Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Tbg: It is ridiculous for you to go to an audio show and hear a system for a few minutes with the Lampi in it and have any idea what contributions it makes or not relative to the rest of the system. If you have not heard it directly compared to another in a familiar setup, you have no idea what its sonic signature truly is. And 50 years of experience means nothing.

Tbg.. Is English a second language for you? Because I'm having trouble understanding your thoughts and ideas. In your first post you say that the vast majority of units you've owned sounded like tubes or like the Lampy but then you say it isn't your cup of tea.. You seemed to completely contradict yourself.

I guess you might call me jaded

I think that's an understatement, but there is a reality behind that sentiment. This hobby has a lot of issues. Its not something the chipper fanboys like to look at.

Finally, I have participated in several double blind ratings of components including several 30 second exposures where you were to state whether it was the same or different. After these, I often got two or three to compare as you are.

Very few of us have that frame of reference, and it often lays to waste our self-delusions. I tried to make this point earlier in the thread. A blinded session with the Lampi, ODSE, and Aesthetix Pandora would be most intriguing and disappointing to many.

I've been involved in some fairly amateur recording sessions and have discovered that with current vibration and electrical isolation, many solidstate components sound less musical and more real like what I heard in the studio or theater.

There is also a lot of truth to this. I have experimented with mechanical and electrical isolation, and the fruits can be profound. Both strip away veiling and can get you closer to being a believable auditory illusion. I have many friends in the SS camp who have pushed various grounding schemes to lunatic levels. In this context, tubes just add blur and veiling. I go back and forth on this one. I have a good sonic memory, and when a detail of the soundstage is missing (with tubes), I get irritated. This is one reason why I was waiving the flag for the Aeris early on based largely on Matt's verbiage and the "promise" of that piece with proper grounding schemes in place.

....I'm not really excited by the Lampizator or for that matter tubes in audio

As a future Lampi owner, I am not offended by this. Its a free world (for now). That being said, Tbg should get a 7 in his hands.....

Tbg.. OK I get it.

You now prefer the sound of solid state to tubes.