CLASH OF THE TITANS: Lamm M1.2 versus Goldmund

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
I was asked some time ago about the Lamms on the CLXs

Because the Goldmund have been so good, and the Lamms are up 2 flights of stairs and in the bedroom system where they sound great and need to be carried by a single person down to my basement listening room
I have only just now got round to comparing them...as wondering how good the Lamms might be has knawed away at me
Feeling strong last night I finally hauled them down the treacherous windy stairs.....
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
First the most important question......

How's your back? :D
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
22,435
13,467
2,710
London

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,467
11,363
4,410
Heh. Bit worried he stopped writing midway

reminds me of carrying the Rockport Sirius III pieces up a narrow winding stairway (in a cliff perched home on Mt. Tam in Marin) when I bought it. a few bad moments I would not want to repeat. there was a happy ending though.:D
 

BMCG

VIP/Donor
Oct 1, 2016
234
41
133
United Kingdom

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
Yes my back is a bit sore this morning

So back to the story

I only took one to begin with, in case it was a complete waste of time

By some strange luck, they both have the same gain, so I could toggle the balance between the two and played mono tracks to get a handle on the difference

The difference are subtle but real but I have to be honest and say it’s not night and day, I would estimate all differences as 5-10%

The bass on the CLX was pretty stunning and powerful on the Lamm, and seemed to go several notes lower, and control the backward movement of the panel better
Mid ranges seemed surprisingly similar
Could background noise by lower on the Lamm...
Bells and xylophone had a lovely rounding to them with Lamm

I tried both amplifiers single ended and by xlr, though both are only pseudo balanced is my understanding

So round one to the Lamm then

And oh no, I have to go get the other one

And then things started to get interesting....
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
I changed from digital on the server, with the Emm Labs Dac 2 to phono

I started once again with one of each amplifier and toggling playing mono lps

I put on a Stan Getz mono I have and the midrange and musicality were wonderful with the Lamm, as good as I have heard, and I was in Hifi heaven

I then put on a Loussier Bach lp play with a great bass solo, wonderful own to lowest notes, and piano lovely tone

I changed to the Goldmund, and well it sounded broken in comparison

Is the Lamm running away with this....

Time to re-evaluate this comparison....
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
Something I was starting to notice was the Lamm liked my 4 mtr xlr cable, and the Goldmund liked the single ended cable

I first noticed this on Nublado from Sera una Noche

In the left channel on the Goldmund was it much better on the on the rca than xlr?

Oh now I had to try comparing two Lamms versus two Goldmund ....ah
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,806
4,698
2,790
Portugal
(...) I tried both amplifiers single ended and by xlr, though both are only pseudo balanced is my understanding

No, the Lamm M1.2 is fully balanced. If using it in SE you should insert a shorting plug in the unused RCA input.

If it was not for noise - the Lamm is high gain - I would prefer using the Lamm in SE with the ARC REF40. I sounds more fluid and tube like this way.
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
Thanks for that feedback yes I used shorting plug in single ended mode
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
So what came through was

1 the Lamm preferred my xlr
2 the Goldmund my se cables

Both used the same speaker cables

There was some consistency of sound
The lamms seemed to build the tonal palettes from the bottom up
The Goldmund from the treble down

The xlr favoured treble down
The single ended cable bottom up with a subtle deep midrange

This the cables seemed to balance of the characters of the two amplifiers

So was I hearing the amplifiers or the cables?
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
fascinating experiment...and well done on the stairway to audio danger!

By comparison, I loathed having to hoist the Tripoint Troy, then reconnect 14 cables, and then hoist it again onto Stillpoints U5s on top of HRS Nimbus Coupelers. It took an 90 minutes hoisting and crawling part under an equipment rack.

But that is nothing compared to a pair of Lamms down a winding stair!

As for Goldmund, I really am not familiar with it...but did live an old Goldmund amp for a few months many years ago...and the remarkable treble clarity was a real learning experience for me. Very impressive. They certainly did seem to focus on that to get it as right as they could on that amp.
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
So now we have two complete amp systems with different looms which each favoured, (I should note the Goldmund sounded very good on the xlr, but not as good as on se cable)

The Lamm had taken a huge lead now, and the Goldmund was the resident amplifier, and had things optimised for it

The lp component seemed to destroy the Goldmund...but was that possible,

Time to recheck things

Ok the Lamm had shown better bass clarity and piano tone in the jazz

Time to ring the changes in the Goldmund

Having heard what the Lamms could do, I knew the system was capable, but was the Goldmund?

And so I changed turntables to the Monaco and the phono to the Bakoon running current mode

Suddenly things started to even up, one of the things with the single ended cables I use, the are sensitive to being moved and take a while to settle so....

Now I wasn’t swapping cables between the two amplifier, things started to even out.
Also I made sure the xlr cable was out of the circuit when trialing the se by changing the output preference on the Halcro

On LP, slowly the Goldmund seemed to catch up

Piano was still a smidge better on Lamm,
But bowed double bass and bottom plucked notes now had more air and clarity on Goldmund

On Sera Una Noche in dsd, Nublado, the Goldmund now moved in front with greater bloom and note clarity

On Berlioz symphony fantastic the bowed cello and strings sounded with greater clarity with the Goldmund

On Jazz, I think the Lamm still had the edge

On large orchestral the Goldmund was better, with greater clarity, and timbral balance

One of the things about the Goldmund is the ability to hear different string lines from amassed strings not just one massed tone.

In the end I would call it a draw, given the big difference with the cables

My personal preference was for the Goldmund given the increased clarity and layering, but on smaller ensemble and jazz, the tonal weight and purity of the Lamm would have many admirers

The one thing I noticed was the way the Lamm and Goldmund dealt with overtones

On Aquamarine the three blind mice reissue Blow up, the keyboard sounds wonderful on the Lamm fruity and rounded
On the Goldmund overtones can be clearly heard, and it’s less rounded

Also on Isserlis wonderful performance of the Bach cello the Goldmund sounded more woody and resin, the Lamm, almost sounded like a different instrument with darker tones.

Very interesting, given the cables used are almost the opposite from that character

This suggests to me, the cables may be optimal for each amplifier, but don’t overshadow each amplifiers unique character

I will be back tomorrow, to re-evaluate the Lamm again, now they have settled from their spiral journey

Also I will try some different tubes in them

I favour the 6n1p/23 variants but will try different versions of the 6n1p I have and 6922s of which I have a few, posssibly this can enlist a lighter tonal palette from the Lamm.and other qualities, the beauty of valves

I should note the Goldmund is much more powerful than the Lamm

I never got the Goldmund to go into protection mode
On the Lamm this happened maybe 5 times from clipping, I have a big room, so I was pushing the Lamm to the max
Previously I had owned m2.2 and got those to shut down as well

The Goldmund reserves of power and ability to stay unflustered into the CLX load is remarkable...
More coming soon
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
513
435
Canberra Australia
Well the Goldmund are back in the system

It's interesting how when you put another component in the system it teaches you something about your system

I have made some subtle changes to the set up

And now getting many of the qualities I heard in the Lamm without sacrificing much of the Goldmund strengths if any

So very happy

I think there is probably a lot more to extract from the Lamm and will experiment with tubes and tuning when I have a little more time

At the moment the extra power and convenience of the Goldmund without giving up anything to the Lamm it's going to be my regular amp

Hauling the lamms back upstairs my back isn't looking forward to
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
very good reading!! Thanks for all the effort!
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing