Lampizator DAC by Lukasz Fikus

Anyone interested?

High End, Hand Made in Poland








- Digital: The best D/A chip known by Lukasz

- Analog: Tubes only and no silicone. No op-amps. Purity and simplicity of single ended triode amplifier between the DAC and the output is one of the key ingredients

- Production: Everything is made by hand. Nothing is outsourced . The digital PCB is soldered by hand every time.

- Warranty: 7 days comfort of full money refund for testing. 5 years warranty for parts and labour excl. tubes. Free of charge extra tube spares to last 10 years.

the price cannot tahan le bro, cheapest is somewhere $900 exclude shipping right? fuhhh..

very nice....

Got one from him already, one of the first 10 prototypes for evaluation and feedback trial, expensive? I can tell you this much, beats anything commercial out there irrespective of price...thus a lifetime bargain if you ask me...

Go for it guys if the budget allows you to..

azri wrote:the price cannot tahan le bro, cheapest is somewhere $900 exclude shipping right? fuhhh..

Yea its 900 Euro for the cheapest version..

dixchen wrote:

azri wrote:the price cannot tahan le bro, cheapest is somewhere $900 exclude shipping right? fuhhh..

Yea its 900 Euro for the cheapest version..

It's dirt cheap compare to brand like Accustic Art. Just bought some parts from Lukasz and delivery is very fast.

ouchh.. perhaps mr dixchen can loan one for trial purpose hehe. how much does it cost you plus shipping in rm??

Can't really disclose the price cause it was sold to me and 9 others cheaper like I said for evaluation/development purpose in which led to to the final development of Lampizator DAC 2 which is now the best DAC he has developed, a final touch to his already superb ver 1, each and every unit has a diff experimental circuit or component in it...
Forgot how much shipping was already, not cheap for sure...I shipped via courier to avoid any possiblity of it getting damaged via regular mail.

Pure tube analogue stage rules!

tycham wrote:

dixchen wrote:

azri wrote:the price cannot tahan le bro, cheapest is somewhere $900 exclude shipping right? fuhhh..

Yea its 900 Euro for the cheapest version..

It's dirt cheap compare to brand like Accustic Art. Just bought some parts from Lukasz and delivery is very fast.

Yea be very surprised how the super so called high end commercial brands out there are pale sounding in comparison yet with a such a sky high price...

dixchen wrote:Can't really disclose the price cause it was sold to me and 9 others cheaper like I said for evaluation/development purpose in which led to to the final development of Lampizator DAC 2 which is now the best DAC he has developed, a final touch to his already superb ver 1, each and every unit has a diff experimental circuit or component in it...
Forgot how much shipping was already, not cheap for sure...I shipped via courier to avoid any possiblity of it getting damaged via regular mail.

Pure tube analogue stage rules!

So the one you bought from Lukasz is not ver.2 ?
How is the prototype perform? better then many luxury DAC in the market?

I would really consider if this is a preamp + DAC coz DAC alone can't be use directly with power amp.

Do you guys think it is way better than this YS-Audio preamp http://www.ys-audio.com/sp+.htm

Lukasz have review so many cdp and DAC for us.. but who gonna review how good is his Lampizator DAC for us !!?

arremie wrote:I would really consider if this is a preamp + DAC coz DAC alone can't be use directly with power amp.

Do you guys think it is way better than this YS-Audio preamp http://www.ys-audio.com/sp+.htm

DAC is a DAC bro, can't really lump together with pre amps on their own. Both stand alone components that does different things.

wataru wrote:

dixchen wrote:Can't really disclose the price cause it was sold to me and 9 others cheaper like I said for evaluation/development purpose in which led to to the final development of Lampizator DAC 2 which is now the best DAC he has developed, a final touch to his already superb ver 1, each and every unit has a diff experimental circuit or component in it...
Forgot how much shipping was already, not cheap for sure...I shipped via courier to avoid any possiblity of it getting damaged via regular mail.

Pure tube analogue stage rules!

So the one you bought from Lukasz is not ver.2 ?
How is the prototype perform? better then many luxury DAC in the market?

I guess it was in his plan to firstly build 10 with diff specifications and then received feedbacks and reviews from real users to ultimately build the final version which is the newly just released ver 2.

To make a comparison , even in prototype version 1 which should not differ too much from ver 2, it walks over all high end luxury high end DAC's made out there today, we're talking bout the likes of Audio Note DACs, one of the rare breeds today that runs on pure tube analogue output stage in SRPP, as well as using the ultra analogue sounding AD 1865 DAC chips. Even a sub 50k unit like this could not come close...

His DAC could really rewrite the industry standard for best DAC in the world..

Best DAC in the world? A little bit ambitious don't you think? After all a fruit to an ear might be a poison to the others.

Lukasz Fikus:

"This is not merely a n electronic product. It is not another high end DAC. This is in my opinion a masterpiece, my lifetime achievement. Beginning from Generation 2 announced in late june 2010 - I am prepared to challenge all the word’s best dacs including the top brands - Goldmund, dCS, Audio-Note, Wadia, Jadis, Esoteric, etc. "

He offer 7 days comfort of full money refund for testing. Hmm..

And the debate could go on forever if you'd asked anyone...

Its kinda hard to convey this without having listening to players or DAC's of many diff DAC chips to identify their characters but I guess he is one of the few that have done so, just look on the list of players and models that he has reviewed and tubed..

i guess u r right he's done his homework for what he think sounded best to him but for many of us it's kinda risky to buy something that expensive without knowing how the end result would be or whether it will jive beautifully with the rest of the equipment.

anyway given the impressive specs it usually is. too bad no unit around to audition.

Wow...wish I could own one....but after thinking how many years have to eat Maggie Mee....??? Ahh...forget it...

why? u got bored with kelog frosties?

Which DAC chip is it? I have a 1541A DIY DAC and thinking of lampized after reading this thread. I have few 5687 and 5814a tubes in hand but might not have enough gain.

arremie wrote:i guess u r right he's done his homework for what he think sounded best to him but for many of us it's kinda risky to buy something that expensive without knowing how the end result would be or whether it will jive beautifully with the rest of the equipment.

anyway given the impressive specs it usually is. too bad no unit around to audition.

And I cannot blame anyone for thinking so cause very very few will even venture into ' unchartered ' territories, but I myself have always been exploring into so, tube analogue output stage ( and I am not talking bout the chinese players with fake tube buffering stage after op amps) has been around for more than 20 odd years or more now but no manufacturer has taken to offer this stage seriously especially with valves having been discontinued and transistors taking over today modern's digital world except Audio Note of course but not too many of us here has such budget to afford their equipment!

But a small bunch of many audiophilers and diy'ers have continued to venture into this bringing the best of the yesterday's beautiful analogue sounding valves into today's best dac chips.

TDA 1541A, AD 1865, BB 1794, CS 4396's, AKM 4393 are a few of the top best dac's ever produced from yester years till today. Although Lukasz is not disclosing it, looking at the dac size and his ' clues ' from his site I am guessing that he uses the superb Japanese AKM 4393,4396 that is a current 24 bit modern current production DAC chip. ( I took a peek under the skirt of his DAC

This DAC being a voltage out type is a darn powerful chip with superb analogue reproduction ( still a touch below the TDA 1541A IMO) but is well balanced in its superb dynamics, micro details, deep thundering bass reproduction. I rather think he accidentally stunbled upon it by running a tube output off the Behringer SRC 4396 upsampler that has this DAC chip in built into it)

Just to fill everybody in on why the Lukasz DAC is indeed one of the best around ( if not the best) , the secret lies in its very extensive tube rectified choke loaded power supply. These kinda power supply are often only found in custom built higher end SET tube amplifiers, I mean who the hell runs multiple chokes and capacitors as big as 3000uF in today's tiny modern DAC chassis! You find that kinda capacitor sizes in small industrial high tension switchboards of factories. Its hard enough trying to squeeze so many chokes in commercial DAC's what more huuuge capacitors like that, ( size of a coke can!)

SRPP or anode follower tube output based on superb analogues sounding Russian tubes ( not talking bout Sovtek here) but true NOS tubes from the days of the U.S.S.R mostly for military use made by companies like Reflektor and etc. They are one of most underated NOs tubes of today( everybody's too busy with their super expensive Amperex's, Siemens and etc..) and best thing is that its cheap and abundant on e bay!

Anyway not to get too carried away, getting my hands on such a unit allowed me to complete my long delayed modification of my own TDA 1541A DAC that I started more than a year ago! ( Still my favourite DAC) . Together with Audio Note's patented use of its transformer based I/V conversion ( actually sold by Sowter U.K now ) as well as the know how off Lukasz's site to date, I managed to built a very powerful and analogue sounding tube output TDA 1541A DAC combining all his work and ideas together.

But not too many here are inclined and ready to explore into such territories as I mentioned before thus my heaviest recommendation for anyone wanting a DAC with performance out of this world ( don't worry bout synergy with everything else) to buy one of his now that ver 2 is out.

Ok I'm not a representative or an agent for him, just a long time follower of his work and only happy to share my experiences for anyone wanting to explore deep into the best digital source available today ( without burning a hole into one's pockets of course!)

Hey he even offers a 7 day money back guarantee ma!!

khwong7744 wrote:Which DAC chip is it? I have a 1541A DIY DAC and thinking of lampized after reading this thread. I have few 5687 and 5814a tubes in hand but might not have enough gain.

THe 5687 or the 5814a's are not suitable for the TDA 1541A dac type, depending on the I/V conversion method used, you may want to try any of the Russisan 6n1p's, 6n2p's or the 6n23p's. All listed down on Lukasz's site of course...

arremie wrote:why? u got bored with kelog frosties?

hehe...not bored but just gatal to try an external dac that can be used for pc & hifi rig. But at 900 euro ?? Gulp......

Hi dixchen,

can you pls point to me which ebay seller you usually deal with to buy tubes? or perhaps pm me? BTW, I just got my spk cab for AN 8 alnico today.

dixchen i agree with you regarding tubes originally made by reflektor in russia is so underrated by most. i have a tube amp using el84 and the russian reflektor version of el84 (6p14p) sounded the best even to my novice ears. not to mention it's darn cheap.

anyone interested can go here.... http://tubes-store.com/
it's even cheaper than ebay

Very interesting, dixon any possibility to listern to your super dac?

I just done up my lampization of CS4397 DAC with the kits from Mr. Lukasz.

Just listen to it for 5hr, I would say it is really impressive. I think his complete build up should sound much better than this.

arremie wrote:dixchen i agree with you regarding tubes originally made by reflektor in russia is so underrated by most. i have a tube amp using el84 and the russian reflektor version of el84 (6p14p) sounded the best even to my novice ears. not to mention it's darn cheap.

anyone interested can go here.... http://tubes-store.com/
it's even cheaper than ebay

Thanks for sharing the site with us bro, certainly helps trying to scout around e bay sometimes but noticed how the 6n23p-e is sold out? This tube being a 6922/7308 equivalent replacement is an awesome sounding tube, imagine walking over my E188CC/7308 Phillips SQ/Amperex as well.

Due to its popularity finding one around e bay is also hard these days..

kwwong wrote:I just done up my lampization of CS4397 DAC with the kits from Mr. Lukasz.

Just listen to it for 5hr, I would say it is really impressive. I think his complete build up should sound much better than this.

Are you running it in SRPP or anode follower configuration? I did one earlier using the CS 4390KP DAC as well, as good as it was after that, still was outclassed by the Lampizator DAC. Its really that good...

dixchen wrote:
Thanks for sharing the site with us bro, certainly helps trying to scout around e bay sometimes but noticed how the 6n23p-e is sold out? This tube being a 6922/7308 equivalent replacement is an awesome sounding tube, imagine walking over my E188CC/7308 Phillips SQ/Amperex as well.
Due to its popularity finding one around e bay is also hard these days..

Hmmm...I use these exclusively in my rig that was originally 6922/6DJ8 specified. It walks all over those overhyped 6922's in my own rig of course..YMMV :-). This also replaces the one orginally in my ARC SP14 phono section. The ori 6922 went out the window.

dixchen,

How much would Lukasz charge for postage to Malaysia from your experience?

Not sure bro depends on how you would ship those, if you want I can certainly ask him for you.

noodle88 wrote:Very interesting, dixon any possibility to listern to your super dac?

No problem bro, when am ready will contact you, I can bring it over to your place then you can listen to it in your own setup.

dixchen wrote:

kwwong wrote:I just done up my lampization of CS4397 DAC with the kits from Mr. Lukasz.

Just listen to it for 5hr, I would say it is really impressive. I think his complete build up should sound much better than this.

Are you running it in SRPP or anode follower configuration? I did one earlier using the CS 4390KP DAC as well, as good as it was after that, still was outclassed by the Lampizator DAC. Its really that good...

it is an anode follower. Would like to listen to the lampizator DAC compare to my half built.

dixchen, u mean the diy DAC u juz completed sounds similar in tonal colour to the ver 2 lampizator dac ? when u say its guarantee cash back 7 days, who we look 4 in honouring this condition, u mean wataru who advertise lampizator here is the dealer? or is it you who is the dealer/agent in m'sia....

thanks !

Oh no I am not in any way the dealer or representative for this product, Lukasz exclusively builts it and sends it off directly from Poland after extensive testing by the very man himself.

I shall not comment too much on my own built project but do understand that my project has taken so much of time as well as money spent on it and it was the purchase of the Lampizator DAC that gave me new ideas to complete the TDA 1541A dac project. All I can say is that the TDA is one of the all time greats in DAC history and is capable of producing sonics above everything else if provided the right formula is injected into it.

The Lampizator DAC on its own will hold its own against any commercial DAC's made today and that is as much as what I can tell everybody here.

Lukasz is a person of great pride, I know for a fact that what he claims he will own up to it and really if one purchases his product and is dissatisfied with it, he will make a full refund on the purchase minus shipping costs of course. Its all stated on his site.

arremie wrote:i guess u r right he's done his homework for what he think sounded best to him but for many of us it's kinda risky to buy something that expensive without knowing how the end result would be or whether it will jive beautifully with the rest of the equipment.

anyway given the impressive specs it usually is. too bad no unit around to audition.

If you had answer truthfully the questionnaire in the order form,extract below in cyan, he would probably build to what sound best to you, not HIM.

Quote:
"We need to understand your system and your sonic preferences first, to be able to meet and exceed your expectation.

Please, answer some questions below:

1. What volume control do you use ? A potentiometer, or electronic (chip based, with +/- button ?) Is it a preamp, a passive module, or integrated amp?


2. What amp do you use? (tubed / transistor/ hybrid / OTL / Tripath, other)


3. What CD player do you currently use ?

4. Which transport you will use with the DAC


5. What player or DAC has ever impressed you the most, what - from your personal first hand experience - is the best CD in the world? What did you like about it the most?


6. What kind of music do you listen to mostly?


7. Would you like the signal - compared to today’s situation - to be a little louder and more dynamic or kept at the text-book standard level of 2 V pp (I personally much prefer the sound of my system when CD has louder output)

8. What aspect of music do you hope to improve most? (examples: treble purity, vocal natural timbre, bass weight, transient speed, liquidity, non-digital character, space depth, width, micro-details, air in the recording, goose-bumps factor, separation of individual threads, pure slamm and power... etc. (all of the above is not the good answer)"

He is right guys... I don't sell any of these.. I only own one...

Here are some pictures:

Looks good bro, try getting some 6h23p's to replace those 6h6p's...I find them bit too smooth and mellow sounding...

Argh, was trying to poison you guys when i was first creating this topic, but now i also feel hype about it..

lesson learned: dont poison other or you can get the poison too.

Here is what I feel after few hours of listening:
- Warm-up is a must especially when it is new.
- I use to listen to my music at 30-40% at my volume port previously, now I think I turn only 5-10%
- It got slight hiss but only when I put my ear very close to the speaker
- With so much amplification, a lot of details revealed
- The vocal is very smooth, full and warm but I think I like it at the moment, maybe get a 6h23p later
- Instrument separation and position is more clear

My only problem is the heat generated from the tube, my box is too small, the top cover is too close to it. I need to either cut a hole or use wire mess,
I need to modify the top cover.

Am I satisfy with it? You bet.

Hey bro

Don't worry bout the heat, I run it even in sealed conditions inside a cd player and it was fine for almost 1 year now.

Make sure there's plenty of air condition around it la

Anyone who listens to a proper PURE tubed output DAC/CD player will experience what you have just experienced and yes, tube warm up for a proper evaluation is a must!

Once again, tubes rulez!!!

yes yes, anything tube must be warmed-up. my experience with two tube pre shows that after long hours of running-in the sound gets better & better..

Solid state also need warn up for 30-45min to get good sound, not much different with tubes.

I am a beginner in tube. The moment I turn on my tubed DAC, I got noticeable bzzzz and hiss. But that just last only about 15minutes. I guess because it is still new, need some warm up.

my dad's china made scoot also needs to warm up before take off 0-100

kwwong wrote:I am a beginner in tube. The moment I turn on my tubed DAC, I got noticeable bzzzz and hiss. But that just last only about 15minutes. I guess because it is still new, need some warm up.

THose Russian tubes are like that, they need a few minutes to stabilize before you wind the volume up. Happens to mine as well but only on the Russian's..

dixchen wrote:

kwwong wrote:I am a beginner in tube. The moment I turn on my tubed DAC, I got noticeable bzzzz and hiss. But that just last only about 15minutes. I guess because it is still new, need some warm up.

THose Russian tubes are like that, they need a few minutes to stabilize before you wind the volume up. Happens to mine as well but only on the Russian's..

it's normal for tube gears, it's need time for the heater to warm up to their optimum point. Till then, enjoy starts.

Kr 300b WE tube need 1 hour to get to optimum. Just after 1 hour, it sudently sound much better.