Gonna have to wait a few months before there’s a used one for sale for 60 cents on the dollar. lol
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He saw that “Community Author” badge and knew he needed you in there.
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Where might the Baltic 3 fall performance wise against the Weiss 502 (purely DAC)? Is Baltic or Atlantic the next level above Amber? I know it’s been mentioned that the 502 and GG are solid matches for more full bodied, warm leaning synergy with CHA-1, but Lampi’s been a curiosity for a while.
So, Horizon>=Pacific>Golden Gate>Atlantic>Baltic>Amber of current models is how I had it in my head.
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I would probably put the 502 above the Baltic in most aspects but not by a large margin, although it might trade blows when it comes to things like dynamics and timbre, honestly could come down to a synergy thing too for which one you might consider, perhaps might as well call it somewhat similar tier
Yes
Well can’t tell you anything about the horizon but so far for me it’s been Pacific>>GG>Big 7 MK2>>Atlantic TRP>=Baltic>Amber
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It’s difficult to look at the 502 as purely a DAC and I’m suprised/not suprised by @M0N ranking there in the comparisons. It’s CLEARLY above the Amber since that’s the Lampi I can reference directly and I’ve got no experience with higher end offerings.
I think the compelling reason for the 502 is that it’s a pretty damned fine multipurpose box. There’s a lot of DSP… and I mean A LOT offerings from the 502 and that adds an intangible value to it. There’s also the fact that it’s a pretty solid streamer. From what I’ve been able to compare as least on par with a dedicated streamer like the Lumin U1 Mini.
There’s also a lot that Weiss seems to do under the hood from a signal processing standpoint from the entry to the propriatary conversion into the DAC. I believe that having full control in one box of the digital signal stream and delivering to the DAC is what seems to be making this one box solution greater than the sum of its parts.
The amount of DSP configuration of the 502 is awesome in a word and someone like me will never get to everything that it it’s able to do.
I think from a purist standpoint and being able to control each component and cabling ect., the upscale Lampizator range may be a better solution for the no compromise approach.
It’s just a nice “appeal” for me that I plug an Ethernet cable in one box, plug that box into my integrated amp, and I’m done. A good synergy chain with zero fuss and not a USB or digital signal cable in sight.
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PSA: after all this time, I added the word Lampizator into my spell check. No more wiggly red underline.
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Precisely why it’s currently the top of my list. I probably just need to turn on the blinders for things like the Baltic 3 and most streamers popping up used and just work toward the 502 later this year.
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cough FTA callisto usb
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That’s $1000 I saved right there! LOL
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I had a lot of firsts today:
Heard my first pair of Wilsons
Heard the Pacific, finally
and heard the Horizon.
Usually, describing DACs and the benefits of moving up the tiers is incredibly difficult and repetitive. “It’s more holographic than before. It’s more resolving than before. It’s wider than before.” It’s the same qualities, just more of that quality and more refined.
I think this was the first time where I’m like, well crap… this sounds like real performers, like actually real performers in the room. Ridiculous, but realistic depth and presentation and voices/instruments emanating from all directions. You can close your eyes and everything disappears, but just the performance. It was crazy.
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How was the horizon vs the pacific?
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The micro on the horizon was nuts. There was so much more information and I don’t mean like frequency-related detail, but you get way more sense of room.
I can tell with percussion and voices. You get much more sense of texture, although Pac was already nuts. It’s just so convincingly real and natural.
Lastly, the most noticeable thing is how much more enveloped the stage was. It felt like I was listening to the world’s largest headphone that wrapped around me. If I closed my eyes, the blackness went forever in all directions and voices just appeared from nowhere. Pretty ridiculous. Not let’s spend a million dollars ridiculous, but quite the experience.
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Damn it I both need and don’t need to hear this lol. Do you happen to know the tubes that were used in both (more interested in what what the pac was running honestly)?
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I also felt slightly smarter when Lukas agreed with some descriptions I made when we were tube rolling the rectifier. (slight pat in the back) jk jk
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242 + 5u4g RK edition.
We rolled the rectifier often, but the RK was the baseline eventually.
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Interesting, the 242 are a larger macro focus in the pac, wonder how things would have been with like 300b or px25. Also yes that rk 5u4g is just the one for lampizator stuff it seems lol
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lol, that’s awesome btw!! Being able to get the chance to hear that stuff! Also your description of it sounds like the ultimate audiophile’s dream for sure, getting that real performance vibe!
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Originally, I thought Lukas was doing a lot of promo talk when he was saying Horizon was squeezing out xx% more performance and this is the new end game and whatnot. Tbh, he kind of lived up to that hype. I really thought he was just doing an image thing.
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What was the chain? Was the DAC the pre? I wonder what amp is the choice for Lukas when showcasing his new creation.
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I somewhat expected it to be a big jump if he said it was, I wouldn’t expect him to misrepresent that, it’s just unfortunate for my wallet that it actually was lol
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