Has anyone heard this unit ? I am surprised it has not been discussed as of yet. I understand that Mr Koch from Playback Designs was involved in it's development. Here is an in depth review:
I believe that is the unit they were demoing at CES. It was so outstanding that the two Techdas AF-1 owners I was with were checking their bank account balances.
I believe that is the unit they were demoing at CES. It was so outstanding that the two Techdas AF-1 owners I was with were checking their bank account balances.
I sure was. They were playing some direct transfers (unfortunately, not commercially available) from the master tapes to DSD128 and it was some of the best digital sound I have heard.
I always like to look under the hood. Those Mundorf M cap electrolytics are some of the best. Lot's of film caps and the torodial transformer. The S/N figures are impressive as is the use of mu metal. Very nice.
I sure was. They were playing some direct transfers (unfortunately, not commercially available) from the master tapes to DSD128 and it was some of the best digital sound I have heard.
Nagra makes some nice gear...I have not heard this dac yet, but I owned a Nagra Preamp for years and still do own the Nagra VPS/VFS for my phono stage. It's been hard to replace...it's beat some very respectable phono stages
Seems too pricey, especially as the conversion engine is licensed in.
Lampi Big7 or Allnic DHT dacs are BOTH cheaper and have compelling tech ($10.5K and 12K). I have only heard the Lampi, which uses only LPF conversion for DSD and is a dream on PCM, but only plays everything natively. The DSD is otherworldly. Sense of ease is sublime. The Allnic I have not heard, but it has selectable upsampling to all in DSD128 or choise of playing back all "natively", using the Sabre chip. I use quotes as no one knows if ESS really plays back stuff natively, but at least the Allnic uses FPGA tech to bypass some of the Sabre black box processing.
"From him Nagra commissioned a custom ceramic board. The heart of its circuit is a Xilinx FPGA coded to operate as a true 1-bit DAC since commercial true 1-bit chips no longer exist."
From the 6 moons review. This is misleading, in my opinion. While true 1 bit 'only' commercial DACS, like the Burr Brown 1700, no longer exist, there are a few commerical chips that do offer true 1 bit decoding, along side PCM capabilities. Speaking of the Burr Brown 1700, its technology is implemented to this day on TI's DSD capable chips. DSD bypasses all processing, and is simply low pass filtered.
This is no more or no less true 1 bit DSD decoding than anything else, commercial or otherwise. Cirrus Logic and Wolfson offer chips with direct DSD modes, too.
Seems too pricey, especially as the conversion engine is licensed in.
Lampi Big7 or Allnic DHT dacs are BOTH cheaper and have compelling tech ($10.5K and 12K). I have only heard the Lampi, which uses only LPF conversion for DSD and is a dream on PCM, but only plays everything natively. The DSD is otherworldly. Sense of ease is sublime. The Allnic I have not heard, but it has selectable upsampling to all in DSD128 or choise of playing back all "natively", using the Sabre chip. I use quotes as no one knows if ESS really plays back stuff natively, but at least the Allnic uses FPGA tech to bypass some of the Sabre black box processing.
After hearing the Lampi Big7 in two different rooms at the New York show yesterday (with DSD), I do not think it is in the same class as the Nagra HD. The Lampi seemed warm-sounding and tonally over-saturated, but not very resolving.
You heard it at the show when? I just got feedback that they ONLY got it working well today. They had speaker and amp problems before and also did nlt use the proper Windows 2012 server with audiophile optimiser until today.
If you go back, tell me if their main room sounds better.
When I heard it in the Summer at my Pals house with Hifiman HE-6 /Stax electrostatic and Senn HD-800 with Senn SS amp and Woo tube amps, it had resolution in spades. That was with the stock tubes too.
Anyway, to each his own. I cant comment on the SQ of the Nagra, but the Big7 blew me away...
You heard it at the show when? I just got feedback that they ONLY got it working well today. They had speaker and amp problems before and also did nlt use the proper Windows 2012 server with audiophile optimiser until today.
If you go back, tell me if their main room sounds better.
When I heard it in the Summer at my Pals house with Hifiman HE-6 /Stax electrostatic and Senn HD-800 with Senn SS amp and Woo tube amps, it had resolution in spades. That was with the stock tubes too.
Anyway, to each his own. I cant comment on the SQ of the Nagra, but the Big7 blew me away...
I heard it yesterday. It is quite possible that it was not "working well", since I also noticed some slight distortion, but they kept playing it. I will not be back to the show today, but I will give it another chance at RMAF in two weeks.
Yeah, they had several mini disasters from what I heard, but it seems to only be going right today. They finally used the Server a pal loaned them and now they are jumping.
Someone there said this:
"The new server now does pure magic in the main system. Nothing short of breathtaking."
I heard the lampi B7 for 6 hours during the Summer, so I know what it can do and am getting one. I intend to roll the output tubes to use Cunningham vintage CX-345 globe triodes or RCA UX-245s, though the Dac will come with PSvane 101ds. I also have many rectis of the GZ34 class to try as well.
Let me know what you think at RMAF, where they hopefully will be good from Day 1.
I have an appointment next month at my dealer to hear it but just discovered that Nagra will be presenting it at RMAF, so definitely a good opportunity to hear it there. But regarding the Lampizator it has always sounded wonderful but not resolved and not fast the way I like to listen. Way over-saturated and colored - just not for me...
Red big7 us a dht dac, so depends on the tubes used. Vintage globes are faster than stock tubes. Big7 is very different to other level Lampis. However, you do have your own preferences, so I can't overlook that
Seems too pricey, especially as the conversion engine is licensed in.
Lampi Big7 or Allnic DHT dacs are BOTH cheaper and have compelling tech ($10.5K and 12K). I have only heard the Lampi, which uses only LPF conversion for DSD and is a dream on PCM, but only plays everything natively. The DSD is otherworldly. Sense of ease is sublime. The Allnic I have not heard, but it has selectable upsampling to all in DSD128 or choise of playing back all "natively", using the Sabre chip. I use quotes as no one knows if ESS really plays back stuff natively, but at least the Allnic uses FPGA tech to bypass some of the Sabre black box processing.
Next week's RMAF is promising to be quite interesting. The Nagra HD that was designed in part by Andreas Koch will be there - along with the Allnic D5000 DAC. I'm looking forward to hearing them both!
