I’m right there with you, I was initially going to wait for this comparison as well, but I got too impatient too, lol. (I bought a used Exogal Comet instead of a Spring 3, but still.)
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Lol apologies for not doing it sooner, a lot of stuff happened and I didn’t have the time/motivation to get it done until recent, hopefully will have something out in a few weeks
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No worries! I mean, I’m pretty happy with my Exogal and hifiDJ sounds pretty happy with the Spring, so it seems like it all worked out!
So yeah, no need to rush. I’ll still be excited to read the comparison whenever it’s ready!
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Happy until M0N says your specific DAC sounds like crap. lol
Kidding of course.
Still looking forward to the comparison.
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Nah, he wouldn’t.
Unless… maybe if you had a D90 
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Lol, yeah not a fan of the d90 at all given it’s price, but really it would take a lot for me to consider a dac crap. Most of the stuff that I’d actually classify as crap would be weird cheap failed burr brown/ti implementations off of ebay and stuff like that. While I don’t find anything positive about the d90, it’s not bad enough to actually make me refuse to listen to it. There is a difference between crap in isolation vs being called crap compared to something else though, the ladder might open up more dacs to being called that lol
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WEEKS?! Ohhhhh…
:pulls out hungry hungry hippos:
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If you had to choose…D90 or A90 in your chain? lol
I know they’re entirely different, but fun question.
Man, well. I dislike the a90 more than the d90 so I guess that, but preferably neither
I can push it up the bracket lol
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No, no, take your time. I am just expressing my excitement.
I do have a few inquiries and forgive me if things have been touched on as it has been a little since I read the original post. These questions are also geared more towards generalizations and the upcoming equipment rather than the original high end pieces.
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As someone who likes to make less purchases and take big leaps forward instead of smaller steps, would going from a BF2 to a May, Amber etc be that big leap? Or would say a Spring 2 tier already be a big jump?
My thinking is I rather enjoy what I have for longer and save up the money for a big “Wow!” improvement than take many steps in between that are slight bumps up -
Is their a certain tier of headphone these should be paired with? Ie: anything under $1k then invest in new cans first, anything over $2.5k it will work but youre leaving something on the table?
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Do these general observations transfer over to what you would generally hear with speakers, generally. I would think if I am going this deep some of this would be pulling double duty.
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Depends on the rest of your setup. If you are still rocking mid tier electronics and entry level high end headphones, I do think it might be better off focusing those first before making that jump. I do think jumping right away to like a may or amber is a riskier play, unless you fully know what you plan to pair with and what you want to prioritize
For something like a may/amber/etc, I’d want to have a headphone in the 2-3k range at least, and at least an amp in the 2k ish range likely. Ideally I’d want to have an amp in the same tier as the dac but that can be later on. For something a bit lower tier like spring or crane song or something I think an amp around the 1k ish mark is ok, and for headphones there around the 1-2k range
Generally I might say that the traits of the dacs are even more exaggerated than on the headphone setups I tried, but really not that much deviation from the described sound to where I would need to reevaluate all that much. Mainly that the differences become more prominent and both nitpicks and stand outs become more obvious
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I can tell you when I jumped, Verite C was my headphone, and I had a DNA Stratus when I bought the lampizator. There is more to be had from the Lampizator with more resolving headphones, and amps, but at the time i felt pretty good about how it sounded.
I bought the LaVoce S3 later, and ended up keeping it over the Amber 3, but it was a close call.
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I actually made this exact leap (from BF2 to Amber 3). At the time, I was using an Auteur and also had a speaker setup, so the Amber 3 had double duty at times. The jump is quite noticeable and will add more of the intangibles, but really those traits are the ones that finally convince you that something sounds realistic (such as holographic-ness, staging, imaging, timbre, etc). Here is a copy of a write-up I made a while ago during that upgrade. I hope it helps:
Recently, I was fortunate enough to have savings and opportunity to dip my toes in a “top-tier” DAC, the LampizatOr Amber 3, following the shoes of @Polygonhell and @Towa. @M0N also has a lot of experience with other LampizatOr products as well as the Amber 3. After a day of listening, some friends were asking if the upgrade was worth it, so I wanted to share my journey of DACs. It’s a common statement and misconception that DACs don’t do much or that it does the least in your chain. While I noticed less differences compared to changing speakers/headphones or amps, I certainly could tell an obvious difference. Unfortunately, or fortunately, as you move up in gear, others will tell you that you should upgrade your electronics as well. Although that sounds like an unnecessary expense since your speaker/headphone powers up or sounds fine, I think higher-tiered products is capable of taking advantage of better electronics.
My first DACs were the ODAC and the SMSL M100. Both of them “do the job.” They don’t do anything well, but there isn’t anything to hate either. The advantage of the SMSL is that they tend to add features. I still have mine and it it’s a nice all-in-one.
My next step up is the Bifrost 1 Multibit. This is when I had my first a-ha moment when I heard vast differences. The most notable one is sound stage and dynamics. The sound stage was wide and tall that fills my entire room. Music had punch and was more fun to listen to. I was more likely to get up and dance around (sorry for the imagery).
The step after there was the Bifrost 2. This was a logical step up since Schiit offered a discount to upgrade. This did everything the Bifrost 1 did, but better and more. Now, I would still say the BF1 is an amazing value buy, especially if you are strapped for cash, you can probably get a used one for much cheaper than before. The sound stage was even wider and taller yet. There was more of a visceral feeling and the timbre was improved. Instruments sound like they should and vocals are clear and accurate. This was essentially my “end game” DAC for a while.
Now after the wall of text, I finally land to the Amber 3. The last DAC I will have to buy unless I do a complete overhaul on my entire system. This DAC is certainly retails over 3x the amount of the BF2, does it perform 3x better? No. So what does it do and is it worth it?
What a top-tier DAC does is keep everything that previous DACs do, but does it better and adds on top. While the sound stage did not get wider or taller, it remains the same, BUT… what it does is add depth and layering. Now when I close my eyes, I can actually imagine an actual stage there. It wasn’t a wide and tall sound stage for the sake of being as wide and tall as possible – it is accurate. The imaging is superb. I can now accurately point out where the guitar is or the violin or the vocalist. It takes me a significant step closer to believing a performance is in my room. The timbre is greatly improved as well. I can easily lie to myself that a guitar is actually playing in my room, etc.
So, I hope these observations help. While you move up to a higher-tier, it usually upgrades everything you looking for, but not as much as you think, but what it does add are the intangibles that you never though you wanted until I heard them. I think they are important steps and observations towards believing a real performance is happening in my room, so while it wasn’t the largest return for the money, it was worth it to me.
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@M0N as always, thats for the thorough response. @Polygonhell thank you for the personal experience as well.
@Veritas This. I have no need to go past the BF2 + RNHP for the pc desktop setup. It’s perfectly sized and is at the point where since the pc is used for a lot of gaming, returns diminish much quicker, and really the headphones will sit solid mid tier.
As you had, a higher tier dac would pull double duty for a more purposeful living room set up with speakers and nicer headphones. The speaker amp will be a Hegel H190, the headphone amp will be tbd as I am sure the headphone out on the hegel is just an add on. I would like to think the Hegel would be on tier for an Amber / May for speaker use. This is a loose structure and will need to be looked at more critically when the time comes.
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I had the pleasure of listening to my Ωmega speakers on a Hegel amplifier. Beautiful synergy and such wonderful sound…
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At the risk of sounding like a another Amber 3 fan boy, this group seems to have a lot of love for the Lampi sound. I can say that this paragraph is a lot of what I’d written if I was asked the same question. There’s also the wife factor, that a day or two after having gotten my Amber 3, I listened to Dolly Parton’s Stairway to Heaven. (must listen to track IMO) my wife’s comment was… wow, it sounded like she was here in the room singing for us. That was coming from someone that rarely gave me anything more than “it sounds good” for any of my previous DACs.
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I do personally enjoy lampi dacs, at this point I’ve offloaded my berk ref 3 and nagra hd + mps so I’m only left with my totaldac and pacific left on the main desk, and honestly I don’t really miss the other too that much because of the ladder. But I will say there’s plenty of other great dacs out there too that also deserve recognition as well
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Yeah i am in a hold waiting to set it up since there is no house yet. But i get the vibe they work well for many things. I wonder if their “soundengine” gets in the way of anything but hopefully not. I assume the dac is good but i am sure the money in the integrated is in the amp.
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Looking forward to this, as I am still searching for my next dac and some of these are on my list. Would appreciate comparisons to the XI Sagra if you are able to include it
obsession
ob·ses·sion | \ äb-ˈse-shən , əb- \
Definition of obsession
1 : a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling 
The only thing i like about flying commercial is that i get to turn my phones OFF, that gives me time to think and research threads and information…M0N has provided us with so much good info it takes many hours to really absorb it all…
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