New Lampizator Transport

[zenelectro]

I have one... one day if my practical electronics skills improve (I'm dangerous in a bad way with a soldering iron), I may give it the upgrade treatment.

Re: digital through a tube ... I have read quite a bit about his approach here, and think it is good. Scope shots speak for themselves. What makes you say valve for such a signal is wrong? (Plenty signals way above audio frequencies go through valves)

I'm not saying it's wrong, merely that you can achieve as good wave forms with

transistors - if you know what you are doing and there is quite a bit of extra money

thrown at using a tube.

To make a valid comparison of tube vs SS, then one should really compare a tube follower to a very well implemented discrete SS follower of the same topology.

The difference may well be the open loop tube configurations ability to handle poorly

matched impedances and hence reflections. However a SS implementation done right

should also have these attributes.

Think outside the box - not many people really do, they just go, wow tube sounds

better use tube. I go tube sounds better - WHY? Remeber we are talking digital electronics here where there are no euphonic effects such as certain harmonic

distributions (H2 / H3). It's all 1's and 0's.

T

[davewantsmoore]

Think outside the box - not many people really do, they just go, wow tube sounds

better use tube. I go tube sounds better - WHY? Remeber we are talking digital electronics here where there are no euphonic effects such as certain harmonic

distributions (H2 / H3). It's all 1's and 0's.T

Nah. He is much more knowledgable than that, and understands this a much higher than audio frequency application.

[zenelectro]

Nah. He is much more knowledgable than that, and understands this a much higher than audio frequency application.

Of course he knows it is a HF application - but he admits himself he doesn't completely understand why it sounds better.

Personally I can think of a few reasons, and I think a SS circuit could be made to have the same characteristics using the right components and design.

But then again I might also be wrong.

FWIW, IMO, spdif is not generally the go any way - no matter how low jitter you get the

clock always has to be extracted out of the stream at the other end and that is where

any jitter advantage will be lost anyway. This is plain simple logic.

T

[Guest]

FWIW, IMO, spdif is not generally the go any way - no matter how low jitter you get the

clock always has to be extracted out of the stream at the other end and that is where

any jitter advantage will be lost anyway. This is plain simple logic.

T

Hi Terry

Unless I've read his article wrong it looks like the I2S doesn't go through the tube stage and only the SPDIF is that how you read it .

CHeers

[zenelectro]

Hi Terry

Unless I've read his article wrong it looks like the I2S doesn't go through the tube stage and only the SPDIF is that how you read it .

CHeers

Appears to be so. For I2S thru tube you would need at least 2 (dual triode) tubes.

T

[mcb]

The basic concept has a lot going for it.

The SQB duet is a pretty compact PCB and offers galvanic isolation (from PC), I2S OP

that can be reclocked from VLN oscillators.

The rest is just a matter of implementation. I'm not completely sold on the tube OP

yet, it suggests his knowledge of digital is probably limited.

Regardless, if it sounds good so be it and good on him for trying something different.

I think the price is a bit high for the parts count inside.

Anyone else here had a play with the SQB duet?

cheers

T

Hi Terry,

I have a duet that has been modded as described at steps 1 to 4 (from memory) at http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/Squeezebox/squeezebox.html. One of the local guys did the mods for me.

I considered the mods to be well worthwhile and bought the duet closer to my KJ12 modded QA550.

[petng]

went to Jayden's house on sat to have a listen to his system and also to my Lampizator Transport. Was glad to hear that the transport was not holding his very revealing system. It waas the first time i heard Jaydens's system and initially could not relax to the sound of his horn system. Half way durig our session, i mentioned to Jayden that i felt everything was a bit too hot/lit up. Jaspert and Jayden both agreed and hence had the crossover toned down. from that moment on, the system really sang.

Jayden then play some High Rez music. This was bonus, because i did not know that the squeezebox could play Hi Rez!! Well what a pleasant surprise, the hi Rez recordings were so dynamic. Vocals were projected with such realism that i never heard before. The music could be played loud without congestion or brightness. Very impressive.

Back home in humble system i had a lot of hassles in connecting the Lampizator. I have a squeezebox duet for 4 years, so i know how to set one up. However.

the lampizator (Even with an impressive external antennae) could not lock on single for long. When it was playing, it had an annoying buffering every 10 seconds. Not a happy Chappy!!!

I mentioned this to Jayden, whom advised that the Lampizator was indeed less sensitive than a standard SB due to the signal filtering on the Lampizator. Since i wanted any excuse to upgrade my 4 year old router, i went out and purchased a new Dlink 655. This has solved the signal problem.

I will update in the next few days on how the unit sounds in system . So far the Lampizator shows great promise.

[yoshio]

went to Jayden's house on sat to have a listen to his system and also to my Lampizator Transport. Was glad to hear that the transport was not holding his very revealing system. It waas the first time i heard Jaydens's system and initially could not relax to the sound of his horn system. Half way durig our session, i mentioned to Jayden that i felt everything was a bit too hot/lit up. Jaspert and Jayden both agreed and hence had the crossover toned down. from that moment on, the system really sang.

Jayden then play some High Rez music. This was bonus, because i did not know that the squeezebox could play Hi Rez!! Well what a pleasant surprise, the hi Rez recordings were so dynamic. Vocals were projected with such realism that i never heard before. The music could be played loud without congestion or brightness. Very impressive.

Back home in humble system i had a lot of hassles in connecting the Lampizator. I have a squeezebox duet for 4 years, so i know how to set one up. However.

the lampizator (Even with an impressive external antennae) could not lock on single for long. When it was playing, it had an annoying buffering every 10 seconds. Not a happy Chappy!!!

I mentioned this to Jayden, whom advised that the Lampizator was indeed less sensitive than a standard SB due to the signal filtering on the Lampizator. Since i wanted any excuse to upgrade my 4 year old router, i went out and purchased a new Dlink 655. This has solved the signal problem.

I will update in the next few days on how the unit sounds in system . So far the Lampizator shows great promise.

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your good comment on my system, good horn couple with good source = realistic music!

I am relief that you like your Lampizator transport so far Can't wait for your further insight.

Jayden

[petng]

After a couple of weeks use, i am completely satisfied with the sound of the Lampizator transport, but not so with the operation of the squeezebox software.

i really dont know why a transport needs burning in, but the Lamp really began to sing after being left on for about a week. Before the burn in, the Lamp showed signs of greatness, but it highlighted the mids and the top end too much. It was dynamically explosive, but the emphasis on the mids and highs made it very tiring to listen to. Right now the Lamp has easily surpassed the Audio Gd CD 7 transport that i also have. The audio Gd is an excellent unit and one that i can highly recommend to anyone that is the market for a $1200-$1500 transport. The audio GD also has that direct dynamic sound that was absent with my YBA 400(CD Pro Transport) and Vectuer transport. The Lamp adds an extra level of directness and dynamics. The Lamp is also a very organic sounding transport that really gives a realistic soundstage.

The bonus with the Lamp is that it can play high rez files downloaded from sites such as HDTRACKS. I am really looking forward to the day that SACD titles will be available for downloads. The music from HDTRACKS is not really my cup of tea, but it serves to show how good HI Rez sounds. The proper high rez recordings from Chesky's is a real eye opener. I have never heard Digital sound soooo good. Mind you i have not compared a CD or LP versions of these tracks, but what i have heard so far is fantastic.

Now to the bad part of the review. The squeezebox functions are very temperamental. You can go away for a couple of hours and come back to the squeezebox with no the music library, even though the squeezebox sees the network and the library. I find this quite frustrating, for you really have to allow about 5 mins to reconnect to the library. On one instance it wouldnt reconnect at all.

Overall the advantages of the sound quality outweigh the connectivity issues

[Decky]

Nice review. Regarding the burn-in effect - one theory states that it is your ears that require adjusting to a new equipment rather than equipment changing its performance. I would say that in my experience the truth is somewhere half way. I know that all high frequency digital equipment need a burn in period to operate optimally. I have proven this with computer equipment several times. It is only a question if the burn in is already achieved by the factory testing or you should do all the work.

[kcaudio]

KC audio has Lampizator for demo ...

[kcaudio]

We have in stock the transport and a level 4 DAC (due next week) or so...welcome to demo to all members...cheers KC

[chu]

Hi Terry,

I have a duet that has been modded as described at steps 1 to 4 (from memory) at http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/Squeezebox/squeezebox.html. One of the local guys did the mods for me.

I considered the mods to be well worthwhile and bought the duet closer to my KJ12 modded QA550.

Sorry for my questions are slightly off the topic but I just wonder if such modifications can also be done on Logitech's Squeezebox Touch? Is it possible to mod/change the Squeezebox Touch's digital output to USB output?

Thanks

chu

[Teej]

Sorry for my questions are slightly off the topic but I just wonder if such modifications can also be done on Logitech's Squeezebox Touch? Is it possible to mod/change the Squeezebox Touch's digital output to USB output?

Thanks

chu

chu, this is possible. Please see John Darko's blog post on Enabling USB Audio on the Squeezebox Touch.

[chu]

chu, this is possible. Please see John Darko's blog post on Enabling USB Audio on the Squeezebox Touch.

Thanks, Teej.

chu