Lukasz Has Done It Again

[ctydwn]

Curious the usage of the 3 i2s inputs offered, their differences and if any might be compatible/recommended with the Taiko Olympus?…

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

Curious the usage of the 3 i2s inputs offered, their differences and if any might be compatible/recommended with the Taiko Olympus?…
View attachment 158197

The three inputs are ONE input with three plugs. Its beauty lies in the fact that any existing digital audio device can be connected. Bypassing the nonsens of tens of different plugs, cables and pinouts - here simply EVERYTHING WORKS

 

[Steve Williams]

I want to remind everyone that if youre not going to CAF and want to hear the Aphrodite under more intimate conditions with a seasoned system and a well tuned room, please remember that the first North American showing of this DAC will be at my house October 31-Nov2 with Lujasz flying in from Poland and Fred from New York. This will be the third event of such nature at my house and the other two were big successes with a turnout that was between 30--45 people in each event. Saturday remans the best day to attend and schmooze as we kick off the day at 1000 when Lukasz traditional has a little fireside chat in my family room where he discusses the DAC in great detail, what inspired him and what the DAC does and answers questions from the guests. Then we all go upstairs to my listening room where everyone can have a look and I will describe my room and all of the acoustic treatments the room has as it was built on top of my living room and I hired an acoustician to design all of the acoustical amendments. I know that over the years several members here have also hired her to help with their rooms also with quite favorable results. Finally the other big change to my room which took place in early July was the downing the curtain of a 35 year journey with countless models of Wilson Audio speakers and brought the amazing Zelllaton Reference Ultra speakers into my room . This is chronicled here if anyone is interested in that story.

The End Of A 35 Year Journey ---Zellaton -The Reference Ultra Final Frontier

It was a long time ago in a Galaxy far away when my audiophile journey began. Ive been in this hobby now for probably more years than the age of most readers of this thread. Over the years I have owned many, many different speakers but about 35 years ago I developed a fixation for Wilson Audio...

whatsbestforum.com

Finally we break up into small groups of 3-4 for listening where the music will be played by Fred and Lukasz streamed through the Taiko Olympus/IO . Ffred and Lukasz typically split off and one stays to play music and the other will go. through the house to. meet and greet the guests and answer questions. Refreshments and food will be served throughout the day prepared by my wife and there are never too many guests so feel free to bring your wives or friends and other audiophiles. Friday will be a short late afternoon to early evening evening from midafternoon to about 700, Saturday from 1000-500 and Sunday is short from 1000-100 as I will be taking Fred and Lukasz to the airport to catch their flights home

Please contact me by PM if you are planning on attending a which day(s) so we can get a head count for food and I need to put names of guest at the community gate as I live in a gate guarded community and your name has to be on list. Plus I will give directions to my home and closest hotels if you are coming from out of town. I live in Southern California, in south Orange County at the base of Saddleback Mountain. There are guests coming from all over the state and country and even 2 guests from China and Poland

I promised Lukasz that I wont be doing any tube rolling until he and Fred arrive as I aim a tube whacko for years. My entire system is all tubes

Looking forward to meeting new faces and to reacquaint with old friends whom I met at one or both of the previous events

So please reach out to me. The more the merrier. Everyone will have ample opportunity to listen and feel free to come all days but remember the time for each day. Im hoping we will do some tube rolling but Lukasz who knows more about tubes than all of us, has stated that the DAC is so good the user might find little or no need to engage in tube rolling. Im hoping however we can over the weekend

Im looking forward to seeing Lukasz and Fred once again and to meet all who will be attending. And again reach out to mr by PM to RSVP and come meet Aphrodite. She arrives at my house in the coming week or. The biggest challenge will be to get her out of the box and up the stairs and onto my rack where she will sit top and center

 

[ctydwn]

Remain extremely excited about the new DAC with order placed. Would just add, along the vein of observations on the DAC’s initial font, the pictures in the DAC manual of the display… leave a lot to be desired. imho. i will seriously miss the beautiful Horizon nixie display in comparison. But do appreciate the additional information to be provided.

Smart looking informative displays abound, even at far lower price points, but at least the prototypes we are seeing fall short. like DOS code. apologize if i missed they were just initial prototypes with revised iterations to come.

That said perhaps DOS retro with series of numbers and letters was the goal and its simplicity has sound quality benefits. Understood that it can be dimmed or turned off.

 

[simonthepieman]

Remain extremely excited about the new DAC with order placed. Would just add, along the vein of observations on the DAC’s initial font, the pictures in the DAC manual of the display… leave a lot to be desired. imho. i will seriously miss the beautiful Horizon nixie display in comparison. But do appreciate the additional information to be provided.

Smart looking informative displays abound, even at far lower price points, but at least the prototypes we are seeing fall short. like DOS code. apologize if i missed they were just initial prototypes with revised iterations to come.

That said perhaps DOS retro with series of numbers and letters was the goal and its simplicity has sound quality benefits. Understood that it can be dimmed or turned off. View attachment 158430

Congrats on the order !

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

You

Remain extremely excited about the new DAC with order placed. Would just add, along the vein of observations on the DAC’s initial font, the pictures in the DAC manual of the display… leave a lot to be desired. imho. i will seriously miss the beautiful Horizon nixie display in comparison. But do appreciate the additional information to be provided.

Smart looking informative displays abound, even at far lower price points, but at least the prototypes we are seeing fall short. like DOS code. apologize if i missed they were just initial prototypes with revised iterations to come.

That said perhaps DOS retro with series of numbers and letters was the goal and its simplicity has sound quality benefits. Understood that it can be dimmed or turned off

You are commenting on one of four display modes used only on day zero for setup. I deliberately ordered creation of „ DOS HACKER FEEL” to give the digital freaks some thrill. Horizon display of course remains my top achievement but Aphrodite display concept is to be everything that horizon’s nixie was not.

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

We can confidently confirm, that all of our time milestone promises will be kept, the dates, launcches, premieres , shipping etc. All is well and Aphrodite keeps us amazed during listening

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

You


You are commenting on one of four display modes used only on day zero for setup. I deliberately ordered creation of „ DOS HACKER FEEL” to give the digital freaks some thrill. Horizon of course remains my top achievement but Aphrodite concept is to be everything that horizon was not.

I meant horizon display was my top achievement because I invented nixie for this purpose and made it myself. I did not mean dac as a whole. I thought nixie was cool. Lcd is just lcd

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...nixie is tres cool.

 

[Steve Williams]

I loved nixie however once the joy is felt it became nothing more than volume and input and I alway felt a bigger display with more info would be helpful and I look forward to that There is now so. much more information on this display and from the user manual it seems there are filters that are now part of Aphrodite. Plus useful information on tube hours etc. Having said that however for me it all comes down to the sound and my ears. H360 IMO is a masterpiece so the thought that Aphrodite is going to trump that is the icing on the cake.

I have been getting many RSVP's to the event but there is still enough room on all 3 days for more people to attend. Reach out to me by PM to confirm as I need to have attendees' names at the gate to gain entry by the guard. I had 4 new RSVP's yesterday

 

[nonesup]

Of course not, Steve! XDMI sounds incredible and Lukasz loves it in absolute terms. He just feels his other solution is like a shot of adrenaline which can benefit some music. I'd equate it to how DSD can be a little more laid back than PCM (some call it "bite"). Nothing negative at all towards XDMI--hell I use it in my personal setup with my own H360--just a personal observation.

I think “bite” is a great definition. I appreciate the qualities of XDMI over USB, but my USB-connected AC DAC definitely has a “bite” that the XDMI DAC card doesn’t. I thought that wouldn’t happen when connecting via XDMI to a large external DAC like the Horizon, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

 

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[pk_LA]

I love my H360. Despite impressive hifi attributes of some other top flight dacs I continue to find the H360 the most engaging dac I’ve ever heard. I’m very excited for the Afro..whatever it’s called! So much so that I’ve already ordered one.

 

[Steve Williams]

Looking forward to seeing you again Patrick. I must admit that I also agree about the H360. It is a masterpiece

I got a few more RSVP's yesterday to the event and Im looking forward to seeing everyone, reacquainting old friendships and meeting new members. There is still room so if you'd like to attend please message me so I can get your name on the gate pass . Interestingly most attendees are coming from places other than California. There are several nice hotels close by that I have referred to those coming and as of yesterday the hotels still had rooms

Many of the attendees I'm told have preordered the new DAC

 

[pk_LA]

In the last week I have heard the Varese, the Select II, the Linn Organik and, of course, the Horizon 360 in the process of auditioning other components. Impressive as the new Varese is I keep preferring the H360. It has a such a wonderful balance of resolution, dynamics, texture and a touch of tube warmth. While I am excited for the new Aphrodite I am curious to hear what the new step change will be? I suppose maybe the resolution and quietness of a Varese with the musicality of the H360? I dunno...but I look forward to hearing it!

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

 

[Lobster]

@Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus is it 100% confirmed the only chassis colour available is black? Silver is not an option?

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

@Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus is it 100% confirmed the only chassis colour available is black? Silver is not an option?

With some extra effort maybe today I can wrestle two sets of silver armour. But not promised and not guaranteed. In January we will make silver for the second production run

 

[Lobster]

With some extra effort maybe today I can wrestle two sets of silver armour. But not promised and not guaranteed. In January we will make silver for the second production run

That's great news, good luck @Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus

The printed pattern and font seen in the first photos evoked some strong opinions. Roughly when will we be able to see the final design of the production version?

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

That's great news, good luck @Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus

The printed pattern and font seen in the first photos evoked some strong opinions. Roughly when will we be able to see the final design of the production version?

We are still waiting for the design files from our artist