Amber 4 is by far our best entry level DAC ever, with 13 years of experience optimizing the old Level 4 to become Amber 1, 2 and eventually 3 and 4. It started shipping in March 01 2022 as a successor to Amber 3.
Following our huge efforts to create the Baltic-3 and the Horizon DAC we gained enough knowhow and confidence to redesign the Amber DAC from ground up, and offer an entirely new product. Circa around November 25th 2021 we start testing Amber-4, while technical necessities caused us to phase out Amber-3 entirely in February 2022.
It took a total redesign of the digital section. It retains surprisingly a lot of the Baltic good qualities - pure, natural, effortless, spacious and super dynamic presentation worthy of at least twice as expensive product.
We also redesigned power supply, and chose completely new tube compliment - consisting of a ECC99 super tube as a very low impedance output buffer amplifier, in a zero feedback, single ended triode mode, as well as 12AT7 as a very low distortion input amplifier. This DAC, thanks to having output buffer - can drive particularly well the transistor amps.
We are very proud of this DAC, and the fact that at an entry level price we can outperform any competitor known to us. This DAC gives joy and bliss in spades.
Some other highlights are: copper output caps, CLC power filter with tube rectifier 6X5, true balanced option, volume control option, full analog preamp of very high quality, USB operation of the highest caliber, newly designed muting to avoid pops and clicks in computer operation, and many many more.
Amber-4 introduction
The most popular line of Lampizator DACS just gotten better !
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Completely redesigned digital engine
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New analog section with improved tube output loosely based on Baltic3
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New power transformer and linear power supplies
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New True Copper output capacitors, same as in the Golden Gate 2
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New “JLS usb card” as standard now
More musical than ever, Free of any artifacts, very direct, liquid and fast sound with improved transparency and detail.
in design of the new digital engine we managed to squeeze the last drop of musicality from PCM and DSD files at the expense of DSD being limited to 256X only. No 512 - which almost nobody uses anyway - but making this change was was well worth it ! Maybe we don't have DSD512x now, but who cares when the new 256x sounds better than the 512 before.
Some facts about Amber-4:
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No price increase despite the fact, that it is a better DAC than Amber-3 and also all costs increased tremendously in the last year
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All new DAC for 2022, not a mere face lift
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Only the footers and front plate remain unchanged versus Amber-3.
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4 digital input types instead of 3
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MAIN SPECS:
4 main variants - -
Single Ended RCA , no preamp/volume
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Single Ended RCA , WITH preamp/volume
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Fully Balanced & Single Ended RCA , no preamp/volume
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Fully Balanced & Single Ended RCA , WITH preamp/volume
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New OLED display, no more LCD (taken from the Pacific project)
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Software driven signal routing, no more relays
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Total muting to keep switching noises down
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Plays every digital file known
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no drivers needed for any computer operating system
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Volume control models have one analog input for analog sources (active input with tubes and volume)
REVIEWS
All of the reviews and comments on Lampizators hail a natural, extremely holographic sound with very full bodied images. The Amber II definitely possesses these qualities as well as good PRAT and a high degree of spatial & dynamic coherence (micro dynamics flow smoothly into macro ones). It is also highly tonally accurate, with a SET like delicacy and immersiveness.
Bass is very powerful but no part of the frequency spectrum is out of balance. For example, it makes upper strings sound fuller than I’ve ever heard before from digital (the Beethoven 6th Symphony by Monteux/VPO/Decca being a prime example), but without thickening the sound in the lower frequencies, unlike so many other (tube) DACs.
It doesn’t make a bad recording sound good (think old rock discs) but will make it easily listenable and enjoyable - without overly smoothing it out. Somehow the music comes out with the negative qualities (muddiness, brightness, excessive compression) reduced in scale.
Best of all to me is that it is very relaxing - not through a surfeit of warmth - but through an analog like continuousness approaching or meeting that of vinyl. For the first time, for me, eventual listening fatigue does not come from the discontinuity of digital itself, but just from having heard enough music.
The qualities of continuousness, holographic, solid images, and tonal accuracy cannot be overstated. It has finally given me the sound I have been seeking (through multiple changes of every piece of gear) for a really long time.
Fast and detailed enough, it was pretty upfront in its presentation, yet very adept at rendering timbres naturally. In essence, it was very balanced, presented superb imaging and was very true to life.