Lampizator announcement: launch of our all new TOTL HORIZON DAC

[Gregadd]

I am sitting here as I type this listening to my Rossini. It is undoubtedly very nice. But, it is not even in the same zip code as the Lampizator. Sigh.

I too have flown close to the sun and must return to earth amongst the mere mortals.

 

[Willgolf]

The following is an unfiltered, unbiased impression of my listening session on Saturday. I will also provide some answers to questions I raised with Lukasz. I had two goals coming to this event. First to find out if the Horizon is $25k better than the Pacific; and two, how did the Horizon sound without a Pre-amp? The tube rolling was an added bonus even though I am not traditionally a tube roller.

Some of the questions I asked Lukasz:

Where are you in your current production plan and do you think you are going to make any changes in the next 6 months. This was important to me because living in Arizona, I did not want to have to ship it back to Poland for updates. Also, I worked in the automotive business and you really do not want early models for a new vehicle until they get the bugs worked out. Lukasz basically said he has been ready with this product for over a year and would have launched sooner if not for Covid. He also stated he has pulled his team off of the Horizon project to work on other projects. The bottom line is that I felt confident that I can purchase one right now.

I asked him given his new tube configuration, which tubes would create the most sonic difference in sound. I am not a tube roller and given there are 3 different tube systems, I just did not know. His response was the two input tubes. So from my perspective and from what I heard I understood his answer. BTW, I am not an audio tech geek so much of this was a learning session for me.

I asked him about what tubes I would be getting with the Horizon. For $50K, I would have thought whatever you wanted. Lukasz explained that he just can't buy 50 sets of every tube that we would want. He promised that the tubes he would include for your purchase would be of high quality and personally approved by him. In essence, he buys lots of 10, and when they run out either he gets more or uses another tube. As an example, the 6900 tubes which everyone seemed to like will not be a possibility because he just can't get them and they are running $1500 a pair. I am confident whatever he chooses will work great.

I asked him if there is any difference between SPDIF and USB and he stated basically no but most will use USB. I have found SPDIF to be better in my Pacific from the LDMS.

How does the Pacific compare to the Horizon? As I stated above the difference in cost is not chump change. So in my mind, I wanted to hear a major improvement in sound quality to justify the added cost. I also did not want to let the pre horizon hype get in MY way of making a judgment for me. I am super happy with the Pacific and there are many other things I could spend the money on. If you have a system like Steve which I am guessing is well over $700K (just guessing), the Horizon would be his crown jewel and last DAC for his lifetime. For someone who has a midrange system, I think you could be happy with the Pacific for the rest of your life. I usually can tell if I hear something in the first 30 seconds, but in this case, it took longer. The biggest difference for me was the detail and smoothness of the music. I heard more detail of the music, even the faintest of background instruments than I have ever heard. For me, it is always about the guitar riffs, the cymbals, the horn etc. I am listening to the instruments and the detail that the Horizon put out was pretty incredible. It was as if every last ounce of musicality was found in the music and transferred to your amps. The question is, is that worth another $25k? In my case, yes. But God Dammit this better be the last DAC....lol.

After owning the Pacific for a year, Rob and Fred, and for that matter, Chrstoph had suggested I try it without a PRE which I did. As a result, I sold my Preamp last week based on what I heard on this thread. In the meantime, I was also looking for a different Pre-amp just in case. I was hoping to avoid that because it would have been hard to explain to my wife I need $25k for the Horizon and $25k for another Pre. I was able to tell her that I am using some of the money from my sold Pre-amp to go towards the Horizon to soften the blow. After talking to Lukasz, he assured me that I did not need a Preamp. At the end of the session, we took the Pre out. My opinion is that it was very very close. I would say that without a Pre-amp I was hearing 96% of the same music quality compared to having a Pre. So, in my case, I am not going to buy a new Preamp. It was just that close in my mind and ears.

For the tube rolling, Steve started with Lukasz favorite tubes which included the KT88 and 6900. IMO, you really can be happy right there and never have to change another tube. Unfortunately, the 6900 is not readily available. I would agree also that the KT170 power tubes were dull. I happened to bring 10 sets of vintage tubes from the '50s that I wanted Lukasz to tell me whether they would work. He checked them all out and we ended up playing two of them. One was the Brimar Yellow T which was discussed earlier. This tube was tested right after the 6900. It should be noted it has not ever been played before. That tube basically put steroids on the 6900. Everything was amplified. I liked it because I like to hear the detail at lower sound levels. However, it was mentioned that one could get fatigued after listening to it for say 5-6 hours straight. I get it. The second tube that Lukasz picked out was a Sylvania 12AU7 shiny black plate. This produced an increase in the bass with crystal clear highs and midrange. Lukasz said to me that was the best of all the tubes he heard that day. The Bass was deep. People already responded to the Melz tube so I thought it was very nice and I could see it being part of the tube complement you get with the Horizon.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time so I did not get to hear any other tubes which were a little disappointing. Given that I have 10 pairs of tubes I can try, I am not worried about it. BTW the song we used to compare the various tubes was Anette Askvik - Liberty. I am also going to buy a quad set of the 1950s 6550's to try as Power tubes. I will let you know what they are after my supplier tells me.

I think I captured everything I can remember. I don't know all of the audio terms, I just let my ears tell me what I like and don't like. The bottom line is that I am going ahead with my purchase and Lampi NA already has my deposit. I will be going with the Duracell edition. One final point that Lukasz talked about is if you just use the SE portion of the DAC you really only need the two left Power tubes.

Many thanks to Steve for sharing his house. I don't even want to turn my system on now. Good luck to the Lampi NA team and Lukasz as they head to Tampa.

The is blind will aka Willgolf

 

[howiebrou]

The following is an unfiltered, unbiased impression of my listening session on Saturday. I will also provide some answers to questions I raised with Lukasz. I had two goals coming to this event. First to find out if the Horizon is $25k better than the Pacific; and two, how did the Horizon sound without a Pre-amp? The tube rolling was an added bonus even though I am not traditionally a tube roller.

Some of the questions I asked Lukasz:

Where are you in your current production plan and do you think you are going to make any changes in the next 6 months. This was important to me because living in Arizona, I did not want to have to ship it back to Poland for updates. Also, I worked in the automotive business and you really do not want early models for a new vehicle until they get the bugs worked out. Lukasz basically said he has been ready with this product for over a year and would have launched sooner if not for Covid. He also stated he has pulled his team off of the Horizon project to work on other projects. The bottom line is that I felt confident that I can purchase one right now.

I asked him given his new tube configuration, which tubes would create the most sonic difference in sound. I am not a tube roller and given there are 3 different tube systems, I just did not know. His response was the two input tubes. So from my perspective and from what I heard I understood his answer. BTW, I am not an audio tech geek so much of this was a learning session for me.

I asked him about what tubes I would be getting with the Horizon. For $50K, I would have thought whatever you wanted. Lukasz explained that he just can't buy 50 sets of every tube that we would want. He promised that the tubes he would include for your purchase would be of high quality and personally approved by him. In essence, he buys lots of 10, and when they run out either he gets more or uses another tube. As an example, the 6900 tubes which everyone seemed to like will not be a possibility because he just can't get them and they are running $1500 a pair. I am confident whatever he chooses will work great.

I asked him if there is any difference between SPDIF and USB and he stated basically no but most will use USB. I have found SPDIF to be better in my Pacific from the LDMS.

How does the Pacific compare to the Horizon? As I stated above the difference in cost is not chump change. So in my mind, I wanted to hear a major improvement in sound quality to justify the added cost. I also did not want to let the pre horizon hype get in MY way of making a judgment for me. I am super happy with the Pacific and there are many other things I could spend the money on. If you have a system like Steve which I am guessing is well over $700K (just guessing), the Horizon would be his crown jewel and last DAC for his lifetime. For someone who has a midrange system, I think you could be happy with the Pacific for the rest of your life. I usually can tell if I hear something in the first 30 seconds, but in this case, it took longer. The biggest difference for me was the detail and smoothness of the music. I heard more detail of the music, even the faintest of background instruments than I have ever heard. For me, it is always about the guitar riffs, the cymbals, the horn etc. I am listening to the instruments and the detail that the Horizon put out was pretty incredible. It was as if every last ounce of musicality was found in the music and transferred to your amps. The question is, is that worth another $25k? In my case, yes. But God Dammit this better be the last DAC....lol.

After owning the Pacific for a year, Rob and Fred, and for that matter, Chrstoph had suggested I try it without a PRE which I did. As a result, I sold my Preamp last week based on what I heard on this thread. In the meantime, I was also looking for a different Pre-amp just in case. I was hoping to avoid that because it would have been hard to explain to my wife I need $25k for the Horizon and $25k for another Pre. I was able to tell her that I am using some of the money from my sold Pre-amp to go towards the Horizon to soften the blow. After talking to Lukasz, he assured me that I did not need a Preamp. At the end of the session, we took the Pre out. My opinion is that it was very very close. I would say that without a Pre-amp I was hearing 96% of the same music quality compared to having a Pre. So, in my case, I am not going to buy a new Preamp. It was just that close in my mind and ears.

For the tube rolling, Steve started with Lukasz favorite tubes which included the KT88 and 6900. IMO, you really can be happy right there and never have to change another tube. Unfortunately, the 6900 is not readily available. I would agree also that the KT170 power tubes were dull. I happened to bring 10 sets of vintage tubes from the '50s that I wanted Lukasz to tell me whether they would work. He checked them all out and we ended up playing two of them. One was the Brimar Yellow T which was discussed earlier. This tube was tested right after the 6900. It should be noted it has not ever been played before. That tube basically put steroids on the 6900. Everything was amplified. I liked it because I like to hear the detail at lower sound levels. However, it was mentioned that one could get fatigued after listening to it for say 5-6 hours straight. I get it. The second tube that Lukasz picked out was a Sylvania 12AU7 shiny black plate. This produced an increase in the bass with crystal clear highs and midrange. Lukasz said to me that was the best of all the tubes he heard that day. The Bass was deep. People already responded to the Melz tube so I thought it was very nice and I could see it being part of the tube complement you get with the Horizon.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time so I did not get to hear any other tubes which were a little disappointing. Given that I have 10 pairs of tubes I can try, I am not worried about it. BTW the song we used to compare the various tubes was Anette Askvik - Liberty. I am also going to buy a quad set of the 1950s 6550's to try as Power tubes. I will let you know what they are after my supplier tells me.

I think I captured everything I can remember. I don't know all of the audio terms, I just let my ears tell me what I like and don't like. The bottom line is that I am going ahead with my purchase and Lampi NA already has my deposit. I will be going with the Duracell edition. One final point that Lukasz talked about is if you just use the SE portion of the DAC you really only need the two left Power tubes.

Many thanks to Steve for sharing his house. I don't even want to turn my system on now. Good luck to the Lampi NA team and Lukasz as they head to Tampa.

The is blind will aka Willgolf

Great writeup. May I ask which pre you got rid of and which pre was such a close call to the Horizon in the demo?

 

[Willgolf]

Great writeup. May I ask which pre you got rid of and which pre was such a close call to the Horizon in the demo?

I sold my Canary Audio C1800 and Steve has a Lamm. I am not sure which model. I was looking at the Triangle Art L200 or Octave Jubilee but I am not going to go down that path.

 

[Kingrex]

Short answer…YES!

Well Michael? Are you one on the Upgrade team?

 

[Steve Williams]

You have my sympathy Steve having wasted all those years listening to the Pacfic.

Not a waste at all Howie. We were going to devote the weekend to only the Horizon but I was inundated with requests to do an a/b between the two. Had I never done the comparison I would never have known just how different these two DACs are The Pacific is a terrific DAC. IT uses high frequency DHT’s where the Horizon has an infinite possibility of tubes. That plus the circuitry involved with these tubes literally creates a totally different tube called an octal One just cannot begin to describe the amount of detail which i heard with this DAC. This for me is a keeper and end game as far as DACs

 

[2ndLiner]

Well Michael? Are you one on the Upgrade team?

Got to put in some extra hours in the “salt mine” first!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Tinka and I thank Steve and Cathy, and Lukasz and Fred, for a wonderful weekend! Some of my WBF friends who did not attend the Horizon debut are disappointed I did not spend more time listening to music and comparing DACs, but I was really enjoying quality time with Steve and Cathy, and Lukasz and Fred, and my WBF friends in attendance, including pk_LA and Greg and Gary. It was great to meet in person people I had only known from the forum, including Willgolf and 2ndLiner.

Please be patient on the video. It will take quite some time to do the editing.

Steve played for me:

Sarah MacLachlan's "Witness"
Suzanne Vega's "Walk on the Wild Side"
Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah"

The first two are digital recordings. I have heard these three tracks on numerous digital playback systems. I am completely confident that I heard today these recordings reproduced more convincingly than I have ever heard them reproduced before on any other digital playback system. They were more emotionally engaging than I have ever heard them before on any other digital playback system. I heard no digititis.

The two digital recordings definitely sounded better than I have ever heard them played back on vinyl.

I think the Horizon achieves the faithful and complete reproduction of decay and harmonics, which is the first time I think I've heard this from digital.

I think the Horizon is the most genuinely transparent DAC I have heard, without the sense of transparency coming from artificial detail or edginess. (Prior to this I have always felt when listening to digital that if only I were listening to vinyl the whole presentation would be a little bit more transparent -- listening through a cleaner window.)

I had been planning to get the Baltic 3 at some point. I now think I will step up to at least a Golden Gate 2 when the time comes. It has been suggested that the Golden Gate 2 is a touch more "relaxed" sounding than the Pacific or than the Horizon. That is probably a safe way for me to introduce digital playback into my own system.

Pacific owners should upgrade to the Horizon. You will not be disappointed. As an added bonus Lukasz has elevated the aesthetics and the finishing quality of the Horizon to a level noticeably above that of the Pacific.

I challenge anyone to spend any significant amount of time speaking with Lukasz and not want to own one of his DACs. Lukasz's passion for audio electronics design and for music is irresistible.

 

[marty]

The following is an unfiltered, unbiased impression of my listening session on Saturday. I will also provide some answers to questions I raised with Lukasz. I had two goals coming to this event. First to find out if the Horizon is $25k better than the Pacific; and two, how did the Horizon sound without a Pre-amp? The tube rolling was an added bonus even though I am not traditionally a tube roller.

Some of the questions I asked Lukasz:

Where are you in your current production plan and do you think you are going to make any changes in the next 6 months. This was important to me because living in Arizona, I did not want to have to ship it back to Poland for updates. Also, I worked in the automotive business and you really do not want early models for a new vehicle until they get the bugs worked out. Lukasz basically said he has been ready with this product for over a year and would have launched sooner if not for Covid. He also stated he has pulled his team off of the Horizon project to work on other projects. The bottom line is that I felt confident that I can purchase one right now.

I asked him given his new tube configuration, which tubes would create the most sonic difference in sound. I am not a tube roller and given there are 3 different tube systems, I just did not know. His response was the two input tubes. So from my perspective and from what I heard I understood his answer. BTW, I am not an audio tech geek so much of this was a learning session for me.

I asked him about what tubes I would be getting with the Horizon. For $50K, I would have thought whatever you wanted. Lukasz explained that he just can't buy 50 sets of every tube that we would want. He promised that the tubes he would include for your purchase would be of high quality and personally approved by him. In essence, he buys lots of 10, and when they run out either he gets more or uses another tube. As an example, the 6900 tubes which everyone seemed to like will not be a possibility because he just can't get them and they are running $1500 a pair. I am confident whatever he chooses will work great.

I asked him if there is any difference between SPDIF and USB and he stated basically no but most will use USB. I have found SPDIF to be better in my Pacific from the LDMS.

How does the Pacific compare to the Horizon? As I stated above the difference in cost is not chump change. So in my mind, I wanted to hear a major improvement in sound quality to justify the added cost. I also did not want to let the pre horizon hype get in MY way of making a judgment for me. I am super happy with the Pacific and there are many other things I could spend the money on. If you have a system like Steve which I am guessing is well over $700K (just guessing), the Horizon would be his crown jewel and last DAC for his lifetime. For someone who has a midrange system, I think you could be happy with the Pacific for the rest of your life. I usually can tell if I hear something in the first 30 seconds, but in this case, it took longer. The biggest difference for me was the detail and smoothness of the music. I heard more detail of the music, even the faintest of background instruments than I have ever heard. For me, it is always about the guitar riffs, the cymbals, the horn etc. I am listening to the instruments and the detail that the Horizon put out was pretty incredible. It was as if every last ounce of musicality was found in the music and transferred to your amps. The question is, is that worth another $25k? In my case, yes. But God Dammit this better be the last DAC....lol.

After owning the Pacific for a year, Rob and Fred, and for that matter, Chrstoph had suggested I try it without a PRE which I did. As a result, I sold my Preamp last week based on what I heard on this thread. In the meantime, I was also looking for a different Pre-amp just in case. I was hoping to avoid that because it would have been hard to explain to my wife I need $25k for the Horizon and $25k for another Pre. I was able to tell her that I am using some of the money from my sold Pre-amp to go towards the Horizon to soften the blow. After talking to Lukasz, he assured me that I did not need a Preamp. At the end of the session, we took the Pre out. My opinion is that it was very very close. I would say that without a Pre-amp I was hearing 96% of the same music quality compared to having a Pre. So, in my case, I am not going to buy a new Preamp. It was just that close in my mind and ears.

For the tube rolling, Steve started with Lukasz favorite tubes which included the KT88 and 6900. IMO, you really can be happy right there and never have to change another tube. Unfortunately, the 6900 is not readily available. I would agree also that the KT170 power tubes were dull. I happened to bring 10 sets of vintage tubes from the '50s that I wanted Lukasz to tell me whether they would work. He checked them all out and we ended up playing two of them. One was the Brimar Yellow T which was discussed earlier. This tube was tested right after the 6900. It should be noted it has not ever been played before. That tube basically put steroids on the 6900. Everything was amplified. I liked it because I like to hear the detail at lower sound levels. However, it was mentioned that one could get fatigued after listening to it for say 5-6 hours straight. I get it. The second tube that Lukasz picked out was a Sylvania 12AU7 shiny black plate. This produced an increase in the bass with crystal clear highs and midrange. Lukasz said to me that was the best of all the tubes he heard that day. The Bass was deep. People already responded to the Melz tube so I thought it was very nice and I could see it being part of the tube complement you get with the Horizon.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time so I did not get to hear any other tubes which were a little disappointing. Given that I have 10 pairs of tubes I can try, I am not worried about it. BTW the song we used to compare the various tubes was Anette Askvik - Liberty. I am also going to buy a quad set of the 1950s 6550's to try as Power tubes. I will let you know what they are after my supplier tells me.

I think I captured everything I can remember. I don't know all of the audio terms, I just let my ears tell me what I like and don't like. The bottom line is that I am going ahead with my purchase and Lampi NA already has my deposit. I will be going with the Duracell edition. One final point that Lukasz talked about is if you just use the SE portion of the DAC you really only need the two left Power tubes.

Many thanks to Steve for sharing his house. I don't even want to turn my system on now. Good luck to the Lampi NA team and Lukasz as they head to Tampa.

The is blind will aka Willgolf

Wonderful write-up. Insightful and helpful on several levels.

 

[marty]

Tinka and I thank Steve and Cathy, and Lukasz and Fred, for a wonderful weekend! Some of my WBF friends who did not attend the Horizon debut are disappointed I did not spend more time listening to music and comparing DACs, but I was really enjoying quality time with Steve and Cathy, and Lukasz and Fred, and my WBF friends in attendance, including pk_LA and Greg and Gary. It was great to meet in person people I had only known from the forum, including Willgolf and 2ndLiner.

Please be patient on the video. It will take quite some time to do the editing.

Steve played for me:

Sarah MacLachlan's "Witness"
Suzanne Vega's "Walk on the Wild Side"
Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah"

The first two are digital recordings. I have heard these three tracks on numerous digital playback systems. I am completely confident that I heard today these recordings reproduced more convincingly than I have ever heard them reproduced before on any other digital playback system. They were more emotionally engaging than I have ever heard them before on any other digital playback system. I heard no digititis.

The two digital recordings definitely sounded better than I have ever heard them played back on vinyl.

I think the Horizon achieves the faithful and complete reproduction of decay and harmonics, which is the first time I think I've heard this from digital.

I think the Horizon is the most genuinely transparent DAC I have heard, without the sense of transparency coming from artificial detail or edginess. (Prior to this I have always felt when listening to digital that if only I were listening to vinyl the whole presentation would be a little bit more transparent -- listening through a cleaner window.)

I had been planning to get the Baltic 3 at some point. I now think I will step up to at least a Golden Gate 2 when the time comes. It has been suggested that the Golden Gate 2 is a touch more "relaxed" sounding than the Pacific or than the Horizon. That is probably a safe way for me to introduce digital playback into my own system.

Pacific owners should upgrade to the Horizon. You will not be disappointed. As an added bonus Lukasz has elevated the aesthetics and the finishing quality of the Horizon to a level noticeably above that of the Pacific.

I challenge anyone to spend any significant amount of time speaking with Lukasz and not want to own one of his DACs. Lukasz's passion for audio electronics design and for music is irresistible.

Another nice commentary. Thanks Ron.

 

[howiebrou]

Not a waste at all Howie. We were going to devote the weekend to only the Horizon but I was inundated with requests to do an a/b between the two. Had I never done the comparison I would never have known just how different these two DACs are The Pacific is a terrific DAC. IT uses high frequency DHT’s where the Horizon has an infinite possibility of tubes. That plus the circuitry involved with these tubes literally creates a totally different tube called an octal One just cannot begin to describe the amount of detail which i heard with this DAC. This for me is a keeper and end game as far as DACs

Of course I was kidding Steve. The Pacific remains top of the pile in my estimation. I better not listen to the Horizon!

 

[acousticsguru]

when we inserted the MELZ Metal Plate, Lukasz discussed this very thing with all of the attendees. He said many times you hade tap the tube the noise would stop. Lukasz also discussed that there is indeed one pin that needs a small amount of solder to solve the problem. Having said that the issue of one hole vs 5 holes was discussed and Lukasz did comment that the MELZ tubes he seeks out as he prefers them the most are the ones with NO holes. He was quite insistent that the ones with no holes are sonically superior and sound more organic than the same tubes with perforated plates

When Master Yoda speaks we wookies all take notice. There was quite a lengthy discussion about the tubes that can be used as well as all the variations thereof

We never used a 6sn7 nor a VT99 but these were discussed in detail and were said to be excellent tubes for the Horizon.

You mean as in tapping the base medium-firm onto a folded cloth? At least that's the way it's been shown to me. I've often wondered if I'd do this with a really expensive tube. An additional tip would be to then turn the tube over and shake (lightly!) and see if some particle was stuck in the filaments - as long as it's elsewhere in the tube it won't hurt functionality.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

 

[howiebrou]

I sold my Canary Audio C1800 and Steve has a Lamm. I am not sure which model. I was looking at the Triangle Art L200 or Octave Jubilee but I am not going to go down that path.

Interesting. In my limited experience no dac preamp section comes close to the SQ afforded by a dedicated preamp.

 

[wisnon]

You mean as in tapping the base medium-firm onto a folded cloth? At least that's the way it's been shown to me. I've often wondered if I'd do this with a really expensive tube. An additional tip would be to then turn the tube over and shake (lightly!) and see if some particle was stuck in the filaments - as long as it's elsewhere in the tube it won't hurt functionality.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

Hi David. Long time no see. Hope al ist gut.

 

[dminches]

I think the Horizon achieves the faithful and complete reproduction of decay and harmonics, which is the first time I think I've heard this from digital.

I think the Horizon is the most genuinely transparent DAC I have heard, without the sense of transparency coming from artificial detail or edginess. (Prior to this I have always felt when listening to digital that if only I were listening to vinyl the whole presentation would be a little bit more transparent -- listening through a cleaner window.)

I had been planning to get the Baltic 3 at some point. I now think I will step up to at least a Golden Gate 2 when the time comes. It has been suggested that the Golden Gate 2 is a touch more "relaxed" sounding than the Pacific or than the Horizon. That is probably a safe way for me to introduce digital playback into my own system.

Pacific owners should upgrade to the Horizon. You will not be disappointed. As an added bonus Lukasz has elevated the aesthetics and the finishing quality of the Horizon to a level noticeably above that of the Pacific.

Ron, I don't think you can discount what Steve's Taiko Audio Extreme is adding to the digital sound. Based on my experience, an Extreme + Pacific is going to be more emotionally engaging than a Horizon + a lesser server. Until I received my Extreme I had never been emotionally involved with digital music. The Lampi DACs are a perfect complement to that.

 

[bonzo75]

We just wrapped up and the system is now off.
Ron as you know is a hardcore devoted analogue lover who has never liked digital as he says it fries his ears.

Digital fries my ears too luckily I discovered Lampi 7 or so years ago.

 

[christoph]

Wonderful write-up. Insightful and helpful on several levels.

There goes your easy start into 2022 spending wise

 

[Golum]

spending wise

 

[wil]

BIG thanks to Cathy and Steve for being such fabulous hosts! It was great to meet some of the WBFers, Fred, and Lukasz. The Horizon delivers more of everything. The sense of space that you get whether it is a live or studio recording is phenomenal. All instruments and voices sound more natural/real. Unsolicited Advice Alert: If you can afford it, go for it!

From the above pictures posted, it appears one attendee was there for more than the audio!

 

[cpcat]

.

I think the Horizon is the most genuinely transparent DAC I have heard, without the sense of transparency coming from artificial detail or edginess. (Prior to this I have always felt when listening to digital that if only I were listening to vinyl the whole presentation would be a little bit more transparent -- listening through a cleaner window.)

I had been planning to get the Baltic 3 at some point. I now think I will step up to at least a Golden Gate 2 when the time comes. It has been suggested that the Golden Gate 2 is a touch more "relaxed" sounding than the Pacific or than the Horizon. That is probably a safe way for me to introduce digital playback into my own system.

Pacific owners should upgrade to the Horizon. You will not be disappointed. As an added bonus Lukasz has elevated the aesthetics and the finishing quality of the Horizon to a level noticeably above that of the Pacific.

I challenge anyone to spend any significant amount of time speaking with Lukasz and not want to own one of his DACs. Lukasz's passion for audio electronics design and for music is irresistible.

Thanks for providing your thoughts. Admittedly
I am reading into this somewhat but here goes: It is reassuring to me as a DHT Dac owner to hear that a co-owner/admin on this site spent this weekend with Lukasz et al —and did not get any impression of withdrawal of Lampi support for the DHT part of the line.