New Lampizator Level 4/ Version 4 DAC in the house

I have been following this thread for months and months. And have re-read it several times. Here are a handful of questions:

1: How do I audition or get an L7 in my home for audition?

2: Pros/cons/experiences of the output tube options in the L7?

3: Lots of talk of the Lampizator transport. Is this a modern day disk spinner or is "transport" used freely to define a storage space of music files? I am pretty much done with dealing with disks.

4: In the many responses here, there were go's and no-go's with using a Mac Mini as the storage vs. a "transport". But the overall feeling here seemed to be that the MM was a well-respected source into the L DAC's. Still true?

5: How is the USB input on the L5-L7 or is it recommended to use the OffRamp devices to go from the source to this and then into the DAC via SPDIF?

6: Is the DSD option truly a no-brainer? And if so, is my entire music library of .wav files useless for this format? .. and do I need the music converted/captured to a whole new format to benefit from this DSD?

John

John,

1. Demand for the L7 has been quite overwhelming to the point that myself and my co-distributor are still awaiting our own personal/demo units to be able to show locally on Long Island, NY. Hearing the DAC at a show is your best option for the time being.

So far for 2014 were at THE Show in Las Vegas, Headfi in Cali, Headfi in NY and will be leaving on Thursday for AXPONA in Chicago (reminder all, come check out us in We have a cracker of a room shaping up in 432 where we'll be partnered with Vapor Audio, Purity Audio Design and Verastarr).

We will also be at T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach, the NY Show and possibly others. I know this is not the same as an in home audition, but we are dedicating a lot of time and energy towards getting our products heard by the masses.

2. Lukasz does not believe any of the tube options have a sonic advantage over one another necessarily, however 45 is the least micro phonic and coolest thermally.

3. No spinning disks or moving parts. There are two variations of the LampizatOr Transport. One is based on the Squeezebox DUET mainboard and the other is essentially a USB to SPDIF converter. Both are tube rectified units which offer a very unique TUBED spdif output.

4. I'm not sure anyone has made the comparison in this thread, only speculation. I will avoid adding my own subjective opinions.

5. Our USB input is very competent, but we have had people prefer going both with and without Offramps. I have not tried an offramp myself so I have no opinion either way.

6. That is a personal question. I have the DSD option but have used it exactly twice in my own home. Your PCM will never be true DSD, but you can convert it through software for use with the DSD section. If your computer is up to it, I believe "on the fly" is an option.

Thanks John and I hope to see some of you guys in Chicago this weekend!

How does the 3 box L& differ from the BIG box L7 sonically?

Reminder to check out the L7 in person in room 432 at AXPONA. Our room is shaping up quite nicely.

Some great Axpona feedback:

From minute 21:30 ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrmbTDbvHPA

and
http://www.stereophile.com/content/vapor-audio-purity-lampizator