Lampizator Level4.5 Gen4 Dac

[tony]

Following in Ken's foot steps actually a few weeks before he made the leap to Chord Hugo I ended my search for a new dac. I had followed the Lampizator story over the last couple of years and all the reviews on the Level4 upwards dacs suggested it would be ideal for the sound I was looking for.

Took the plunge and ordered it and it arrived very quickly from Poland. Good Friday the courier knocked on the door just after breakfast. Before committing I had a nice conversation with Lukasz Fikus who is Mister Lampizator I rang him not realizing it was very late in Poland but the phone was answered and the he was still working on stuff at 10 at night as he was going on holidays at Easter.

Went for Duelund caps and USB input as 'extra's' it comes with Spdif as standard.

For me the sound is incredible. Huge sound stage, depth, 3D, really natural warmth and flow to all music even my dodgy preferences. But it still retains a huge amount of detail which normally suffers when you get nice warm mid range. 57's are often regarded as lacking in out right volume but I don't think anybody who has heard them with the L4 could say the sound is lacking a bit of drive or DB level.

It even has a reassuring mild click prior to music starting which could be regarded as a nod to vinyl. I had spoke to Lukasz about this as I heard it in Maciej's L2.8-3 and he advised it occurs when the sample rate changes but that is not the case. It happens on the start of any group of tracks played.

If you read any of the favourable reviews of Lampi's on the net they all talk about huge bass and special sound and for me it fulfils all those requirements which I have chased over the last few years.

Figured out after a few years around forums that one has to be careful on reviews both positive and negative on hifi products. The often repeated advice here to try and hear it at home or at least in a showroom is very true.
Maciej's swung me when I heard it in my system even though his model lacks the bass control of the higher levels it has even more of the mid range magic than the L4.

Come to the conclusion there is no perfect Dac as everybody on this forum has a vision of what they want their system to sound like. IMHO the L4 is magical in how it reproduces music and if you are after warmth,detail and soundstage and a unique product it is certainly worth putting on your list to hear.

[Diapason]

Great stuff, Tony, I enjoyed reading that. I've actually been reading a bit of Lampi stuff myself, and it really does seem to excite people. Enjoy!

[Sloop John B]

Good stuff Tony and no hyperbole.

It's always a good idea to wait awhile before one posts a review. I look back in embarrassment at some of my "first love" reviews on the Naim forum.


SJB

[tony]

Thanks lads, A nice touch from Mister Fikus who doesn't really do detailed emails! Got a cryptic mail last week wondering did I still feel as positive as when I initially got it. For a guy who seems to be crazy busy and in a full on business it seemed very down to earth and human. Simon he does seem to be very left field but there is a body of stuff on his original forum/blog that suggests the guy is a bit of a genius/maverick.

His hobbyy blog clearly sets out the path that he evolved on and he went from a full time electrical engineering job dabbling in a side line of projects that eventually developed in to the full blown Lampizator brand.

Some of his reviews on products exposed how poorly constructed and speced some of the household names of the last few decades were.

His reverence to Audio Note, Kondo has followed through in the Lamp brand. The black modular box is very similar
to the audio note design. He also offers an upgrade path for those (totally unlike me) who like to move further up the chain over time.

[sebna]

Very addictive sound. Without getting into too much detail I can say that I find it very life like, making me forget it is a reproduction only, or at least that was my initial impression.

[block]

Nice write up Tony only just saw this thread, hardly ever come over the computer forums.

Just 2 questions, do you think the Duelund caps is worth chancing without actually hearing the original caps.
Read on other forums that they can be unforgiving on bad recordings.

And what do you think about DSD? Will you upgrade to it or is it just a fad and high res is more than enough?

[tony]

Nice write up Tony only just saw this thread, hardly ever come over the computer forums.

Just 2 questions, do you think the Duelund caps is worth chancing without actually hearing the original caps.
Read on other forums that they can be unforgiving on bad recordings.

And what do you think about DSD? Will you upgrade to it or is it just a fad and high res is more than enough?

Hi Block, You will have to point me to the links about the Duelunds. From what I have heard so far I don't think so. The Lampi seems to have a very different sonic signature to other dacs I have heard. Implementation and all the valves but the duelunds tighten the bass and give better detail from memory anyway compared to a Level2.8/3ish dac. Hope to compare the two side by side shortly.

On DSD wasn't on the radar when I was going through the process. Was over the limit of my budget but in hindsight if it was 200-300extra for the module maybe I should have considered it for future proofing. I can upgrade I think for circa €500 if required. For me don't see any logic as I would need to buy all the same stuff or acquire it in DSD. Ken Moreland seems to like it on the Chord and probably knows a bit more about availability and if possible to convert existing stuff. For resale yes it would make it more attractive but I will not be selling. Hope that covers the questions.

[block]

Tony at last I think I'm going to stop my procratinating and take the plunge and let Lukasz empty my savings in my bank a/c!
Probably don't need the dsd tbh, not really keen on adding a pc to the chain but you see the upcoming auralic aries having dsd and it makes you think is this where it's heading?
But I guess one can add to it later when or if the format become popular.

On the topic of caps I read it on audiogon (took me forever to find it again)

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl ... &538&4#538

There's the new jupiter which is priced between the jensen and duelunds and according to the forum they sound like inbetween the jensen and duelunds I guess priced accordingly lol.

[tony]

Thanks will have a look at the audiogon. I am currently listening using a lovely Meridian 596 feeding the lampi via spdif. lovely find I think Maciej has one and after I heard it starting looking for one. Luckily Sebna needed to move his on. PC is not required unless you have the illness brought on by exposure to Moynalty Audio twinkering ltd.

[nige2000]

what way did the spdif vs usb/amenaro input pan out after the burn in, think i prefered the spdif last time i heard it

there's certainly a very sweet, dynamic weighty sound to the dac thats very compelling