Lukasz Has Done It Again

[Trab]

Thank you for taking the time to describe the differences between the varius tubes.
Łukasz has reached a higher level. Refined the sound so precisely that it is difficult to improve by vintage valves, like Ken Shindo.
If it was done with very limited use of audiophile cabling, then there is a bigger chance for versatility.

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

We are closing the window of opportunity to trade the Horizon to Aphrodite DAC. All registered requests will be fulfilled. Now we accept only sales orders. Thanks to those already registered.
We are running slightly ahead of our conservatively pessimistic timeline to start shiping.

 

[Malcng]

I hope @Steve Rowan does not mind but I took his shared playlist and converted into Qobuz playlist using tune my music website

Qobuz - https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/43187398

Deezer - https://link.deezer.com/s/31vPmBsWGHt1BE0f8gynO (not everything came across, so need to manually review and add. I will do that later tonight.

I do not have a Tidal account so unable to generate Tidal specific playlist.

Edit: For Roon to see the playlist you will need to mark it as favorite under Qobuz add. Roon, does not allow you to search for public Qobuz playlist.

Excellent, thank you for doing that. I haven’t played it yet but will do so. Two finger taps and it is in my Roon Playlists. What great facilities we have these days. So much easier and better sounding than a mixed tape.

Edit - it was worthile for me just to discover this track.

 

[Steve Williams]

Excellent, thank you for doing that. I haven’t played it yet but will do so. Two finger taps and it is in my Roon Playlists. What great facilities we have these days. So much easier and better sounding than a mixed tape.

Edit - it was worthile for me just to discover this track.


View attachment 161483

I agree. If your tushy doesnt vibrate when he gets down and deep , you need to check your system. I used to play the same track by The Ghost of Johnny Cash as it too is superb but Geoff Castellucci makes the walls of my room as well as my ass shake

 

[Steve Williams]

It's been about 6 weeks now since I have had Aphrodite and it has reasonably settled in and I continue to use only the stock tubes. Since the weekend event when Lukasz and Fred were here and we did tube rolling one night, only on one other occasion when a few guests were here a few days ago did I do the same. Nothing has changed my thoughts

For those interested in some vintage tubes, I am going to post this here as I cannot put up a classified ad in our classified section as Paypal will not allow me to pay myself and I cant figure a way around it..........

I have sold all of my pentodes and triodes and many of my rectifiers. If any readers have an interest I have only the following left
Two TFKN RGN 2004 mesh plate each with a TP adapter
One Valvo G2504 solid plate but no adapter (I had 3 of these tubes with 2 adapters and I sold both). I just sold both my Valvo AZ12 mesh plate with TP adapters

FWIW the member who bought my H360 brought his Amplitrex with on the day he picked up the unit. He measured all of my tubes and they all measured strong in all parameters

So I have the above 3 rectifiers available. If interested please contact me by PM

 

[findog]

At the Capitol Audio Fest I finally got a chance to hear the Aphrodite DAC with VAC amps and the Gershman Acoustics Symphoria speakers. The Aphrodite is a beast and so musical. The hype is real. My wife commented not only on the sound but how beautiful the unit is - she remembers the days of Lampi Level 4. We were captivated with the music so much that we stayed for over 45 minutes and returned near the end of the afternoon to have the room as our lasting impression of the show. Also, the speakers are outstanding. Anywhere in the room I felt I was in the sweet spot. Brilliant.

 

[marty]

Excellent, thank you for doing that. I haven’t played it yet but will do so. Two finger taps and it is in my Roon Playlists. What great facilities we have these days. So much easier and better sounding than a mixed tape.

Edit - it was worthile for me just to discover this track.


View attachment 161483

Steve Rowan’s playlist available on Qobuz is the best curated playlist I have heard in quite sometime. There are plenty of audiophile lollipops on that list as well as some exceptional music. Steve's taste is outstanding. Something that he does that I like very much is to provide one or two songs from the same artist. When he does it, his choices are superb. For example, he includes Nina Simone's 1964 "I love you Porgy" which many consider the finest recording made of that piece, but then turns to Nina's "other side" where her African roots are displayed by pairing it with "Plain Gold RIng" that very much captures the contemporary black artistry of the period. Simone is often associated with the phrase "To be young, gifted and black" and this music, as well as music from her contemporaries (Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach etc) show us why by bringing that to life with such selections. That's impeccable taste, (as are the Elvis tracks). Thanks Steve!

 

[Holli82]

I went to CAF with the intention of politely listening to the Aphrodite and moving on to the rest of the show. I am extremely happy with my H360 and had no plans to upgrade. I sat in the center seat to listen, and 5 minutes later I asked Fred If I could join the queue for the Aphrodite. There was just more of everything---details, soundstage, texture, transparency etc. As Fred told me, "there are levels to everything" and this next level.

Congrats to Lukasz and his team for raising the bar. Thanks to Steve W for all of his hard work helping to arrange the launch here in the US. I have said it before and will repeat it again, Fred Ainsley is a great ambassador for Lampizator and a pleasure to work with.

 

[ctydwn]

agree. Fred is world class and Lampizator is very lucky to have him running NA. His customer service, responsiveness, tech expertise and especially his composure are remarkable in the face of ever evolving market, financial backdrops and preferences. sounds like my unit to be shipped shortly. will give my raw impressions vs 360 w top tier tubes

 

[Steve Williams]

It is a wonderful DAC. Once you hear it you cannot unhear it

Be careful of the hyperbole however for fear we are accused of pissing on someone’s leg

 

[LampiNA]

Holli82 & ctdwn,

Thank you so much for the kind words! Working with gentlemen like you makes my work a joy.

I am certainly looking forward to your impressions and I thank you for your continued support!

Best,

Fred A.

 

[Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus]

Today we ship another four, this time - to USA.

 

[Sampajanna]

This paragraph from the excellent, welll-written review on Hifiknights intrigues me:

“Branding the Aphrodite as the best LampizatOr to date and concluding the report there wouldn’t be a mistake. However, the loaner, equipped with the tube arsenal listed earlier, sounded more mechanical and less inviting than the Horizon360. The latter, while not slow, syrupy, or veiled in any way, presented music with a denser, mellower, and calmer demeanor. That’s an amusing observation considering how unhinged the Horizon360 already is in the adrenaline-fueled department. Yet, we don’t know what we don’t know—until we do. Without my exposure to the Aphrodite’s greater authority, explosiveness, and spatial extravagance, I wouldn’t have realized there was still a higher ceiling to reach. A somewhat stiffer suspension is the price to pay for that significantly higher horsepower, but that’s hardly a deal-breaker. Those wanting to preserve the Aphrodite’s insane 0–60 time while securing a comfier ride have options. First, proper anti-vibration isolators make a remarkable difference. I enjoyed it equally atop sound|kaos Vibra30 and the diamond-tiered, TwinDamp-infused Carbide Base Micros. The latter’s lossy ViscoRings nudged the Aphrodite’s voicing toward a touch more playful, polite, and thicker direction. Secondly, its LAN input, meanwhile, produces a noticeably more organic, flowing, and tonally rich sound than USB. Lastly, since tubes shape the Horizon360’s profile so profoundly, I imagine the Aphrodite will respond much the same. While this beast needs ten of them to work, that won’t be a concern for those who can afford it.”

LampizatOr Aphrodite – HiFi Knights

This is the www.hifiknights.com review of the LampizatOr Aphrodite DAC. Author: Dawid Grzyb. Enjoy!

hifiknights.com

The whole review is worth a read…. Suffice it to say, I won’t be selling any tubes just yet .

 

[Sampajanna]

PS made my order :O) I am on my way to the arms of the Goddess…

In the meantime, bouncing around my seat and making air guitars while listening to Goose’s new MSG release….

 

[christoph]

PS made my order :O) I am on my way to the arms of the Goddess…

In the meantime, bouncing around my seat and making air guitars while listening to Goose’s new MSG release….

Congrats

 

[dminches]

This thread has been very quiet given that there are at least 5? units with their owners now. I am very interested in some listening impressions.

 

[Whbgarrett]

Congrats

This thread has been very quiet given that there are at least 5? units with their owners now. I am very interested in some listening impressions.

Received mine yesterday and got it running this morning. Very preliminary observations vs H360 are that the increase in resolution (and associated reduction in noise floor and blacker background) as well as punchier and better articulated lower mids and upper bass are very apparent, along with an increase in soundstage width, height and depth.

I will be retaining the H360 for redeployment in a second home next spring, so plenty of time for more detailed comparison in the coming weeks and months.

 

[hifirabbit]

Received mine yesterday and got it running this morning. Very preliminary observations vs H360 are that the increase in resolution (and associated reduction in noise floor and blacker background) as well as punchier and better articulated lower mids and upper bass are very apparent, along with an increase in soundstage width, height and depth.

I will be retaining the H360 for redeployment in a second home next spring, so plenty of time for more detailed comparison in the coming weeks and months.

Received mine the day before Thanksgiving and have been enjoying the unit tremendously since.
Lukasz definitely blessed us with a masterpiece! The Lampizator Flagship DAC !
The Aphrodite deserves all the accolades that had been posted already.
A holographic reaching out soundstage with furthered increased image density.
More details compared to the Horizon 360 but presented as an enjoyable whole.
The Aphrodite with stock tubes beat my Horizon 360 with the expensive & difficult to source NOS tubes.
I fully agree with Steve that at this point there would be little desire to do any tube rolling.
Again thanks to Lukas and Fred for bring the Aphrodite project to fruition.

 

[LampiNA]

Thank you for your updates, guys! It is wonderful to see some user feedback coming in. I will be driving out this weekend to assist with the install of another unit in a fabulous system. In addition to that, another gentleman has a unit out for delivery now, so we should hopefully see some more first impressions next week.

Happy holidays all!

Fred A.

 

[LampiNA]

I also wanted to mention we're starting to get some early reviewer feedback from Capital AudioFest. It's been sparse so far, but 3 of our systems were awarded as best in show and I anticipate more to come: https://pt.audio/2025/11/29/caf-2025s-best-sound-of-show-caf-2025/

3 Best of Show Honors from CAF 2025. LampizatOr provided the digital source for:

Acora / VAC - LampizatOr Genya
Gershman - LampizatOr Aphrodite & LampizatOr Gulfstream
Songer Audio - LampizatOr Atlantic TRP

Proud to be the source of these exquisite systems!