Lampizator question

Fred there was no personal assault on you!!
Ya you are kind of collateral damage here I guess but it wasn't pointed at you at all. I was thinking of you as not in this being the dealer but your the US Distributor so I guess although it wasn't meant toward you i guess you end up with some unintended shrapnel wounds out of this.

Sorry bro my point was to call out the former soviet union eastern block partner that just keeps popping out these top of the line dacs. I love us dealers and by seeing how many of these DACs are out there you must be doing ok so not sure you qualify as a struggling hi-fi dealer that I love to root for and support but you are known for great service and you are good guys and I didn't mean for you to catch the collateral damage but being the US distributor for Lampi im sure your gonna be ok but please know and my wording shows this that the shot was intended at Poland not NJ.

It's a hi fi audio forum for audiophiles to share their thoughts, ideas and opinions and he must have known at some point someone was gonna say something. You are right he is lucky to have such a good partner in the US doing all the heavy lifting or there probably would have been a lot more of this.

I have heard a number of Lampizators at shows--most recently the 7 at the NY Stereophile show. What a remarkable sounding piece. If Mr. Fikus constantly tinkers to upgrade, so be it. If he comes out with a new one every year, so be it. That's how the latest units became so good now and how future units will be even better. Don't own one--but maybe someday if I'm lucky. I would not attribute any worse intentions on his part than I would at someone like Gabriel Caelin at Shunyata. It seems every 2 years I have to trade up my conditioner or pcs cause he keeps fairly rapidly making them better. That's cause he is never done--although I can stop at any time and be happy with what I have.

Lampizator is not a gear flipper dac...its a destination purchase.

If you are going into it thinking resale value, you just dont get it. Simply tagging on the lable, DSD ready is NOT going to cut it against Lampi DSD.

Elberoth on 3 separate forums has posted about his DSD Only Big 7, this is a guy who also owns a Trinty Dac ($50K). AL has a $35K MSB Platinum stack and has TWO Level 7 Lampizators, as well as a Hugo and a Direct stream. Guess which is his favourite Dac. Bruce Brown from Puget Sound changed out his PBD Dac for a Level 4 DSD only and is thinking of getting a L7 DSD only. Finally I know of someone swapping out a dCs stack for a Golden gate Lampi. Lampi plays in these leagues for a LOT less money.
Unless you tried it, you just dont know. And if resale value is your concern then continue on the merry-go-round.

R&D and superb service costs (HUGE investment) money and if there is no margin, then there is no business. Attribute the good deal on 2nd hand market to people getting bitten and trding up, becuse the want MORE of the same. You cant upgrade a signal tube Dac to a DHT dac. The topology is just not compatible, so in essence the B7 shared the name as say a big 5, but they are fundamentally different.

Different models (levels) different price points. What's not to understand? Why attribute a noun such as greed to the process.

I know it may be difficult to believe, but one of the primary reasons entrepreneurs start a business is to make money. If you don’t want to pay their prices or don’t prefer their products over others, then don’t buy them! I just don’t understand the need to rant about a company’s prices, business model, or really about anything but their support before, during and after the sale.

A recent Audiogon post about Synergistic Research and their cables had essentially the same tone as this one. A bashing of S/R’s business model; again, not about the quality of their products, nor their support before, during, or after the sale. Why bother? I really don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.

So speaking of guessing I'll make a few. Perhaps the basher: can’t afford the company's products; they prefer another product and don’t want to feel that the one they own, isn't, by comparison, as good; they're a competitor (either a manufacturer or distributor/retailer) and bashing another company’s products makes their's look better by comparison; they can’t stand to see someone have something that they don’t - i.e. a product, or in the case of a business, success; they're trying to save everyone from themselves by telling the world about the big bad wolf — that if someone buys, they’re being “had”; they really want one of the products but can’t, or don’t want to pay the asking price, so in their own mind, they must find some way to bash the product by making it seem inferior....not because it is, but because of all the relevant and irrelevant things, they don't like their business model…ad infinitum.

What’s to be learned from a thread such as this? I don’t really know, but my guess is that there is some hidden agenda, or a neurotic need to vent about life and picking on something like an intangible company or product, is far easier than undergoing some hard soul searching, counseling etc…

Lastly, my motivation for replying is that I'm a Lampi owner. And no, I don't need to be saved from myself and Lukasz' business practices. As an extremely satisfied, happy owner, Lampizator's business practices are ALL first rate, just as is the DAC that I recently bought!

In the future if I choose to opt for an upgrade, the decision will obviously be mine. Before the sale I didn't need to be protected from that possibility, nor obviously after the sale, do I need to be protected. If I needed to be warned, no amount of protecting would be sufficient; because I would sooner or later take a dump in my mess kit, with or without reading forum posts about why I shouldn't!!

Wanted to reply to this above statement made by Mrmb but couldn't. I mean no disrespect just too hard to follow and it made my brain ache...

On another note I did read up a bit on the Lampi US Distributor and can say they seem like a real first class operation and my criticism of the manufacture was in no way intended toward them. I root for folks like that...