Hallo Frank,
der Horizon hat gerade mal so 25 Stunden auf dem Buckel und soll etwa 150 Stunden zum Einspielen brauchen...
Das ist ein bisschen zu früh für Urteile oder Klangbeschreibungen. Nur so viel: Ich bin sehr zufrieden, er entwickelt sich prächtig!
Lieben Gruß
Charlie
Lampizator Horizon DAC
Erste Eindrücke
Einige kennen ja den Lampizator Pacific vom Treffen in Weisenheim a. B.. Hier nun der Nachfolger. Mein Text ist ursprünglich fürs What´s best Forum geschrieben, ich quäle euch also mit Englisch:
So here is my first take on the Lampizator Horizon DAC:
I am running it directly into Ypsilon Aelius II mono blocks (https://ypsilonelectronics.com/aelius-monoblock/ ) which drive a pair of German Physiks PQS 302 speakers (https://www.german-physiks.com/pqs-302-loudspeakers).
The DAC is fed via USB from Innuos Zenith Mk III Server via Innuos Phoenix USB (https://innuos.com/).
My living room has about 60 m² (about 650 square feet) without special acoustic treatment but – to my ears – good acoustics. Judging from my listening with the Lampizator Pacific my equipment in this setting produced a wide and deep sound stage (speakers are radiating in a 360 degree pattern in a little asymmetrical way due to room constrictions behind the right speaker) with less than pinpoint imaging. Tonal balance is (was!) a little bass shy and marginally hard highs on some (early digital) recordings.
Setup was a breeze:
Put in 1 KR Audio RK 5U4G, 4 KR KT88, 2 Psvane 6SN7-BE as provided.
Connect USB and symmetrical NFs (Kreder Audio Silver-Gold-Fusion), restart the server, voila.
Did I have to change Roon settings? Probably, I don´t remember.
First listen after two hours of warmup was – due to too high expectations from reading too much praise here – a bit disappointing: better than the Pacific in all hifi aspects sure, better imaging, more room depth, better deeper bass, finer highs, more dynamic ...
But to my ears it was at that point just better hifi not better music and as that not worth the extra spending. So I had to wait.
The DAC seems louder than the Pacific, I run it about the “30” mark, never over “40” even for quiet parts with remote control in hand. The display is much better to read from my seat. Without checking the data the DAC seems more heavy but a little bit shorter in size than the old one.
I had promised myself to stick with the provided tubes for a month or so.
It took about another 10 hours for the DAC and me to warm up to each other and after midnight that first day some of that Lampizator magic was beginning to happen.
Around noon the next day I changed out in separate steps all the tubes for the ones I bought after some recommendations from all of you here:
Used Psvane Acme 274 B (originally bought for the Pacific), French CFS 5687S (“used tested strong”), Tung-Sol KT170.
A pair of Sylvania 6SN7W is waiting for another time.
This brought a remarkable step up in sound quality!
The following days up to now have been a steadily improving sound quality with some intermediate dips when the DAC sounded dull, boring and lifeless (exaggeration) only to come back stronger. This process is far from over. Pavel (Mr. Lampizator Germany) estimates 150 hours of burn in. This being a digital component I expect even longer.
So what can I say about the sound now (around the 80 hour mark)?
All hifi aspects mentioned above have improved.
The bass is deeper, faster, more precise.
The highs are fine, detailed, more extended and at the same time softer and therefore more real. (A contradiction, I know.)
Soundstage has improved in depth, to a lesser degree in width, in an astonishing degree in highs. The placement and body of instruments and singers is on a totally different level.
More detail. More detail without overexaggerating.
All this adds up to something new and for me most important: This box delivers music in a way which I would call non-technical, effortless, strong, delicate, musical, meaningful, ...
“Deeply human” is what I came up with while listening.
I would still regard the Pacific as a great DAC. I loved it up to the last day before delivery of the new one. I can wholeheartedly recommend to pick up one of the used ones now on the market (available through Lampizator´s buy back policy f. i.). But if you plan to do that never listen to the Horizon!
So here is my first take on the Lampizator Horizon DAC:
I am running it directly into Ypsilon Aelius II mono blocks (https://ypsilonelectronics.com/aelius-monoblock/ ) which drive a pair of German Physiks PQS 302 speakers (https://www.german-physiks.com/pqs-302-loudspeakers).
The DAC is fed via USB from Innuos Zenith Mk III Server via Innuos Phoenix USB (https://innuos.com/).
My living room has about 60 m² (about 650 square feet) without special acoustic treatment but – to my ears – good acoustics. Judging from my listening with the Lampizator Pacific my equipment in this setting produced a wide and deep sound stage (speakers are radiating in a 360 degree pattern in a little asymmetrical way due to room constrictions behind the right speaker) with less than pinpoint imaging. Tonal balance is (was!) a little bass shy and marginally hard highs on some (early digital) recordings.
Setup was a breeze:
Put in 1 KR Audio RK 5U4G, 4 KR KT88, 2 Psvane 6SN7-BE as provided.
Connect USB and symmetrical NFs (Kreder Audio Silver-Gold-Fusion), restart the server, voila.
Did I have to change Roon settings? Probably, I don´t remember.
First listen after two hours of warmup was – due to too high expectations from reading too much praise here – a bit disappointing: better than the Pacific in all hifi aspects sure, better imaging, more room depth, better deeper bass, finer highs, more dynamic ...
But to my ears it was at that point just better hifi not better music and as that not worth the extra spending. So I had to wait.
The DAC seems louder than the Pacific, I run it about the “30” mark, never over “40” even for quiet parts with remote control in hand. The display is much better to read from my seat. Without checking the data the DAC seems more heavy but a little bit shorter in size than the old one.
I had promised myself to stick with the provided tubes for a month or so.
It took about another 10 hours for the DAC and me to warm up to each other and after midnight that first day some of that Lampizator magic was beginning to happen.
Around noon the next day I changed out in separate steps all the tubes for the ones I bought after some recommendations from all of you here:
Used Psvane Acme 274 B (originally bought for the Pacific), French CFS 5687S (“used tested strong”), Tung-Sol KT170.
A pair of Sylvania 6SN7W is waiting for another time.
This brought a remarkable step up in sound quality!
The following days up to now have been a steadily improving sound quality with some intermediate dips when the DAC sounded dull, boring and lifeless (exaggeration) only to come back stronger. This process is far from over. Pavel (Mr. Lampizator Germany) estimates 150 hours of burn in. This being a digital component I expect even longer.
So what can I say about the sound now (around the 80 hour mark)?
All hifi aspects mentioned above have improved.
The bass is deeper, faster, more precise.
The highs are fine, detailed, more extended and at the same time softer and therefore more real. (A contradiction, I know.)
Soundstage has improved in depth, to a lesser degree in width, in an astonishing degree in highs. The placement and body of instruments and singers is on a totally different level.
More detail. More detail without overexaggerating.
All this adds up to something new and for me most important: This box delivers music in a way which I would call non-technical, effortless, strong, delicate, musical, meaningful, ...
“Deeply human” is what I came up with while listening.
I would still regard the Pacific as a great DAC. I loved it up to the last day before delivery of the new one. I can wholeheartedly recommend to pick up one of the used ones now on the market (available through Lampizator´s buy back policy f. i.). But if you plan to do that never listen to the Horizon!
Hallo Charlie,
Glückwunsch zu deiner Neuerwerbung!
Im Netz gibt es ja noch nicht allzuviele Bilder des Horizon - magst du bei Gelegenheit mal ein paar von dir einstellen?
Es wundert mich, dass die Anzeige vom Pacific schlechter ablesbar war. Ich hatte sie in Weisenheim als recht groß in Erinnerung ...
Aber wichtiger ist natürlich der Klang - und der war schon auf dem Forumstreffen sehr gut!
Viel Spaß noch beim weiteren Entdecken und geduldigem Abwarten der Einspielzeit.
Viele Grüße
Jörg
Glückwunsch zu deiner Neuerwerbung!
Im Netz gibt es ja noch nicht allzuviele Bilder des Horizon - magst du bei Gelegenheit mal ein paar von dir einstellen?
Es wundert mich, dass die Anzeige vom Pacific schlechter ablesbar war. Ich hatte sie in Weisenheim als recht groß in Erinnerung ...
Aber wichtiger ist natürlich der Klang - und der war schon auf dem Forumstreffen sehr gut!
Viel Spaß noch beim weiteren Entdecken und geduldigem Abwarten der Einspielzeit.
Viele Grüße
Jörg
