The DAC of the future

just when we thought, that our current flagship DAC, the Pacific would be the end of the road for us, we decided to change the tactics concerning the improvements. Instead of making small incremental improvements of the Pacific, we decided to freeze it and instead - start a new project.

Little did we know about the coming future - about the covid, lockdowns and AKM factoiry fire. Starting from a blank sheet we tried to reinvent everything about the DAC that we know, while learning what we don’t. 

In 2019 we heard for the first time the prototype and frankly - we were shocked how much superior it is from what we are used to. Thanks to a revolutionary chip technology, like nothing we ever saw before - it was possible to create a real monster. It took almost one year to write a software that controls the DAC process, especially for DSD512. By using our own custom firmware we made a DAC that nobody else has and nobody else will. The engine code name is #19

Summarising, the DAC turned out to be incredibly good. Hence the name THE HORIZON. It is something we look into while on the ocean. It is where we are aiming. From the competitor's perspective - the Horizon is where they see us. It is also something endless, undefined, and desired. That's where we wanna be.

This DAC has a very unique digital board, with power supplies so advanced that it is probably 4x more advanced and sophisticated compared to what the industry standard is. From custom transformers , custom 4 layer PCB, 17 separate power circuits, completely insane music conversion topology, customized muting solutions, our proprietary firmware and software, the chip that probably nobody else is using in the industry at the time of writing, new tube scheme, new tube selection, TRP (tube rolling paradise setup), new chassis, new heating scheme, new superb volume control with bypass feature, new uber cool nixie display, elimination of knobs, elimination of LCD and OLED displays (noisy), elimination of visible screws and bolts, new USB solution, new superclock circuit with optoisolation and ultra high precision crystals, antivibration CNC milled support for PCBs, - everything about this DAC is new, rethought and redesigned. In all 12 years of Lampizator we never took a leap that big, design so expensive and labour intense.

The resulting DAC is a true flagship. It has everything it can have, and we know for a fact that nobody else can use solutions that we use. I can say with full confidence that you are getting a unique masterpiece of craftsmanship that will deliver top of the game sound for many years to come. Who knows - chances are - it will never be surpassed.  

Key highlights

• Proprietary, firmware driven conversion process with 760kHz PCM and DSD512

• No silicon anywhere in signal path past the conversion stage

• Silver wiring inside

• Copper sheet, true metal sheet capacitors in the signal path

• CNC milled chassis, No-screw design.

• 6SN7 conversion tubes

• KT88 output driver tubes

• Volume control of the highest possible caliber in every unit, featuring a full bypass function

• All units are trully ballanced and SE at the same time

• Zero feedback, neither local nor global

• Zero opamps

• Tube rectified power supply

• Hundreds of tube rolling permutations.

 

Preliminary parameters:

Weight: 33 kg / 70 lbs net, 50 kg / 110 lbs gross

Dimensions without tubes: 440 mm W x 550 mm D x 170 mm H (height with tubes 290 mm)

Digital inputs: 1 x USB,  1 x S/PDIF RCA, 1 x AES/EBU, 1 x TOSLINK,  1 x i2s, 1x Taiko XDMI

1 x analog input RCA, 1 x analog input XLR fully balanced

Output impedance: 600 Ohms per phase
1 x analog output pair RCA and 1 x XLR balanced output and 1 x XLR subwoofer output)

Output level: 0DB full level @3V peak sinus 1 kHz m per phase, 6V p-p for balanced

Mains 110-115 - 220 - 230 - 240 V AC  / 60 VA

 

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Colors:  (sorry: no gold, no anodizing, no car paint (like Mazda Red)

• Matt Black Hole

• Silver Sahara (very light, cold, aluminum-look grey with specs of shiny dust)

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The dust cover plate around the tubes on top can be ordered in these colors:

• Copper - for the famous "Duracell  look" (Black body and copper top)
• Stainless steel mirror-like chrome look
• Black Hole black matt
• Silver Sahara to match
• Semi Translucent Red
• These above top colors can be mixed and matched with the two basic body
  colors (for example black body with Sahara Silver top plate)

Packing in custom hand made flight case

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Tube compliment:

1 x 5U4G rectifier or equivalent, 274B, 5Y3, 5C3S, GZ34, GZ37, GZ480, 5AR4WGB

2 x 6SN7GT or adapter fitted 6N1P, ECC99, ECC40, VT99, 6F8G, ECC88, 6922, 6DJ9, E88CC, 6900, 12BH7, 5687, 6111

4 x EL34 or 6V6, 6L6, KT66, KT88, KT90, KT120, 6550, 5881 kt150  KT170

Remote Control  - CNC milled metal "slab" remote

Footers: non exchangable but with M5 provision of threaded footer mounting holes

Display: 2-digit Nixie display - shows volume and input number, startup countdown

DSD: 512x,     PCM: 768k


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XDMI TAIKO OLYMPUS link - UPDATE

Following the announcement of Taiko Olympus with new transmission protocol we release the upgrade path for current and future Poseidon and Horizon DAC owners.

Lampizator will be THE FIRST DAC MANUFACTURER worldwide to offer Taiko dedicated link as well as Taiko will offer a dedicated Lampizator output card.

The TAIKO link does not require any Taiko hardware inside our DAC - the thought is enough, not the hardware. We made our part of the equation ourselves and the way we like doing things.
Also it doesn't require any battery power - all this is on Taiko Olympus side, we do our part.
We decided to allow this development to be done only for our two top DACs - Horizon and Poseidon.
They both will get a retro-fit package allowing us to offer the solution to all existing users of Poseidon and Horizon.
All new orders introduced in our system from March 20 will have it already built in every Horizon  (and Poseidons per request)

The retro-fit job will cost  10% of the respective DACs  prices.

In new DAC builds the price will not change.

The Taiko link has one EXTREMELY important feature - the cable. It's role is critical to maintaining low jitter, low losses and low distortions. The absolute magic of the Olympus lies in these factors and we want to show the Olympus sound in all its glory. We contracted KBL- high end cable manufacturer - to build for our clients such cable in the highest humanly possible quality and also we will make the second cable in house with very high quality but more "human price". The choice is ultimately yours. We will provide our cable as part of the retrofit package, the price is 1000 Euro, the new builds will have the cable as an option and the high end third party KBL cable will be offered as an option for 3500 Euro.
No existing cables will work in this totally new DAC/Server scheme of things.It has to be Taiko/Lampi cable.
The maximum cable length will be 2m. (6 1/2 FT) but the standard will be 1,5m
I want to thank Taiko team lead by Emile for being so helpful and creative, and also for PUSHING THE BAR of music reproduction to a new unheard levels. I am extremely proud of having even a small part of this whole news.

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SUMMARY: the TAIKO link will replace the RJ45 i2S socket in our Horizon DAC and the Toslink socket in the Poseidon DAC.

The retro-fit MUST be done only in our factory as it is a multitasking and difficult job.

Pacific, Golden Gate and other DACS will not have this link even as a paid option.
In order to use the Lampizator DAC with the Taiko Olympus you must have also the dedicated XDMI Lampizator card in the Taiko server and the Lampizator-Taiko cable.
The cable is available only from Lampizator and it costs: 1000 Euro - Lampizator home brew silver/teflon  cable - 1,5m or 3500 Euro for the third party high end company KBL - namely KBL Himalaya2 cable. The choice is yours and we approve the KBL cable as being slightly superior to ours.

We don't know of any other cable readily available that will work here. It is a double 5 pin XLR with dual digital connection similar to RS422 .

Taiko link will enable you to play everything that Tako server can play - All kinds of PCM and all kinds of DSD. There are no restrictions.
Taiko link does not affect the functionality of the other DAC inputs - the way they are.

Taiko EXTREME users will get the external additional box upgrade from Taiko that will have the XDMI output with the same technical description as the Olympus described above.
 

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