACs - we introduced a rich variety of this product:

 

1. Basic => Atlantic - with solid state bridge rectifier

2. Improved: => Atlantic Plus with tube rectifier and choke power supply

3. Golden Atlantic with upgraded parts and features

4. Balanced variant of each Atlantic version

5. Volume Control / Remote control variant of each type"

 

Also, I was a quite early standard Atlantic customer... While I have had it upgraded recently, I still find it an extremely competent and highest value for the money. I'd say it's easy to get sucked into the bells and whistles and everyone on forums like these talking about the new stuff, but really... the standard Atlantic is ABSOLUTELY GREAT the way it is.

[Miszny]

Complaining for too many options?

Please remember that the upgrades to higher level DAC happen by paying price difference and shipping cost only. This allows you to be up to date without the need of selling previous gear, loosing money on it and then buying new higher model gear which is the case with most audio gear. With Lampizator you send back your base Atlantic and get Golden Atlantic for price difference of new vs new. For me this makes it the best option out there. Also you can upgrade in a unique way to have a tailor made DAC just for yourself. People sell on their own and buy new because they make more money this way in most cases. Also nobody forces you to upgrade right? I know this hobby is like cancer but its good to know when to stop.

 

For me it's like complaining for too many engine and interior options in car dealership :-) But lets imagine car companies do it the way Lukasz does:

I go to Dodge dealership, get basic Challenger and then after a year or two have it upgraded to Hellcat by paying only price difference of my previous new car vs the newest model... Year goes by and a new Challenger Demon comes out! I go there, pay the difference and leave the place in a new beast! I don't know about you people but it would be great for me, so with is it bad with audio?

 

Having freedom of choice is great!

[Solstice380]

I cam appreciate when a product "takes off" at a faster than expected rate, and maybe it wasn't thought of as a"product line" in itself! Getting the details sorted in the initial stages is also understood. But, it does cause some confusion.

 

I had been asking here and to Rob at Lampi NA about the clocks and doing DSD512 at both 44 and 48k rates. In the same day I heard back here that Lukasz said both rates, and Rob replied that they have updated the clock and one clock does ALL. Now the website info says 2 clocks. [emoji12]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[ronfint]

Forgetting the upgraded rectifier tube, am I correct in saying that the key operational difference between the Golden Atlantic and my Atlantic Plus (with superclocks) lies in the use of boutique power supply caps?

[wisnon]

I cam appreciate when a product "takes off" at a faster than expected rate, and maybe it wasn't thought of as a"product line" in itself! Getting the details sorted in the initial stages is also understood. But, it does cause some confusion.

 

I had been asking here and to Rob at Lampi NA about the clocks and doing DSD512 at both 44 and 48k rates. In the same day I heard back here that Lukasz said both rates, and Rob replied that they have updated the clock and one clock does ALL. Now the website info says 2 clocks. [emoji12]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

 

Semantics! ACTUAL "DSD" is multiples of 44.1hz to get to 2.8mhz. Above that what we loosely call DSD is high rates of this official base, ie 5.6, 11.2mhz etc. Bitstream.

 

In paralell to that we have high Bitstream rates of 48khz famile, ie 6.1mhz and 12.2, etc.

 

The Dac will play all of them. The basic superclock will play the 44 family where MOST of the music is natively and the other will play upsampled 48khz family. Its a technical question that has to be posed right to get the right answer. Rob is not really a DSD guy and perhaps could not pose the question right. This is why I volunterred to ask at my own expense. i was interested to know to and as a DSD afficiando with tons of DSD material and plans to upsample, i need to know for sure as well. It is an anal retentive question that only a niche of a niche would ask, but that is who we are. We want interger type upsampling to squeeze out the theoretically maxx SQ. LoL

 

Based on my question to lukasz, from your suggestion, i can only assume that Luk updated the website.

[wisnon]

Forgetting the upgraded rectifier tube, am I correct in saying that the key operational difference between the Golden Atlantic and my Atlantic Plus (with superclocks) lies in the use of boutique power supply caps?

 

No, more expensive case, Superclocks as standard and much of the list below:

The Golden versions of Atlantic and Big7 have these premium parts upgrades:

 

1.Silver WBT solder used throughout

 

2.All wiring is 26 GA stranded silver in teflon

 

3.WBT gold / silver RCA output sockets or Furutech Rhodium RCA

 

4.Furutech RCA digital S/PDIF input or WBT

 

5.ATOM Vishay first capacitor after the tube

 

6.Mundorf M-Lytic HV electrolytes in second stage of PSU Or Kendeil

 

7.Mundorf Foil MKP capacitors or Clarity Cap iPX series in third, final stage of power supply just before the tube anode.

 

8.Metal-Film laser cut resistor MLT in Anode Load

 

9.CMC Teflon sockets with gold pin contacts for all 3 tubes

 

10.Output capacitors are the huge Jupiter-Copper 1uF caps or Audyn True Copper 1 uF, bypassed by Duelund Pure Silver caps or by Mundorf Silver Oil Supreme. Yes, a hybrid, best of both worlds, supposedly beating even pure silver one-cap solution.

 

11.Rectifier tube is Emission Labs monstrous Mesh Plate 5U4G or EML Mesh 274B

 

12.Music Tubes are Western Electric Replica 101D / Metal base Psvane or MESH45 EML or KRON KR PX-4 or KRON KR-300B

 

13.Digital input SPDIF capacitor is Jupiter Wax Copper 100nF or Mundorf Silver Oil Supreme .

 

14.Packing in a special customized stage case made to order for Golden Gate DAC

 

15.Chassis / box is made of pure copper stamped and powder clear-coated for 100 years of immaculate shine. Copper provides also heat dissipation and the best EM shielding possible.

 

16. A set of ceramic / steel roller-block feet supports the DAC

[ronfint]

Sorry, I was just trying to figure out what an upgrade would entail if I weren't interested in a fancy chassis, WBT jacks, etc. I was reading from Table 1, above, and only looking for changes in the signal path. From your answer it still seems that aside from the rectifier tube, which one can change for oneself (and, ok, footers), the key changes are upgraded caps.

[Solstice380]

Sorry, I was just trying to figure out what an upgrade would entail if I weren't interested in a fancy chassis, WBT jacks, etc. I was reading from Table 1, above, and only looking for changes in the signal path. From your answer it still seems that aside from the rectifier tube, which one can change for oneself (and, ok, footers), the key changes are upgraded caps.

Ron, after hearing your Atlantic Plus and system I am drooling to hear in my system the "loaded" unit Rob is arranging for me! I will let you know when it is coming and hopefully you will be able to visit me and hear it! (Bring yours but don't let it get cold!)

 

I think that with very little else other than the DAC and input modules in the DAC except tubes, wire, caps and connectors that this should upgrade the sound quite a bit.

[wisnon]

Sorry, I was just trying to figure out what an upgrade would entail if I weren't interested in a fancy chassis, WBT jacks, etc. I was reading from Table 1, above, and only looking for changes in the signal path. From your answer it still seems that aside from the rectifier tube, which one can change for oneself (and, ok, footers), the key changes are upgraded caps.

Flight case as well!

Fancy resistors, better caps and parts overall. In terms of the circuit, its the same. The more solid chassis should help SQ a bit too.

[leftside]

Forgetting the upgraded rectifier tube, am I correct in saying that the key operational difference between the Golden Atlantic and my Atlantic Plus (with superclocks) lies in the use of boutique power supply caps?

From the above, it does look operationally to be the caps.

 

Where did @wisnon get the list of other operational differences? (output sockets, etc). I too am not interested in the "non-operational" differences such as the flight case

[Nikhil]

With GA and GG you get Apple remote.

Also please have in mind that Lampi with remote allows you to switch sources and PCM/DSD so not only volume buttons are needed.

 

Hello Michal,

 

How is your GA doing? How many hours do you have on it?

Look forward to your listening impressions and feedback.

 

Regards.

[Miszny]

Hello Michal,

 

How is your GA doing? How many hours do you have on it?

Look forward to your listening impressions and feedback.

 

Regards.

 

Hi Nikhil :-)

 

Yes its been MANY hours, for sure 300+ and I like my new Lampi very much. Its all I wanted to have, reminds me of old school Lampi sound, very direct, quick, dynamic with great depth. Each album I go thru shows something more, quite surprising. I feel that I need to listen to all my music again. My initial plan was to let it play for a while and then go with Duelund cast Ag coupling caps only as I did in my previous DACs. This change brought the realism to whole new level. But honestly I don't feel the need to in this case. There was a moment when my system lost dynamics and became dry, which worried me, but it only lasted about two days and all came back better after this small crisis.

Its a very direct presentation and it pairs up with my 219ia VERY well. For rectifiers, in my system the EML 5u4g does magic, but In SS system (Accuphase A70) the KR 5u4g seemed like a better fit providing more complete feel.

I also upgraded most of the tubes in my 219ia but this is for another topic I guess...

[wisnon]

From the above, it does look operationally to be the caps.

 

Where did @wisnon get the list of other operational differences? (output sockets, etc). I too am not interested in the "non-operational" differences such as the flight case

 

Lampi site, GG page. The GA has the same treatment as the GG. Caps (power-input-output)/resitors/sockets are all operational.

[Freann]

Look just found it’s way into my system. A standard Atlantic with optional Superclocks. Thanks @rikard.

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

Look just found it’s way into my system. A standard Atlantic with optional Superclocks. Thanks @rikard

Ahhh, nice photo! Looks very good Fredrik, take care of it! I'm sure you'll like it...

[christoph]

nice way to recycle "obsolete" gear ;-)

classic win-win situation ;-)