Lampizator Baltic 4

[nquery]

@shakti good point re B4 label still saying ECC82.

I guess I was thrown by this comment by Lampi, suggesting maybe more than just shipping with different tubes, eg. a change to the operating points inside the analog section: Another big change is in the analog section where big and bold 12BH7 dual triode replaced ECC82 as output driver.

But of course one can run run higher plate current all else being equal if the circuit is up for it. (I actually run ECC32's instead of the 6SN7's on my B3 with Lampi's blessing, and they have higher heater current).

[Edit: additionally, it looks like the output impedance and output voltage have changed].

 

[Ron Resnick]

Which coaxial cable between a CD player and a Baltic would you recommend in the $500 range?

Which USB cable between an Innuos streamer and a Baltic would you recommend in the $500 range?

Which ethernet cable between the CAT6 wall jack and an Innuos streamer would you recommend in the $250 range?

Thank you!

 

[morricab]

Which coaxial cable between a CD player and a Baltic would you recommend in the $500 range?

Which USB cable between an Innuos streamer and a Baltic would you recommend in the $500 range?

Which ethernet cable between the CAT6 wall jack and an Innuos streamer would you recommend in the $250 range?

Thank you!

Hi Ron
Just got an InAkustic digital air reference 2404 coax cable and it sounds excellent. Comes in at about 1000 though for a meter. Wireworld gold Starlight is in budget and it also is a very good coax cable.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Hi Ron
Just got an InAkustic digital air reference 2404 coax cable and it sounds excellent. Comes in at about 1000 though for a meter. Wireworld gold Starlight is in budget and it also is a very good coax cable.

Thank you for your reply!

Do you happen to have any experience with Audioquest Carbon cables?

 

[morricab]

Thank you for your reply!

Do you happen to have any experience with Audioquest Carbon cables?

Sorry no.

 

[bonzo75]

Thank you for your reply!

Do you happen to have any experience with Audioquest Carbon cables?

AQ are pretty poor I would avoid them. I tried a lot of AQs, carbon included, their USB, ICs, massively expensive speaker cables. All were coloured, with a bit of hype in mids or highs. I can’t recommend what you get as I haven’t tried enough cables but AQ I would stay away from

 

[morricab]

The three best digital coax cables I had were

Crystal cable bottom of the brand digital cable. Was around 1000 new I think.

Wireworld Platinum Starlight. Super fast and transparent…but it broke

Now this Inakustik. I also have their air reference silver interconnects…fantastic!

 

[morricab]

AQ are pretty poor I would avoid them. I tried a lot of AQs, carbon included, their USB, ICs, massively expensive speaker cables. All were coloured, with a bit of hype in mids or highs. I can’t recommend what you get as I haven’t tried enough cables but AQ I would stay away from

A friend of mine has the insanely expensive AudioQuest K2 speaker cables…they definitely improved the sound of his Sonus Faber speakers.

 

[bonzo75]

A friend of mine has the insanely expensive AudioQuest K2 speaker cables…they definitely improved the sound of his Sonus Faber speakers.

Yes I had the K2s, 16k retail, for 2m, lent to me by a friend. The enhanced the midrange and I lost some highs and lows on them. That was with Martin Logans. The best on MLs (tried Zensati, Kubala, Virtual Dynamics, and a few others) were the Graditech Lumi 3. They dodn't sound good on Verity, the best on Verity were actually Audience. And the real expensive speaker cable I liked in a shootout with Synergistic Research, High Fidelity, and the above was the Crystal Cable top one.

 

[roadCingKlassik]

there are a few B3 with the full engine 11 level, so no! difference to current B4, apart from the name plate on the back.

I'm one of those guys . . . taking delivery of my B3 labeled B4 later in the week . . . SOOO exited!

 

[jadedavid]

Received my new BALTIC3 (4-?) on Jan 6th. It has the label indicating engine 11 and DSD 512 yet still says B3.
After contacting Fred he assured me that it has all of the upgrades to B4 status and the factory is working on tamper proof labels
to be added to the "changeover" models.
After hooking it up, I thought it sounded good but nothing really special. Although it was an improvement from my Lampi L5/6.
Well, two days ago I turned the system on and was taken back by what I heard. It was as if a "3D" button was activated.
I have approx 50-60 hours on the unit and it is really coming into it's own. Now it"s becoming something special.
Will give it another week or so of break in and then start with tube rolling.

 

[charles1dad]

Received my new BALTIC3 (4-?) on Jan 6th. It has the label indicating engine 11 and DSD 512 yet still says B3.
After contacting Fred he assured me that it has all of the upgrades to B4 status and the factory is working on tamper proof labels
to be added to the "changeover" models.
After hooking it up, I thought it sounded good but nothing really special. Although it was an improvement from my Lampi L5/6.
Well, two days ago I turned the system on and was taken back by what I heard. It was as if a "3D" button was activated.
I have approx 50-60 hours on the unit and it is really coming into it's own. Now it"s becoming something special.
Will give it another week or so of break in and then start with tube rolling.

“Well, two days ago I turned the system on and was taken back by what I heard. It was as if a "3D" button was activated”

Nice!!!
Burn-in is real. Granted it can be more obvious and dramatic with some audio components compared to others.
Charles

 

[jadedavid]

What digital input are you using on your "4"?
Have you noticed any differences betwen them?

 

[roadCingKlassik]

What digital input are you using on your "4"?
Have you noticed any differences betwen them?

Not sure who this is directed to, but I'll bite since I also have a "changeover" model, like you.

I'm using a WireWorld Platinum Starlight USB with very satisfying results

 

[jadedavid]

Thanks for your reply. The question is for anyone.
I only have a coax cable presently but I'm possibly interested in persuing other cables.
Just trying to get a feel for what others have tried and experienced.

 

[highstream]

My run from a digital-only Oppo 203 to my Lampi dacs has been via Purist Audio Neptune coax. But I also added an iFi spdif iPurifier and got a small 5v LPS and a small DC power cord to power it, instead of using the supplied wall wart, which undermines the sound quality of what they're selling. Beyond that, I'm all WyWires. Platinum level is not a bad place to start if you can handle it, otherwise silver level is good. Good used market (HiFi Shark). I run an SSD into the Oppo and started with a Calisto USB that was good (and popular).

 

[Tuckia]

Regarding affordable coax that I've used, the Audio Sensibility cables offer good value. They have gravitas compared to some of the cheap, lightweights that skimp on materials.

Zenwave could be an option, but are more mid-line pricing.

I'm really liking what Shunyata is doing with their digital cables having tried their Omega USB, Omega spdif coax, and Alpha USB. The Delta coax could be a good value here. I could seriously recommend an Omega cable. They just simply make a difference that can't be ignored. But they do cost.

Lately I've been buying Avanti Audio which have an exceptional price to performance ratio. I currently use Mike's Vivace and Allegro speaker cables on other systems and the Vivace Ethernet CAT 7 cable. No brainer. He does sell a digital coax cable that I have not tried.

Last week my wife ordered a Baltic 4 w/VC in Duracell for her system. She will be running an Aurender N100h with Shunyata Alpha USB as well as an Oppo 105 as transport. Guess I need to pick up a coax cable for the Oppo too

I'll report back on this, but it could be two months for delivery and run-in.

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

Gentlemen, to summarize the explanation in one place:
1. 12BH7 is an ECC82 / 12AU7 on steroids and in THIS PRODUCT can be used as a drop in alternative. There is no internal change except that for B4 we decided to give you this more pricey and harder to buy alternative.

2. The Engine 11 fits in NEW BUILD and in some old builds of B3 depending on the unit - (how densly it was packed, how big caps were used, is there volume control etc)

3. We switch the options of trade ins and upgrades on our WWW depending on the traffic, where regular orders take precedence.

4. We were shipping B3 with the guts of B4 for a couple of months, to avoid the situation where after the model transitiion the most recent buyers feel they lost something because they made a purchase just a week before transition. So now everybody should be happy. It is what we call a HAPPY OVERLAP.

5. The Engine 11 was developed as a newest Golden Gate engine, then we took it down to Big7, Atlantic and eventually Baltic 4. It is not economic to develop 7 different digital engines for 7 product lines.
We only differenciate the crystal oscillators - giving different PPM levels to each product line as the best ones are $$$. The rest is the same.
So at this stage only the lowest priced product - the Amber - doesnt have Eng11 and also Pacific and Horizon which have their own.

 

[charles1dad]

Gentlemen, to summarize the explanation in one place:
1. 12BH7 is an ECC82 / 12AU7 on steroids and in THIS PRODUCT can be used as a drop in alternative. There is no internal change except that for B4 we decided to give you this more pricey and harder to buy alternative.

2. The Engine 11 fits in NEW BUILD and in some old builds of B3 depending on the unit - (how densly it was packed, how big caps were used, is there volume control etc)

3. We switch the options of trade ins and upgrades on our WWW depending on the traffic, where regular orders take precedence.

4. We were shipping B3 with the guts of B4 for a couple of months, to avoid the situation where after the model transitiion the most recent buyers feel they lost something because they made a purchase just a week before transition. So now everybody should be happy. It is what we call a HAPPY OVERLAP.

5. The Engine 11 was developed as a newest Golden Gate engine, then we took it down to Big7, Atlantic and eventually Baltic 4. It is not economic to develop 7 different digital engines for 7 product lines.
We only differenciate the crystal oscillators - giving different PPM levels to each product line as the best ones are $$$. The rest is the same.
So at this stage only the lowest priced product - the Amber - doesnt have Eng11 and also Pacific and Horizon which have their own.

That’s a clear descriptive explanation of the distinguishing characteristics.
Charles

 

[DennisH]

Gentlemen, to summarize the explanation in one place:
1. 12BH7 is an ECC82 / 12AU7 on steroids and in THIS PRODUCT can be used as a drop in alternative. There is no internal change except that for B4 we decided to give you this more pricey and harder to buy alternative.

2. The Engine 11 fits in NEW BUILD and in some old builds of B3 depending on the unit - (how densly it was packed, how big caps were used, is there volume control etc)

3. We switch the options of trade ins and upgrades on our WWW depending on the traffic, where regular orders take precedence.

4. We were shipping B3 with the guts of B4 for a couple of months, to avoid the situation where after the model transitiion the most recent buyers feel they lost something because they made a purchase just a week before transition. So now everybody should be happy. It is what we call a HAPPY OVERLAP.

5. The Engine 11 was developed as a newest Golden Gate engine, then we took it down to Big7, Atlantic and eventually Baltic 4. It is not economic to develop 7 different digital engines for 7 product lines.
We only differenciate the crystal oscillators - giving different PPM levels to each product line as the best ones are $$$. The rest is the same.
So at this stage only the lowest priced product - the Amber - doesnt have Eng11 and also Pacific and Horizon which have their own.

After reading all the positive reviews of Lampizator DACs, I ordered the Baltic 4 almost two weeks ago. Really looking forward to receiving it and hearing it myself for the first time.