Taking the Lampizator Big 6 to the Next Level

I have owned the Lampizator Big 6 (B6) for about 4 months and can honestly say this unit is first rate. I use the Jade Audio Ref Platinum ICs from the B6 to the Aria WV line stage and a Dream State Dream Catcher PC on the B6. USB cable is the Vue Model 3. And I still am using plain ol' iTunes on a 2006 Mac Mini with SS drive and 2G RAM.

The DAC shootout thread on A'gon has covered many DAC's with some great reporting. The B6 was dismissed early on without trying other tube combinations. To dismiss a tube product because of its sound with stock tubes is blasphemy. Solid state products are indeed a better choice for such a consumer.

Manufacturers have no choice but to populate their products with off-the-shelf new tubes from tube distributors. But these are often highly compromised tubes that can not even begin to compete with the 1000s upon 1000s of available throughout the world. A little bit of effort and time, for very little investment, a swap of a pair or two of tubes can take a product to an entire new level of performance. And I discovered this with the results below.

The Good News:

The B6 version I have uses two pairs of tubes:

1: VT-99 for the Audio stage - Stock unit had Sylvania VT-99
2: 6x5GT as the Power Supply rectifiers - Stock Unit had 6u5C Russian tubes

I was given a pair of National Union VT-99 tubes as well with the B6. I was told by the seller to try both and get back with him. He said the results between the pair was quite different and he had a very clear favorite but would not comment further.

I started with the NU tubes and ran these for several days. Even out of the box, within one hour, the B6 was absolutely phenomenal. It had all the 3D magic that the legendary Manley Ref DAC from the mid 90s had but with a new level of treble clarity, midrange (piano) delineation and far greater depth. Images were far far back from the SoundLab A1 speakers that I ever experienced with digital playback. Piano decays, voice harmonic overtones carrying further up the frequency range was yet another new experience. These are traits that I often identify with a tube-optimized top tier tube line stage with tube rectified power supply, that simply no solid state line stage can touch. I could drop any solid state line stage or 99% of the ICs out there, inserted between the line stage and amps, and lose much of the magic that I now experience in my system due to the B6. The Aria WV line stage and the B6 with the Jade Ref cables are a killer match.

Finally, I switched over to the Sylvania VT-99. Wow, if they went beyond the NU, I can not even begin to imagine what might be possible. But as the out-of-the-box B6 was with the NU cranking out the magic, the B6 with the stock Sylvania was distant, much reduced harmonic continuity, piano notes not distinct, etc.; the result was a major reduction in instruments sounding natural with an overall shrinkage of the stage, most notably depth. I listened to this for a few albums but could not take it any more. A return the NU and the 3D magic and clarity was back. Anybody want a pair of Sylvania VT-99 tubes for cheap?

Three months later, I was ready to play with the rectifier tubes. But I thought I would try one more pair of VT-99's. I got a pair of Raytheon VT-99. These were nearly spot on with the NU but with just a little more smoothness which made many of the recordings sound more natural and tonally coherent. But overall, the 3D performance was neck and neck with the NU. Overall, I liked the Raytheon and I run with this tube now. But the NU is a top performer.

With my incredible experience with RCA 12BH7 destroying all 12au7 tubes in all my past components, and the awesome performance of the RCA 6SN7 in the Aesthetix components, I know that I must try the RCA VT-99 to finalize the tube choice here.

It was time to play with the rectifier. I got a different pair of Russian tubes, and also a pair each of Raytheon and RCA 6X5GT. I first tried the different designed russian tube and there was virtually no change in sound. This caught me by surprise as the tubes were very much different physically and my experience with Counterpoint and Aria products is that tube rectifier changes can make dramatic improvements at a level often surpassing changing audio stage tubes. I then tried the Raytheon 6X5GT. Wow, vivid Vivid VIVID. The sound was as if a huge spotlight had been added. Sounds came way out in front of the speakers. It was like going from a CJ line stage to an ARC line stage with so much energy right in front of you. There was far more treble detail but with the bottom half of the range much reduced, i.e., severe tonal coherency issues! It was quickly too much. This tube was out! I returned to the russian tube to get my reference sound back. After a few tracks, I then tried the RCA 6X5GT. Wow, wow, wow, now you're talking. Phenomenal tonal coherency, smoothness and upper treble detail with no fatigue. I enjoyed this tube for a few albums and then returned to the russian tube. The result with the russian tube was good tonal coherency but no match to the RCA as there was so much more life, energy, things going on, decays, harmonics and wow, dynamic contrasts with the RCA. The result of this RCA rectifier tube makes me even more excited to try the RCA VT-99.

Total cost for the Raytheon VT-99 pair and RCA 6X5GT pair is under $150. Not bad for a major component upgrade.

With the state of this B6 with the Raytheon VT-99 and RCA 6X5GT, I would put this up against the Lampizator 7 and I would not be surprised if the B6 destroyed the 7 in 1 or 2 parameters in a system that excels in 3D performance.

The Sad News:

There has been a lot of talk here on A'gon about the Lampizator USB interface not up to snuff with using an external SPDIF-USB converter like the Empirical Audio OffRamp 5, and especially with its external power supply. After keeping my eyes out for an OR 5 for a couple months, I finally snatched one up. I could not wait to try this out like nothing else on my to-do list. With amazement, like a sad sad puppy, I could not believe what I heard the soundstage was dramatically reduced with the OR5. How can this be with all the "you ain't heard the Lampi until you heard it with the OR5". Well I did and it was disappointment city. I discussed this with another Lampi 6 owner and he had only been using the USB and loved it with the NU VT-99 tube too.

I dug further and asked for advice with an electronics engineer on what might be the issue. Could it be that the new Lampi's have much better USB interfaces? Is the rat's nest wiring of the SPDIF connection to the board compromising the issue? The connection was rewired with a coax cable and updated with the "correct" capacitor. This update along with the OR external power supply resulted in the USB still creating a far more realistic soundstage. The experimentation was stopped with the conclusion that at least this generation of the B6 works at its best with the USB. My overall gut feeling here is that the B6's SPDIF likely has some issues which even the highly acclaimed OR5 could just not bring back to life. Again, perhaps this might only be observed with a system that excels in 3D, I don't know. But once again, like so often on this site, my results are so very different than many of those previously reported.

My previous experience with an older OffRamp converter with the Manley Ref DAC was outstanding results.

I had already requested and received a quote for a custom power supply from Paul Hynes for the OR5 and the Mac Mini. And later I was told it was better to run with two PS's but now I only need to focus on the PS for the Mac Mini.

The "Surprise" News:

During the USB evaluation process, it was discovered that standard 7805 3-terminal voltage regulators are used throughout the B6. I was quite surprised at this as these are hobbyist level devices that really have no business in a state of the art $8k DAC. I can only imagine the massive sonic improvement obtained with discreet circuits replacing all of these. Or imagine even a single highly regulated/filtered 5v PS to replace these would take this unit to the stratosphere. Another option is the drop-in replacement devices from Paul Hynes. A dozen of these devices might end up costing $400 or so, and might push the unit another $1k more, but wow, imagine the possibilities! After all, there is much talk about boutique capacitors in the product. Why should the voltage regulators be compromised? Maybe this would result in the new Lampizator 8 or even 9? 8-)

A Final Note:

For all of those who will cry out that what I am hearing are colorations and distortions, etc., due to the tubes, I have a piano in this room and I can plink keys at any time to hear the harmonics and decays. And the B6 in its current configuration sounds mighty mighty real.

John