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New Lampizator Level 4/ Version 4 DAC in the house

Wonder if any other new owners of this DAC are out there as I find it to be the finest digital playback I have heard to date. This is the first digital front end piece of gear I have owned that has transformed my music.

Ya, other digital gear does this or that better, but this Lampy breaks through to a new level of musical enjoyment. Clear view into the music helping the speakers just disappear. Only 24 hours of break in and the music flows so sweet, intimate and seemingly without boundaries.

Looking under the hood I see an impressive power supply with films caps and several high quality chokes. Point to point silver wired except for the digital and USB boards. This is a three tube player that is tube rectified. One has the option for SS rectification if desired.

Ya, I love this Lampy!
grannyring
agear
1,353 posts
 
If you do blinded A+B testing of non-audiophiles (or audiophiles) in a "revealing" system, the results will be a mosh pit of confusion. Sorry folks, placebo effect here.

Steve, I am open to hearing a technical dissertation or associated measurements explaining why there are perceivable differences between WAV and AIFF.

Bill, you can rerip your CDs. The problem comes with tagging them....
grannyring's avatar
grannyring OP
4,637 posts
 
I see JWM. Interesting.

Agear, no placebo effect here in my system. Down right easy to hear within 20 seconds of the track playing.

The tech explanation has to be this. While the data IS the same the storage or housing is DIFFERENT .....kind of like wire. The data going thru the wire is the same, but the housing or storage is different. Yes, wire sounds different. Bottom line is I don't really care about the technical explanations as my ears and feet tapping know the difference:-)

Plenty of engineers say wire and amps should sound the same blah, blah, blah, but my ears now better. Exactly the same!

Andrew you know this. You also know what is happening in one system may not be repeated in another. Trust you ears.......yes I did blind listening!
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Bill,
Well said, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for measurements to shed any light, just look at amps, wire, speakers etc. What proof?
If you don't hear a difference then just leave things as they are (simple solution). If you do hear definite improvement as Bill does then you rejoice and make what ever changes are necessary. Either outcome you'll be happy. Ears trump any measurements I'm aware of.
Charles,
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Bill,
Toe tapping is a natural and unforced reaction,a very good sign that something is natural with what you're listening to. This response and when your head nods in beat/time with the music, well you're on the right track. Visceral and emotionl involvement are genuine and can't be faked.
Charles,
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
My hypothesis is that AIFF is a different format than wav as is FLAC and ALAC. These require a different CODEC. The real-time behavior of these CODECs may be different than static behavior, as in doing bit compares.

Also, there is a lot more than just data in these files. The formats all have lots of tagging and other information in them, including offset. If the offset is not properly decoded, this definitely impacts SQ. I have a number of test tracks that prove this conclusively.

BTW, the Off-Ramp 4 that Grannyring has been updated to include the latest OT transformer mods and the OR5 wall-wart, both improvements in SQ.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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