Lukasz Has Done It Again

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

The third official betatester - Tom, who spent 20 years meticulously building his single driver system- a guy who has hearing like an AWACS airplane. Paired with GM70 monoblocks his Aphrodite keeps him glued to the sofa. Tom is not afraid to tell me any criticism - whatever it is - the way he sees it.
In the center is the Neptune Linestage.

 

[Holli82]

I’m available for Beta testing….

 

[Alrainbow]

View attachment 159344
The remote

Phase button is a very good idea,

 

[Alrainbow]

Did you ever consider trying balanced ? It would be very simple . Pick up some transformers to properly convert bal to se . I use these for my MSB when using se tube amps

I've inline se to bal trans many times , was fine . But if your cables are less then 6 feet and no noise is heard . It's not needed , now if you need the gain or amps need bal . Then it's needed.
Bal was a need in studios and got sold to us as better .
Fact is it's not better unless it's needed.

 

[Alrainbow]

But wait a minute. Steve is listening to the Czech tubes, the only pentodes in the world made by hand, and 10x more expensive than machine made tubes. His ACME are only in anode supply current source

Your truly amazing in your replies , very good like matrix comebacks .
Love it man.

 

[Alrainbow]

In your opinion does the Horizon sound as good at 55-60 as it does at 63? I thought 63 was the “purest” sound.

Don't your pre have gain settings ??

 

[dminches]

Don't your pre have gain settings ??

Yes, but it sounds best at 1/2 to 2/3s. With the Horizon at 63 I can’t play it past 1/4.

 

[Sampajanna]

I totally agree and I have no doubt that NOS tube recommendations will be plentiful. I have a huge stash myself BUT here is my reality after living with Aphrodite for the past week. For my ears, my system and my room , I have never heard digital sound as good as this and although the temptation is there for me, I told Lukasz that I have for now lost the desire to explore. The way he told me to place the tubes is startling as it is so real. He told me that if I reverse the rows the sound would become warmer and more lush. The back row is for the power supply and front row for output.

Plus using NOS tubes be it via SE or Balanced will be immensely costly and lets mot forget dual rectifiers whether you run SE or Balanced. Have a look at your NOS tubes you use now in H360 and multiply that cost twofold. And then of course there are those adapters that need to be factored in as well

Super glad you have found bliss and are happy. You have a killer system. Good to settle into it and enjoy. If you don’t change tubes, that will be more convenient and save you cash for sure. For me, if you cannot hear the difference between tubes, then this is not the product for me. And if you can hear the difference, then of course I would upgrade the tubes. Having spent this much on one’s system there is no point in stopping there. Like @Lobster, I also took Lukasz statement in the manual to mean that he found the best of modern production, not the best full stop. Willing to be wrong on that….

 

[Sampajanna]

The third official betatester - Tom, who spent 20 years meticulously building his single driver system- a guy who has hearing like an AWACS airplane. Paired with GM70 monoblocks his Aphrodite keeps him glued to the sofa. Tom is not afraid to tell me any criticism - whatever it is - the way he sees it.
In the center is the Neptune Linestage.

This is a cool system and unique speakers. I bet it sounds amazing! I would consider a Neptune to replace my preamp if I get Aphrodite as well. I bet they pair very nicely together!

 

[Steve Williams]

Super glad you have found bliss and are happy. You have a killer system. Good to settle into it and enjoy. If you don’t change tubes, that will be more convenient and save you cash for sure. For me, if you cannot hear the difference between tubes, then this is not the product for me. And if you can hear the difference, then of course I would upgrade the tubes. Having spent this much on one’s system there is no point in stopping there. Like @Lobster, I also took Lukasz statement in the manual to mean that he found the best of modern production, not the best full stop. Willing to be wrong on that….

It’s all good. There’s no wrong answer. I remain curious but truly for now I’m smiling ear to ear. Sometimes a person gets lucky and wins the lottery on his his first ticket and for others it might take a lifetime of trying

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

Super glad you have found bliss and are happy. You have a killer system. Good to settle into it and enjoy. If you don’t change tubes, that will be more convenient and save you cash for sure. For me, if you cannot hear the difference between tubes, then this is not the product for me. And if you can hear the difference, then of course I would upgrade the tubes. Having spent this much on one’s system there is no point in stopping there. Like @Lobster, I also took Lukasz statement in the manual to mean that he found the best of modern production, not the best full stop. Willing to be wrong on that….

Just to start the assembly of Aphrodite I needed to secure 200 tubes. Do you have 200 GEC MARCONI? I dont.

 

[rau]

I've inline se to bal trans many times , was fine . But if your cables are less then 6 feet and no noise is heard . It's not needed , now if you need the gain or amps need bal . Then it's needed.
Bal was a need in studios and got sold to us as better .
Fact is it's not better unless it's needed.

I’m only using the trans to covert bal to se the proper way . Example my Cascade only outputs bal some of my amps are SE . If I don’t do this I’m only using 1/2 of the ladder DAC

 

[Sampajanna]

Just to start the assembly of Aphrodite I needed to secure 200 tubes. Do you have 200 GEC MARCONI? I dont.

I understand fully why you cannot use NOS tubes as stock options and also trust that the tubes you did find are indeed the best and that, as you mentioned, we would be hard pressed to find any current production tubes better.

 

[LampiNA]

We’re getting close to our Aphrodite Launch Party at Steve’s, and we honestly can’t wait for everyone to finally hear what Lukasz and the LampizatOr team have created. This one feels special.

As a small thank-you to the community, anyone attending the event who hears the unit and decides to place an order will receive a complimentary KBL Sound Extrema USB cable, courtesy of LampizatOr North America. It’s the best we’ve heard to date and a perfect match for Aphrodite.

Looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing some great sound (and libations) soon.

— Fred A.

 

[microstrip]

Just to start the assembly of Aphrodite I needed to secure 200 tubes. Do you have 200 GEC MARCONI? I dont.

Sorry, just two dozens somewhere in my attic ...

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/my-tube-collection-welcome-to-share-yours.34480/post-785158

 

[simonthepieman]

We’re getting close to our Aphrodite Launch Party at Steve’s, and we honestly can’t wait for everyone to finally hear what Lukasz and the LampizatOr team have created. This one feels special.

As a small thank-you to the community, anyone attending the event who hears the unit and decides to place an order will receive a complimentary KBL Sound Extrema USB cable, courtesy of LampizatOr North America. It’s the best we’ve heard to date and a perfect match for Aphrodite.

Looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing some great sound (and libations) soon.

— Fred A.

I've ordered in the Uk can you send me a usb to try

 

[heihei]

I've ordered in the Uk can you send me a usb to try

G-Point does KBL

 

[tedwoods]

Just to start the assembly of Aphrodite I needed to secure 200 tubes. Do you have 200 GEC MARCONI? I dont.

I hope you don't mind a little humour...

 

[LampiNA]

I've ordered in the Uk can you send me a usb to try

As mentioned, I am unfortunately outside of your territory being in North America. I can say they are wonderful cables and you really should reach out to Greg at GPoint who is local to you and a solid guy.

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

It is just 3 days to the World Premiere of the Aphrodite DAC. Warsaw High End AVS2025 opens its doors on Friday morning. We are busy preparing the largest presentation on Earth - in a 320 m / 3200 ft room. Clarisys Audio speakers to the rescue. VAC monoblocks, David Laboga cables. Aphrodite takes center stage, with lampizator Neptune preamp, Lampizator Kraftwerk power conditioner, Lampizator GulfStream server.