New Lampizator Atlantic DAC

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doak

New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« on: 25 Jun 2016, 02:59 pm »


"This DAC has been in the making' for the most part of 2016 but it took the final shape and form during my May 2016 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean under the sails. This month on the empty ocean gave me time to think creatively and tap to my gut feelings about the possibility of finding customers for this amazing new product. Hence the name commemorates my sailing event"

http://lampizator.eu/Fikus/DAC_ATLANTIC.html

rbbert

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #1 on: 25 Jun 2016, 05:56 pm »
What is the base price?

doak

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #2 on: 25 Jun 2016, 05:58 pm »
It's on the page as 4K Euro

rbbert

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #3 on: 25 Jun 2016, 06:24 pm »
I couldn't find that, thanks.  Pretty good price for that feature set, assuming it offers the "typical" Lampi sound.

doak

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #4 on: 25 Jun 2016, 06:52 pm »
I couldn't find that, thanks.  Pretty good price for that feature set, assuming it offers the "typical" Lampi sound.
It shows up on the order form when a faceplate color is chosen.  :thumb:

sfox7076

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Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #5 on: 26 Jun 2016, 04:51 am »
4P1L is a great tube.  They are really microphonic, so I assume he is starving the filament or is dampening the sockets a ton.  It's an awesome tube.

Shawn

Tomy2Tone

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #6 on: 26 Jun 2016, 01:25 pm »
4P1L is a great tube.  They are really microphonic, so I assume he is starving the filament or is dampening the sockets a ton.  It's an awesome tube.

Shawn

Shawn- I'm always amazed at your knowledge/experience with tubes!

This is one of the few if not only dacs that they list the output voltage signal. Here being 3v.

For my own curiosity, how do you go about trying to match a tube preamp with this? I keep hearing a lot of guys say most dacs today don't need an active preamp with gain to so I'm just wondering what does one look for if you already have an active preamp with gain and are considering this dac? Seems like a passive pre would be the best bet...


sfox7076

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Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #7 on: 26 Jun 2016, 02:40 pm »
Output voltage is not what you starve.  It's filament voltage.  Matching preamp with a 3v output is easy, anything should just about work.  You really need to spend some time on the amp to figure out the match, but assuming a normal amp, I would avoid really high gain as the 3v is enough to drive most amps on its own. 

drumiha

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Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #8 on: 23 Jul 2016, 09:44 am »
Shawn- I'm always amazed at your knowledge/experience with tubes!

This is one of the few if not only dacs that they list the output voltage signal. Here being 3v.

For my own curiosity, how do you go about trying to match a tube preamp with this? I keep hearing a lot of guys say most dacs today don't need an active preamp with gain to so I'm just wondering what does one look for if you already have an active preamp with gain and are considering this dac? Seems like a passive pre would be the best bet...

How does the 4P1L  sound compared to ECC40 or ECC88 ? I'm asking this since my current Lampi L4G4 has ECC40 and I'm quite satisfied with it  :)

Tomy2Tone

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #9 on: 23 Jul 2016, 01:09 pm »
How does the 4P1L  sound compared to ECC40 or ECC88 ? I'm asking this since my current Lampi L4G4 has ECC40 and I'm quite satisfied with it  :)

Not sure. There's a few who should have received their Atlantics by now but I don't know if they're former L4 owners or if they're even AC members that will chime in here.

vtvu

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Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #10 on: 24 Jul 2016, 01:58 am »
I am one of those lucky ones.  I have had four Lampizators in my system: Amber, Level 4, Big 7, and now Atlantic.  All four have the Lampizator signature sound - crystal clear, organic, musically-involving.  My Big 7 with the volume control served as my DAC/line preamp for a good 1.5 years.  It was a versatile component that could take on different personalities with different rectifier and signal tubes.  My favorite were the TunbgSol 5AS4a rectifier and Sylvania 2A3 signal tubes.  But as I had input switching, USB/SPDIF, PCM/DSD, AND polarity switching all in the same unit, the remote switching was a little complicated and caused confusion to my family members.  So I sold it and immediately missed the Lampi sound.  When I read about Lukasz' new Atlantic DAC and his enthusiam about it I had to try it.  Lukasz, besides being a brilliant designer, has one of the best ears in the business. A good engineer cannot make good-sounding equipment unless he has good ear.  I know and trust Lukasz' ear.  So I took a chance on the Atlantic sight unseen.
Having had the Atlantic in my system for two weeks now I can happily report that it is a winner.  Since it doesn't have a volume control option or extra line in, I am using it with the Luminous Audio Axiom III passive preamp, a great component in its own right which also is much simnpler to operate.
As compared to the Big 7, I would say that the Atlantic/Axiom combo retains all the positive characters of the Big 7 but also has a crystalline quality not found in the former.  The difference is similar to the OTL sound as compared to good tube equipment.  I have had good tube designs in my system - Cary, Counterpoint, C-J.  But when I first heard OTL equipment, notably Transcendent Sound and Atma-Sphere, I knew I much preferred the OTL sound.  But I couldn't deal with the amount of heat generated by OTL equipment, especially in the summer.  In addition, all the fussiness of tubes biasing and noise are negatives.
Now I have the OTL sound without the fuss.  The combination of the Atlantic DAC, Axiom passive preamp, Wells Audio Innamorata solid state amplifier (another great piece), all plugged into the new Wells Audio Looking Glass power conditioner and wired with DanaCables, is in a word, magical!  It has the harmonically-rich sound of tubes, crystalline quality of OTL, tight bass performance of solid state, and the musically-involving, pinpointed soundstage imaging that resembles the real performance.  I go to live and mostly acoustical performances at least once a month (just came back from the Montreal Jazz festival) and this comes close to the real thing.
Vinh Vu
Gingko Audio and DanaCable

Tomy2Tone

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #11 on: 24 Jul 2016, 02:04 am »
Wow! Congrats Vinh!

I'm glad you mentioned you have a passive with your setup as I'm contemplating this as well with the Atlantic and a ss amp. Thanks for the write up!

doak

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #12 on: 24 Jul 2016, 03:26 am »
Great write-up Vinh. Thanks!

Been waiting for some first hand "consumer" impressions on the "Atlantic." Great to get it from someone who is so conversant with what Lampizator has to offer and can relate what he is hearing to other Lampi products.

Sounds to me that the Atlantic may well be the upgrade to my L4G5 that I've dreamed about. Would appreciate your elaborating on this point: With most other Lampizator products the user has the option of "tube rolling." My L4G5 uses a pair of 6DJ8, pair of 12AU7 and single rectifier tube. This made for an incredible number of possible combinations of tubes for tailoring sound to ear and system.  You've experienced this also with other Lampi DACs.

From what I read the Atlantic is "one flavor," love it or not. Sounds like you love it.  Wonder what you think and feel about the "plug n play" "one sound for all" aspect of this DAC and how is that working for you?

Doak

vtvu

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Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #13 on: 24 Jul 2016, 03:54 am »
Doak:
Well it's kind of depends on the kind of listener you are.  If you like to tinker to get different sounds to suit your mood then you should get something that allows tube rolling, preferably without having to open up the chassis.  That was why I got the Big 7, and I did enjoy trying out different tubes.  I used, among others, 300Bs, 6A3s, 101Ds as signal tubes and a bunch of other rectifier tubes.  They all sounded good in their own ways.  But these days, having less time (I took up golf :)) I just want to sit back, relax and listen to good music.  I want something close to what I hear in live performances in good venues.  I obsess less about hearing details on recordings, but rather focus on how the performers communicate with me emotionally.  So I let myself be immersed in the beautiful view of the forrest and not on the trees (or tree barks, as some of us might do).  As I get older, I have become more and more of a music lover than an audiophile.
My 2 cents.
Vinh

vtvu

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Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #14 on: 24 Jul 2016, 04:02 am »
Tommy:
If you like SS amp, I highly recommend Wells Audio.  I have the Innamorata and Majestic in my systems.  They sound like tubes without the mushiness and the fussiness  :D
Vinh

drumiha

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  • Posts: 10
Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #15 on: 30 Jul 2016, 02:09 pm »

I am one of those lucky ones.  I have had four Lampizators in my system: Amber, Level 4, Big 7, and now Atlantic.  All four have the Lampizator signature sound - crystal clear, organic, musically-involving.  My Big 7 with the volume control served as my DAC/line preamp for a good 1.5 years.  It was a versatile component that could take on different personalities with different rectifier and signal tubes.  My favorite were the TunbgSol 5AS4a rectifier and Sylvania 2A3 signal tubes.  But as I had input switching, USB/SPDIF, PCM/DSD, AND polarity switching all in the same unit, the remote switching was a little complicated and caused confusion to my family members.  So I sold it and immediately missed the Lampi sound.  When I read about Lukasz' new Atlantic DAC and his enthusiam about it I had to try it.  Lukasz, besides being a brilliant designer, has one of the best ears in the business. A good engineer cannot make good-sounding equipment unless he has good ear.  I know and trust Lukasz' ear.  So I took a chance on the Atlantic sight unseen.
Having had the Atlantic in my system for two weeks now I can happily report that it is a winner.  Since it doesn't have a volume control option or extra line in, I am using it with the Luminous Audio Axiom III passive preamp, a great component in its own right which also is much simnpler to operate.
As compared to the Big 7, I would say that the Atlantic/Axiom combo retains all the positive characters of the Big 7 but also has a crystalline quality not found in the former.  The difference is similar to the OTL sound as compared to good tube equipment.  I have had good tube designs in my system - Cary, Counterpoint, C-J.  But when I first heard OTL equipment, notably Transcendent Sound and Atma-Sphere, I knew I much preferred the OTL sound.  But I couldn't deal with the amount of heat generated by OTL equipment, especially in the summer.  In addition, all the fussiness of tubes biasing and noise are negatives.
Now I have the OTL sound without the fuss.  The combination of the Atlantic DAC, Axiom passive preamp, Wells Audio Innamorata solid state amplifier (another great piece), all plugged into the new Wells Audio Looking Glass power conditioner and wired with DanaCables, is in a word, magical!  It has the harmonically-rich sound of tubes, crystalline quality of OTL, tight bass performance of solid state, and the musically-involving, pinpointed soundstage imaging that resembles the real performance.  I go to live and mostly acoustical performances at least once a month (just came back from the Montreal Jazz festival) and this comes close to the real thing.
Vinh Vu
Gingko Audio and DanaCable


Many thanks for your input Vinh Vu..  :thumb:   And happy listening!
Can you tell me how does the Atlantic switches from PCM to DSD ?  It does it automatically or you have to hit the switch on the back ?


dB Cooper

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #16 on: 30 Jul 2016, 03:07 pm »
4P1L is a great tube.  They are really microphonic, so I assume he is starving the filament or is dampening the sockets a ton.  It's an awesome tube.

Shawn

That sounds like "It's an awesome car but it has a tendency to go out of control on turns." A "really microphonic" tube is a non-starter for me. For $4470 USD I wouldn't find this easily avoidable problem acceptable.

mav52

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #17 on: 30 Jul 2016, 03:55 pm »
I just wish they Lampizator could find a way to make the higher end dacs with the tubes NOT sticking out of the top. I would have owed a Big7 by now, just no room in my rack. Love their products

doak

Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #18 on: 30 Jul 2016, 06:19 pm »
That sounds like "It's an awesome car but it has a tendency to go out of control on turns." A "really microphonic" tube is a non-starter for me. For $4470 USD I wouldn't find this easily avoidable problem acceptable.
I am not aware that anyone has reported actually having any such problem and cannot imagine that Lampizator would issue a model in which they do not have total confidence.
« Last Edit: 31 Jul 2016, 02:22 am by doak »

vtvu

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Re: New Lampizator Atlantic DAC
« Reply #19 on: 31 Jul 2016, 02:11 am »
Drumiha:
The Atlantic switches automatically between PCM and DD.  I much prefer that to the manual switching I had with my Big 7.
So far, I have not experienced any tube microphonic problem.
Some of my friends also wish that the tubes do not stick out on top, especially for a model that does not allow tube rollling.
Vinh Vu