Lampizator Pacific - upgrade to version 2

[Bart77]

Hi,

Has anyone tried to upgrade Pacific to version 2 ?
Lukasz has implemented new Eleven P board, new USB module and a lot of minor changes. LAN connection is no more installed.
The effect of the changes is reportedly very good.

Any confirmed feelings ?

Regards

Bart

 

[Polygonhell]

There are a few impressions towards the end of the Pacific thread.
Generally they all seem extremely positive.
I should have mine back early next week, cleared customs yesterday.

 

[dbeau]

Hi,

Has anyone tried to upgrade Pacific to version 2 ?
Lukasz has implemented new Eleven P board, new USB module and a lot of minor changes. LAN connection is no more installed.
The effect of the changes is reportedly very good.

Any confirmed feelings ?

Regards

Bart

I've been running my Pacific-2 for about 2 weeks now (~45 hrs) and the improvement is very significant to me in my system = very glad to have moved up to the P-2.

 

[Bart77]

Thanks. I have just noticed. Perhaps it is worth to write about impressions here, in separate thread.

 

[Bart77]

I've been running my Pacific-2 for about 2 weeks now (~45 hrs) and the improvement is very significant to me in my system = very glad to have moved up to the P-2.

I suppose that you have no longer LAN connection.
Did you previously use it ?

 

[Polygonhell]

The LAN connection was literally just a Raspberry PI3 bridged to the USB board.
The PI3 did have a very good PSU and the tray it was in provided some shielding.
I used it for a while, but I found using a good USB source directly to be superior.

 

[Bart77]

There are a few impressions towards the end of the Pacific thread.
Generally they all seem extremely positive.
I should have mine back early next week, cleared customs yesterday.

So write something about your feelings. Thank you in advance!

 

[dbeau]

I suppose that you have no longer LAN connection.
Did you previously use it ?

No

 

[godofwealth]

I’m holding off upgrading my Pacific (either to Horizon or PAC-2). I still want to see what comes next…

 

[Bart77]

I’m holding off upgrading my Pacific (either to Horizon or PAC-2). I still want to see what comes next…

it's a waste of time to wait like this

 

[Polygonhell]

Alright mine arrived back from Poland Friday evening.
Some initial impressions based on a whopping 2 or 3 hours listening to it, and of course there is no way to directly compare, so it's based on my memory.

Short version it's a significant step up IMO.

It’s overall more ethereal sounding, more resolving, the background is blacker (not that I could hear the noise floor previously), treble comes across a touch less forced (again not that I thought it was forced previously), might be a hair more relaxed.
Staging is wider, and instruments tend to “fill” it better but without smearing, which leads to a overall more natural presentation (again I’d have considered this a strength of the pacific to start with).
The two big standouts when listening were noticing the subtle variation in drum strikes that I previously hadn’t in recordings I was very familiar with, and the way Bass guitars were presented, which felt more natural with the leading edge of the note being textured, but resonances filling the space better.
You can also hear more of the characteristics I associate with DHT’s, I always describe it as a presence, and immediacy of presentation, but it's not a really useful description if your not already familiar with it.

On the classical side (and I haven’t listened extensively yet) strings were a real standout, the improved staging is very apparent, and there just seems to be an overall better presentation of the Bass.

It’ll be interesting to see how break in effects it.

Certainly makes me want to hear a Horizon

 

[Bart77]

Alright mine arrived back from Poland Friday evening.
Some initial impressions based on a whopping 2 or 3 hours listening to it, and of course there is no way to directly compare, so it's based on my memory.

Short version it's a significant step up IMO.

It’s overall more ethereal sounding, more resolving, the background is blacker (not that I could hear the noise floor previously), treble comes across a touch less forced (again not that I thought it was forced previously), might be a hair more relaxed.
Staging is wider, and instruments tend to “fill” it better but without smearing, which leads to a overall more natural presentation (again I’d have considered this a strength of the pacific to start with).
The two big standouts when listening were noticing the subtle variation in drum strikes that I previously hadn’t in recordings I was very familiar with, and the way Bass guitars were presented, which felt more natural with the leading edge of the note being textured, but resonances filling the space better.
You can also hear more of the characteristics I associate with DHT’s, I always describe it as a presence, and immediacy of presentation, but it's not a really useful description if your not already familiar with it.

On the classical side (and I haven’t listened extensively yet) strings were a real standout, the improved staging is very apparent, and there just seems to be an overall better presentation of the Bass.

It’ll be interesting to see how break in effects it.

Certainly makes me want to hear a Horizon

What is your setup and digital source? How did you connect Pacific 2 now and how it was connected before? Did you use LAN previously ?

 

[Polygonhell]

What is your setup and digital source? How did you connect Pacific 2 now and how it was connected before? Did you use LAN previously ?

I use an optical rendu via USB, I actually preferred that to the NS1 over AES, but it was pretty close.
Mine did have the older Amanero board which is replaced as a part of the upgrade.

 

[godofwealth]

it's a waste of time to wait like this

Possibly. But for me, my Pacific, which by the way I do like a lot, is one of many sources in my various systems. I still listen to digital media via CDs and SACDs using a conventional CD/SACD player. I think in some intangible way, a CD still sounds more “real” to me than a ripped FLAC bitstream. And I’ve ripped over 6000 CDs and SACDs, so it’s an easy comparison. Streaming sounds very compressed to my ears. It’s like watching Netflix vs 4K Blu ray disc playback. There’s just no comparison between these if you watch on a large screen projector.

Finally there’s vinyl. I have several turntables that I enjoy listening to. The world’s greatest recordings in the 20th century in virtually every genre — classical, country, folk, jazz, popular and rock — were all done on analog tape machines. Despite all their limitations, vinyl playback of analog sourced recordings still sounds more real to me. I’m listening as I’m typing to a great recording of the famous Elgar Cello concerto by the incomparable cellist Jacqueline du Pre, originally released as an EMI SLS vinyl record. Even though the streamed version is 24-bit 192khz, it does not remotely compare to the sound of the original EMI LP.

Long answer, but my reluctance to splurge even more on DACs than I already have is due to what I perceive, rightly or wrongly, as inherent limitations in the PCM digitization process that no DAC seems able to fix. Digital diehards always quote specs that seem ridiculously overblown. Once you understand that digital distorts more and more as the signal gets fainter, you begin to understand why digital mastering of famous analog recordings like du Pre’s incandescent performance simply sucks. No matter the bit rate.

Of course, with modern digital recordings, these caveats don’t apply. I do enjoy listening to new classical recordings on my Pacific. But these don’t compare to the greatest recordings of the analog era. If you want to hear truly fabulous dynamic range classical recordings, it’s hard to beat the 60 year old Mercury Living Presence using three mikes into an analog tube tape machine. These have far greater dynamic range to my ears than all the 24bit 192khz new albums on Qobuz I hear everyday. The new stuff sounds horribly compressed to my ears. No doubt it’s because the new recordings are massively multi miked, fed into some giant equalizer and mixed by a recording engineer to his/her taste. Who knows, maybe an intern on a summer gig did the mixing. The golden age of recordings is over. Now it’s all MP3 streaming and mass market economy of scale.

My biases, I know. If I had to listen to only one source and it was streaming, I’d buy the Horizon in a heartbeat. Money is not the issue. But as it stands, I can’t justify it if I listen to it only in juxtaposition with many other components.

 

[Bart77]

Possibly. But for me, my Pacific, which by the way I do like a lot, is one of many sources in my various systems. I still listen to digital media via CDs and SACDs using a conventional CD/SACD player. I think in some intangible way, a CD still sounds more “real” to me than a ripped FLAC bitstream. And I’ve ripped over 6000 CDs and SACDs, so it’s an easy comparison. Streaming sounds very compressed to my ears. It’s like watching Netflix vs 4K Blu ray disc playback. There’s just no comparison between these if you watch on a large screen projector.

Finally there’s vinyl. I have several turntables that I enjoy listening to. The world’s greatest recordings in the 20th century in virtually every genre — classical, country, folk, jazz, popular and rock — were all done on analog tape machines. Despite all their limitations, vinyl playback of analog sourced recordings still sounds more real to me. I’m listening as I’m typing to a great recording of the famous Elgar Cello concerto by the incomparable cellist Jacqueline du Pre, originally released as an EMI SLS vinyl record. Even though the streamed version is 24-bit 192khz, it does not remotely compare to the sound of the original EMI LP.

Long answer, but my reluctance to splurge even more on DACs than I already have is due to what I perceive, rightly or wrongly, as inherent limitations in the PCM digitization process that no DAC seems able to fix. Digital diehards always quote specs that seem ridiculously overblown. Once you understand that digital distorts more and more as the signal gets fainter, you begin to understand why digital mastering of famous analog recordings like du Pre’s incandescent performance simply sucks. No matter the bit rate.

Of course, with modern digital recordings, these caveats don’t apply. I do enjoy listening to new classical recordings on my Pacific. But these don’t compare to the greatest recordings of the analog era. If you want to hear truly fabulous dynamic range classical recordings, it’s hard to beat the 60 year old Mercury Living Presence using three mikes into an analog tube tape machine. These have far greater dynamic range to my ears than all the 24bit 192khz new albums on Qobuz I hear everyday. The new stuff sounds horribly compressed to my ears. No doubt it’s because the new recordings are massively multi miked, fed into some giant equalizer and mixed by a recording engineer to his/her taste. Who knows, maybe an intern on a summer gig did the mixing. The golden age of recordings is over. Now it’s all MP3 streaming and mass market economy of scale.

My biases, I know. If I had to listen to only one source and it was streaming, I’d buy the Horizon in a heartbeat. Money is not the issue. But as it stands, I can’t justify it if I listen to it only in juxtaposition with many other components.

Agree. I also have turntable and it sounds much better than any Tidal/Qobuz etc. However due to my system based on active speakers, Pacific is like a heart driving whole music in my house. Even phono stage is connected to Lampi.

 

[JSA]

Gentlemen,
Can you remind me? Pacific with volume. In order to bypass volume, output level has to be set to 0 or to 63?
Many thanks in advance.

 

[Golum]

Gentlemen,
Can you remind me? Pacific with volume. In order to bypass volume output level has to be set to 0 or to 63?
Many thanks in advance.

0 if I remember correctly. Volume display when turning it on was starting from -63

 

[JSA]

0 if I remember correctly. Volume display when turning it on was starting from -63

Many thanks. Just testing Pacific with external preamp and was not 100% sure whether setting to 0 makes it a pass-through.

 

[lordcloud]

What tubes are you guys using?

I just got a Pacific that's been upgraded to a 2, and I'm using the stock tubes. I know there's a couple threads on this, but they're incredibly long, with high signal to noise.

 

[Bart77]

I have 4pcs KR Audio PX4 and few 5U4G rectifiers - KR Audio (worst), RCA NOS, Telefunken AZ1 and Telefunken RGN2004 NOS.