rickmcinnis wrote:In my most unhumble opinion: I think LAMPIZATOR has more to learn from Nigel than the other way around.
Their tube circuits, the one's I have seen, are very ordinary. If I was still interested in using tubes I would not consider using any of them.
I am mystified by their reputation but that is the case for just about all of the box makers. Don't doubt the stuff sounds good but one can do better (on your own) for much less money.
Rick
I see you are having fun on DIYAudio with people who know everything about LiFepO4 batteries :)
jackinnj's measurements of LiFePo4 batteries on DIYA seem to show rising esr with freq. However, I'm not sure if his measurements are accurate as elsewhere measured esr of these batteries are 6-8 mohm & I can't make this tally with his graph.
www.Ciunas.biz
For Digital Audio playback that delivers WHERE the performers are on stage but more importantly WHY they are there.
Lampizator Big 7 remains the best DAC I've personally heard, so that's the reason I ask about valve output stages. I don't disagree about tailoring the sound, but I'm starting to think that's the main secret sauce going on here. I just don't want to pay the asking price!
Nerdcave: ...is no more! Sitting Room: Wadia 581SE - Rega Planar 3/AT VM95ML & SH - Bluesound Node II - Copland CSA 100 - Audioplan Kontrast 3 Kitchen: WiiM Pro - Wadia 151 - B&W 685s2
Oh yes
The two dac chips in the big 7 look awfully like burrbrown pcm179x
ids have been scrubbed don't know why though if you wanted to copy it it could be figured out handy enough
Anyway point is that the dac chips have differential outputs which make them natively suited to balanced output
If there is such a thing as secret sauce it's probably power supply
Pearses big 7 has had quite a few mods to the USB input system it's made quite the improvement
It's not unlikely that if you got a soekris 1021 a USB to i2s and a good power supply you'll have a decent dac without any mods as such
sd card player, modded soekris dac, class a lifepo4 amp or gb class a/b amp, diy open baffle speakers based on project audio mundorf trio 10's
rickmcinnis wrote:In my most unhumble opinion: I think LAMPIZATOR has more to learn from Nigel than the other way around.
Their tube circuits, the one's I have seen, are very ordinary. If I was still interested in using tubes I would not consider using any of them.
I am mystified by their reputation but that is the case for just about all of the box makers. Don't doubt the stuff sounds good but one can do better (on your own) for much less money.
Rick
I see you are having fun on DIYAudio with people who know everything about LiFepO4 batteries :)
jackinnj's measurements of LiFePo4 batteries on DIYA seem to show rising esr with freq. However, I'm not sure if his measurements are accurate as elsewhere measured esr of these batteries are 6-8 mohm & I can't make this tally with his graph.
kinda like walking into a bar and picking a fight
in the end its they that miss out
sd card player, modded soekris dac, class a lifepo4 amp or gb class a/b amp, diy open baffle speakers based on project audio mundorf trio 10's
Diapason wrote:We might talk when I'm ready. I'd love a DAC next, needs to be >= Wadia in terms of sonics, but <= the price of a Mars Bar or thereabouts!
if you want to go r2r
sure ill help... no probs.
maybe tda1387 for mars bar prices
almost sold by the tonne in china :)
sd card player, modded soekris dac, class a lifepo4 amp or gb class a/b amp, diy open baffle speakers based on project audio mundorf trio 10's
I do not know why I continue but when I saw Mr. Walton involved I thought there might be a chance of getting some definitive measurements made. There is no question he has a great test bench and he knows how to do this measuring stuff. He does listen , too.
I think they completely miss the point. I beg Walton to measure with the regulator attached. We'll see, and then importantly to listen to it. But I do not think he got the "regulator attached" part. I tend to think the constant charge would allow for a flatter and lower ESR. It would be good to have this confirmed. Not to mention the constant voltage aspect which you would think everyone would see the good in.
That m____ fellow is really something though. i do not think I have ever dealt with anyone so stubborn. He refuses to read what I have written and to consider JUST FOR A MOMENT he might not know everything. Yes, he is an EE and he does have some interesting gear. He has not made it clear but he mentioned an SET amplifier, which while not for me, I tried this and it makes everything sound the same, it is better than a ROTEL receiver, I guess. He came from a musical family so I feel sure he knows what music really sounds like
But to think because someone suggests TRYING removing the bypass caps IF using the jkeny scheme with no regulator following and listening to what happens will result in the destruction of the planet. It is very strange. I could understand if he thought I was telling someone to do something dangerous or destructive. Maybe he has his entire retirement accounts with capacitor manufacturers? His desire to protect the innocent is a little creepy as if those coming to a DIY audio site have never tried doing anything with a soldering iron.
He told me not to use his name in posts and then he said it was OK. I do not know which of those directives is the weirdest?
He also told me he writes these posts while sitting in hotel rooms. I know the guy is busy and I am sure he does excellent work in his field but I feel pretty sure he has little time to dwell on the little things in sound reproduction and wew are obsessed with the small details.
But to go from my suggesting removing the bypass caps after the A123 battery to going on and on as if I recommended removing bypass caps from every scenario ... Seems like willful ignorance. Even when I tell him i would never remove a bypass cap from a circuit fed from a regulator. Seems obvious to me the bypass cap is there for the regulator not for the circuit.
A fellow wrote me personally who wants to give the scheme a try. Of course, I directed him here. He is using the SUBBU DAC which I know nothing about and there seems to be little documentation. I found a picture and it looks like there are four onboard regs. I do not know what DAC chip is used. I told him he really needs to get rid of those regs and substitute the batteries and remove most of the caps but from a quick glance I could not tell him exactly which ones. Maybe he will make his way here and someone can help him out. I do worry when I mentioned removing the regs he might have lost interest but I figure running five volts of 26650s into four regs will not get the result i would like for him to experience.
Yes I am the jkeny scheme proselytizer - I have had to shake great amounts of dust from my feet but I will continue to spread the word.
And, as usual, I agree with Nigel. The whole balanced thing, if you do not absolutely need it, seems like gilding cow pies. It doesn't sound any better and just costs lots more money. Maybe if one lives in a dense urban area with bad electricity and lots of electronic junk in the ether then it can be justified. Or if you keep your DAC in your neighbors house and have to run a couple of hundred feet of cable to the amplifier in your own house I could see the need.
The problem I find with LAMPIZATOR's tube circuits is they are very much in the euphonics camp. If that is what one wants, fine. I have found those old-timey tubed circuits (not all tubed circuits by any means) do sound "gorgeous" for the first week or so but one quickly tires of the glossy overlay they apply to everything. If an amp stage doesn't allow every recording, even cuts within an album, to sound different (well, obviously not for symphonies and such recorded at the same time and place) it is wrong and you will eventually get sick of it.
Surprised no one has a comment on the PLASMATRON! Hoping someone has an insight into why this would do anything other than the "vacuum" allowing isolation which is the only thing that comes to my mind.
I can go on, can't I? One of these days I might approach the 60000 character limit.
PS - it would be good to know how old those batteries were and how many charging cycles they have had. One would think the constant charge would retain most of the good initial qualities of the battery which have to be diminished with each charging cycle. Especially depending on how deeply they were discharged?
That's the one. As for pic. Here's the mess o' wires. Feeding aikido from soekris with belden 8412 wire, which I've become a big fan of. The previous pre (a pga2310 is still next to the soekris but disconnected). The TPA3118 amp is in the cigar box. Note the lifepo powering the wm8804 module in the b/g. 4 lifepo's are feeding the amp 13+V off camera to left.
