Lampizator DAC – User Manual.pages
Contents
1. m USB Receiver ase signals coding BU INK Out to an amp 35 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Block Diagram DAC without Remote Control m USB Receiver ase signals coding BU INK 36 of 36 V Out to an amp 3i2. just press digit 1 to 4 to choose input or use left right cursor buttons in most DACS that we ship this function of input selection is disabled because the DAC is the only active input You can bring it back by entering the PROGRAMMING menu PROGRAMMING THE MODULE Press the volume knob for 10 seconds continuously and the display will enter the programming mode Turn the knob clockwise to go to next menu Press the knob for 2 s to enter the selected sub menu To exit the sub menu and go back to menu list press the knob for 2 s To exit programming mode turn the Knob right till you choose EXIT SETUP and press knob for 2 s 17 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual 1 Volume step speed it is default set at 3 the higher the number the slower is the reaction of volume level to turning the knob For example choosing 6 means that it takes 3 full turns 360 degrees to adjust the volume full scale We like it at 6 2 Number of inputs choose a limitation of analog inputs to avoid having to deal with non existing inputs The normal DACS have a limitation set to one 3 Backlight display choose a percentage of DIMMING from full light intensity of display that dims AFTER the period of inactivity Setting 40 means that the display will be lit 100 during any operation with knob or remote but when we listen the display will dim to 40 of the full level We like it on 35 because we like listening in the dark room 4 IR Learning you
3. S aaen a stan sasens snes tncasesnsaestnecsresataeeaetesnerenmssace 35 2 of 36 2 LampizatOr DAC Manual Channel Up Channel Dow The description of REMOTE CONTROL functions for VCO3 systems S G U the one with orange display lt Cc Ce ON powers up down the whole DAC or just the standby function depending on the DAC level Vol UP and Down changes the volume from complete MUTE 63 dB to complete bypass 0 dB Channel Up Down changes the analog inputs to the tube section Usually 1 DAC PCM 2 DSD DAC 3 Line Preamp input 1 4 Line Preamp input 2 DACS without DSD and without analog preamp inputs don t have this feature enabled at all Also use numeric buttons 1 2 3 and 4 3S YW JIU E ia MUTE does just that mute After pressing again the DAC will go back to the last volume used Touching the Vol Up and Vol Down functions will un mute automatically LampizatOr Numeric buttons 1 9 and 0 The 1 4 buttons were described above and they choose analog client inputs of the tube section Button 5 is reserved Button 6 as well as 9 can be programmed as a switching relay and can perform any desired relay function Usually it will be digital input selector like Toslink AES EBU or BNC Note These button functions 6 and 9 do NOT HAVE an alphanumeric representation on the display You must trust the action was performed you will hear a relay click Pressing the same button a
4. not be used with opamp based preamp no matter how good Because the op amp feedback loops will remove the whole joy of music as delivered by the tubed DAC AC requirements and overseas operation The DAC has a multi voltage power transformer 7 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual In the TOROIDS Looking from the top the first wire in the bunch is neutral AC input power and it is always engaged For 115 V operation the second wire looking clockwise is the AC phase For 230 240 220 V operation the third wire replaces the second wire lf your dac has a serial number lower than 20 the second wire is formed by a twisted pair For 230 V this pair is joined together It is not necessary but advisable that the power cable is a quality one not simply a computer cable It is also advisable to use some kind of AC filter in many cases this brings nice results Generally under filtering is better than over filtering The El type transformers have their primary windings on the top The two external of the three pins are 230 VAC one external and the center 115 V primary The DACs with volume control the green board which powers the volume unit has two jumpers set for 230 V and in case of 115 V these jumpers are open and one jumper is added where it is written 115V 8 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual The heat issue Many people are concerned about the heat inside the player We want you to relax about it that this is NOT an issue T
5. straight but not more towards the head BURN IN PERIOD The DAC comes straight from our factory after around 24 Hours of testing so it is not exactly new but it is not burned in enough Our customers report back that after 3 days of constant powering playing or not the DAC opens up significantly Further improvements are observed after up to 7 days when things stabilize Additional one day burn in is needed after every time the DAC travels somewhere vibrations or is disconnected for over a month or is subject to cold temperature like in the car trunk when left overnight When the DAC is fully burned in the sound quality is stable and we only need to warm it after powering every day The DAC starts to play after 20 seconds The tubes reach full parameters and stabilize after 40 s The whole system reaches operating temperature plateau after circa 20 minutes and it is ready for serious listening ENJOY YOUR MUSIC LIKE NEVER BEFORE 28 of 36 2 LampizatOr DAC Manual Audirvana Screenshots of working MAC OS configuration AudirvanaPlus File Edit Play Window Help Ait gt 100 BP pon 5sty 14 30 Q iu i Font 3 Ardditianal ana dav hurn in ie naaras aftar ayery time the DAC travels Arial A Audirvana Preferences onth or is subject to cold temperature like s a 5 Ara AU W Regular lt 12 pt 5 General Audio System Audio Filters Audio Volume AudioUnits SysOptimiz
6. the distance from side walls with 1 cm accuracy 3 The distance of the speakers to the side walls and speakers to rear wall should not be equal We recommend 1 4 times smaller or 1 4 times larger distance but not equal We measure that counting from the magnet of the bass driver 4 Distance from rear wall of speaker and rear wall of the room should be no less than 0 5 m or 2 feet 5 Ideally the tweeter should be at the height of the ear or up to 10 cm higher but nOT LOWER Speakers with tweeters lower than 90 cm sound terribly wrong 6 The chair or sofa should not have the back support higher than the person s shoulders in other words should not be just behind the ears 7 Feet are the second ears of our body They receive a lot of vibration stimulation and the brain combines this with the hearing So we advise to have a piece of floor without any carpet directly where our feet are Listening with feet preferably bare on the hard floor greatly enhances our perception of music It is advisable to have rug or carper between listener and speakers but not under the feet 8 It is advisable to put something soft directly on the wall behind the speakers 27 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual 9 The so called toe in the degree by which the speakers face the listener and not alongside the walls straight is very critical The rule of thumb is to toe in_half way between standing straight and aiming at the listeners ear Or slightly more
7. transmitters of SPDIF are incapable of making good square wave over 48 kHz so if you play a 192 kHz file be aware that on one hand you play more detailed data but at the same time your signal is waaay more distorted so at the end of the day for this reason alone it may not be worth it to chase the hi rez rabbit If you use USB connection all our DACs except Big6 will play up to 384kKHz and 32 bits This theoretical limit does not imply that you need RECORDINGS of that resolution which don t exist by the way but that you can use up sampling to play regular files We however listen to all recordings at the resolution settings they were recorded By PCM files we mean all known file formats like MP3 MP4 Aiff Flac WMA WAV Ogg and many more less known types PCM abbreviation stands for pulse code modulation 6 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual DSD Direct Stream Digital also Known as DSD format this format is not new as many people think it is as old as digital but it wasn t used for consumer audio or home audio before It became very popular after 2010 and continues to make its way into our homes It is VERY different than our well known PCM format as found in our CD files MP3 FLAC or WAV AIFF It encodes the music in the data stream differently looks differently and sounds differently It is the format in which the SACD discs were recorded and a format in which the analog master tapes were backed up by record compani
8. 1 00 x Nyquist Anti aliasing 175 0 Pre ringing apa Pe 1 00 Forced Upsampling None _ Power of 2 oversampling only 2x 4x _ Maximum sample rate upsampling Oversampling 2x only Custom Some CPUs may not be able to perform sample rate conversion at best quality settings fast enough for realtime playback This could result in pauses in playback Note that changes will be effective only upon next playback start Audio Signal Polarity __ Invert globally Invert for tracks with INVERTPOLARITY comment Audirvana Preferences oO D a DAMO General Audio System Audio Filters Audio Volume AudioUnits SysOptimizer iTunes AudioUnits Use AudioUnits effects No Effect No Effect No Effect No Effect PEPE mm A mi i am PR TF pe sa iO A ry i 7 rw r narri os Ta icait O PAWL Let Ol cal 9 se Li it 31 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Audirvana Preferences D a D amp B General Audio System Audio Filters Audio Volume AudioUnits SysOptimizer iTunes Volume control type DAC only DAC if available else software l Software only Max volume level 0 dB 0 100 Note that changes will be effective only upon next playback start 32 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual JRiver DSD setting screenshots 33 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual 34 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Block Diagrams Block Diagram DAC with Remote Control
9. LampizatOr DAC User Manual LAMPIZATOR WARNING as every DAC comes with a 7 days testing period USA New Zealand South Africa Australia and Poland ask your dealer first during this time it is not allowed to open the DAC The screws are protected with a seal You have to decide if you like the sound and you want to keep it After the 7 days period expire your DAC is a keeper and you may open the hood This does not invalidate the warranty however any modifications no matter how small invalidate the 5 years warranty Changes upgrades and mods must be pre authorized in writing even tube change DACS returned during the test period with the seal broken will not be refunded and will be sent back LampizatOr DAC Manual Contents The description of REMOTE CONTROL ccecceeeesceeeneeeenneeeenseeeeneeecseeeenseseeneeseneesones 3 The description of REMOTE CONTROL cccccesseeeeeneeeeeneeenseseeneeneseesenseseoaeeseseesones 4 A quick guide to a smooth start cccceeceeeeeesseeseeeseeseenseenseeeseeeeeeeeeaes 5 LALO GUC HOR ciona a a E 6 Dalal format S sas czicctsectareciccesasicscincsivteheeestacessenaiareseeicetdeostshoastaueeaceuncsasiandetnevoeetseeamoncetenseaarees 6 AUGIO VOIIME OVEN cissi a aaa a aeaa adaa 7 AC requirements and overseas operation ccecccesecseecesseensecnseeeseeensecnseeesenensseassonsess 7 ENS CAL 1S SUC saa E a 9 Optimal placement ucro nna a A A 9 POWER
10. OnO CVC lecia aa Genccssereatsccaentes 9 Cabling and Cable handling isisisi annann aia aaia 10 Tube rolling and TEPIACEMEN wissstasiccccwesnecs teckensies cerevereddedevecivccstewsush denetecewsetwardesddeadeceasces 11 FROCHITICR FRONIN OG ii a a ar aE FE 14 AGING PrODIMS siiis aaa R A SEEE Aa 16 FUSS CNAN E ao at etn ores oases eats en ceeds se xent eesee nen peeneeeneeiestetene 16 VOIUIIMG CONTIOUN COS aragia aa ea a A A EAE e E a 17 PROGRAMMING THE MODULE 1 11sccccccsssessccneccssssnscsneceansssenecenannssnseceaaansnenees 17 DANZUP blue display remote control cccseeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeensseneseeesoeseenseenssenseoneess 19 COOPERATION WITH THE PREAMP sccccsnsseccccennseneccensseccccenseesccansesecceanseseneeass 19 DIGITAL INPUTS weciwscaceticet std caicenesaicecacasccaieeuiseiiGadaaevevesestaneatandaadectutcndeteciaaiaedenteesiesteastundnts 20 The TOSLINK connection ccceeceeeeeeeeeneeceneeeenseseeneesensesenseseensesoneenes 22 USB OAV AC Krcmo 23 MAC OS operation Of USB output ee eee eeceeeeeeeeeeceneeeeeneesenseeceaseseenseseaseesenseseonseseons 24 LISTENING TO THE MUSIC sesecaeiscsatcesscisceats cteseuscaevacuassntateustaticustaastacatadenssattiudentaintetenvvaucaat 27 Audirvana Screenshots of working MAC OS configuration scccccessseeeeesseeeeeneees 29 JRiver DSD Setting screenshots cccccccceeseeeeeseeseseesenseeenseecenseeeenseseeseesoeneseoeeesseneeses 33 BIOCK DIJLI
11. can program any remote control you want to perform the desired actions For example if you use a CD transport remote you can choose two buttons on it that aren t used for CD and program them to be Vol Up and Vol Down so you use just one remote After entering this sub menu the display will ask you to press the remote button and you acknowledge the signal code by pressing the knob for 2 s and proceeding to next function The display will guide you At the end choose exit 5 OUTPUTS the module has 3 freely programmable latching or non latching outputs activated by the remote control They can be wired to perform a specific function inside the DAC say reset change frequency activate de emphase or something like that 6 Logo change you can change the welcome logo to your own 7 Alphanumeric descriptors you can add alpha descriptors to the 4 inputs the first input by default is DAC Add Phono Tuner TV to the other inputs of analog stereo signals The DAC must be equipped with the RCA inputs to use this function 8 After reaching the end of menu list the display will show EXIT SETUP The options we programmed will be written to a non volatile memory and stored forever There is no limit to how many times we can repeat this operation MUTE function this is useful to use instead of turning the volume all the way down Available ONLY via remote POWER OFF the DAC will be switched off fully but the remote module will be always al
12. ding around 100 Euro for a good AC cable not more but not much less The free AC computer grade cables are not good enough for serious audio Please use a decent digital interconnect In our DAC it is completely unimportant what is the wave characteristic impedance of the cable the famous 75 Ohms Just use the cable that sounds good to you Analog as well as digital interconnects can be tried Best results are obtained with silver cables Let your ears decide not specs of the cable 10 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Tube rolling and replacement W took an expensive and painful decision to sell the DAC with the best tubes we can find in consistent sustainable supply Therefore we feel you should not be tempted to change them for any reason If you feel that you MUST try other tubes we need to pre authorize it in writing Otherwise you loose the warranty sorry This does not concern Big in which tubes can be rolled freely It is possible to order the special version of DAC for tube rolling fans It will have specially configured multiple sockets to enable the use of almost all existing tubes from 6SN7GT to ecc83 or e182cc 11 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Here are some practical tips for tube rolling 1 Tube compatibility many people ask is the tube X compatible with Y and the answer is of course it depends Tubes can have completely different bases but be compatible by parameters and can be swapped by m
13. ding extra functionality COOPERATION WITH THE PREAMP The DAC with volume control should sound audibly cleaner and more direct without any preamp between the DAC and the amp The preamp however good will veil a lot of the DAC s natural clarity soeed and directness If you feel you need the preamp nevertheless use DAC at the full volume or order your DAC without volume module The load presented by the preamp or amp or simply the next analog component that the DAC sees should be as high as possible It is measured in kilo Ohms and 100Kilo Ohms is a perfect ballpark value More is VERY rarely seen 47 K is next common value and it is great too 20 K is kind of on a low side but we can handle that Lower than 20k is bad news We must configure the DAC with additional cathode follower buffer stage The DAC will not be damaged in any way but at around 10K of load the dynamics of the dac will start to fade away Having said that every properly designed amp or preamp keeps the load value above 40k And if it doesn t we simply don t choose such amp because it was not designed with audiophiles in mind 19 of 36 1 LampizatOr DAC Manual DIGITAL INPUTS There are three data types that our DAC can read internally biphase i2s and USB The bi phase can come in many forms but the most common are S PDIF sony Philips data inter face by means of single ended square wave of amplitude around 0 5 V pp AES EBU the same as S PDIF b
14. dio Device Combo384 Amanero Change Active Audio Device Built in Output 44 1 48 882 96 Stereo Native DSD Capability DSD over PCM standard 1 0 3 Low level playback options Exclusive access mode Direct Mode _ Integer mode if avail on device Maximum memory allocated for tracks pre load 896 MB Ay YT yd ET eT Tt Te ct tA ee Pat RD TT Pe It At tat ts ta 22mn 44 1kHz 10mn 96kHz For bridge devices connected to a DAC Max sample rate limit No Limit EJ Spl rate switching latency None KJ Limit max bitdepth to 24bit instead of 32bit Oo Audirvana Preferences i w Q A B General Audio System Audio Filters Audio Volume AudioUnits SysOptimizer iTunes SysOptimizer optimizes OSX for Audio Playback by deactivating non essential services that can cause inteferences detrimental to sound quality Optimize System for Audio Playback Audirvana Plus priority Very High rer Disable Spotlight Disable Time Machine Disable detection of iDevices on USB Selected services are deactivated upon playback start and restored after stop 30 of 36 3 LampizatOr DAC Manual Audirvana Preferences o a 99A B General Audio System Audio Filters Audio Volume AudioUnits SysOptimizer iTunes Sample Rate Conversion Converter iZotope 64 bit SRC ks Quality Fastest Best Y Advanced parameters Steepness 97 dB Filter max length 500 000 Samples Cutoff freq _
15. eans of an adaptor A good example are ECC40 and 6SN GT different bases but very close parameters 2 Other scenario is when the tubes have same base Say noval but they have different pinouts So we CAN NOT inter change the two tube types but we CAN use an adaptor Same base type and same pinout DOES NOT MEAN that the tubes are interchangeable best example is cc81 and cc82 same base same exact pinout but completely different parameters Or octal 6SN7 and VT99 both octal same parameters different pinout 3 Some tubes can have same base same pinout and same parameters except the different heaters Best example is ECC82 and 12BH the former uses half heating of the latter They can be used with a switch or within limited timing or with extra care depending on the heater arrangement in our DAC Another example are completely different tubes that miraculously are perfectly interchangeable like E182CC with 5687 4 DHT triodes used in our Level and Big 7 DAC are yet another can of worms Most DHT tubes have the same base four pin and the same pinout two fat legs are heaters and cathode two slim legs are Grid and Anode The problem is that these tubes have completely different heater demands Our DAC7 is designed to accept ALL KNOWN dht triodes from this group 101D 45 245 345 6A3 2A3 300B People keep discovering more and more compatible triode types every month How is it possible to run so many triode types in one circ
16. er Tunes quality is stable and we only need to warm B I u ge B k Remote control Character Styles None v Use Apple IR Remote 1 r 2 Use keyboard media keys 2 after 40 s Alignment for volume control ature plateau after circa 20 minutes and it mn x 3 5 Playlists 3 Use UTF 8 character encoding for M3U playlists Autostart playback when opened from outside RE 4 Reload last playlist at start 12 Use large font for playlist text gt Genin 1 0 Single 4 f Volume Control Mouse control axis Rotation S gt Bullets Lists None 4 5 Application updates 6 Automatically check for updates 7 8 9 Misc 10 F Prevent screen from going to sleep 7 11 Diana Krall 04 28 2 The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove Into The Labyrinth Dead Can Dance 06 17 t Z O y C k a gt f r General Audio System Audio Filters Audio Volume AudioUnits SysOptimizer iTunes Genera Optimization A Deactivate completely iTunes own playback Note this option should be enabled for playing proxy files Sound Quality optimizations at the expense of convenience functions M Deactivate volume control by iTunes gt Deactivate play position control by iTunes Note that changes will be effective only upon next playback start r 5 29 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Oo Audirvana Preferences o em y A B Q General Audio System Audio Filters Audio Volume AudioUnits SysOptimizer iTunes Preferred Au
17. es It is currently the format in which the master recordings are made in record industry For this reason we decided to use SEPARATE no compromise electronic board to handle DSD It is not common with PCM processing Our two digital engines PCM and DSD share common enclosure and the user must switch from one to the other by hand Audio volume level Tube technology allows us to set practically unlimited volume level at the output up to 100 x higher than from a normal CD player We have decided to adhere to one internally set standard the test tone of 1 kHz at 20 dB produces an output of sine wave 300 mV AC under the amp load of 47K Thats equivalent of circa 3 V pp Shall this be inconvenient for some reason it is adjustable in the range of 0 1800 mV by just one resistor change The test tone is available from me via email in the form of WAV or AIFF or FLAC or MP3 file Generally we prefer the sound of the DAC with high output levels and most amps don t have any problem with that A simple potentiometer or stepped attenuator takes care of that Only solid state chip based preamps will saturate and distort thats why we need to know in advance about such solid state chip volume system being driven by the DAC We will keep then the volume level at the book level of 2 V pp Having said that chip volume systems and preamps with opamps belong in home theatre cheap one and DEFINITELY not in high end LampizatOr DAC should
18. gain reverses the action Button 7 and 8 this is a pair which switches the relay inside It can be freely programmed as any function we can imagine by a relay In 99 of our DACs this was used to switch between USB PCM input and SPDIF group of inputs By group we mean all of the bi phase inputs like SPDIF Toslink AESEBU BNC etc You will see on the display an alphanumeric text describing the input for example 7 S PDIF and 8 USB You can change the descriptors freely under the SERVICE MENU the Dig Input Name section To choose DSD always just press button 2 3 of 36 3 LampizatOr DAC Manual Channel Up The description of REMOTE CONTROL functions for DANZUP systems KODON RRR 3 H f the one with blue display lt Cc ON powers up down the whole DAC or just the standby function depending on the DAC level Vol UP and Down changes the volume from 63 dB not complete MUTE however to complete bypass 0 dB Channel Up Down changes the analog inputs to the tube section Usually 1 DAC PCM 2 DSD DAC 3 Line Preamp input 1 4 Line Preamp input 2 J WY 3 B O a Also use numeric buttons 1 2 3 and 4 MUTE does just that mute After pressing again the DAC will go back to the last volume used Touching the Vol Up and Vol Down functions will un mute automatically LampizatOr Numeric buttons 1 9 and 0 The 1 4 buttons were described above and they choose analog clie
19. han to switch it on and off more than necessary The lampizator DAC level 3 and up has a slow start feature which brings the high voltage supply gradually up at the rate of two to five volts per second The PSU reaches 300 V DC after 90 seconds This helps to extend tube life The DAC is also equipped with voltage down feature bleeders which reduce the power voltage upon switch off at roughly the same rate On top of that the tubes are operated always around 25 of full nominal power which greatly increases their life expectancy Combining all the factors together the tube lifetime should be anywhere between 10 and 20 years assuming the player is switched off only once per day for the night 9 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Cabling and cable handling Just to be sure that we know what we are doing AC cable can be freely plugged and unplugged during operation It is OK for the DAC but NOT OK for the amplifier and speakers A loud thump may appear after switch off Please turn your volume fully down before switching off the DAC SPDIF cable should be plugged and unplugged when the transport is powered off The DAC can be on However doing it on hot when all is working is not dangerous for the DAC as long as the AC power supply has the GND for all products DAC transport amps Signal cables can be plugged unplugged with the amplifier volume turned fully down Please use a decent AC cable We suggest spen
20. he DAC operates well below half of its maximum allowed temperature Tubes are DESIGNED to be hot this is their very nature Thats why they have internal heaters and when they are not at optimal operating temperature they sound bad The other components are guaranteed up to 105C and we are expecting no more than 45 degrees Celsius in the air inside the DAC Our only advice is do not heat the box additionally by placing it for example on top of a hot class A amplifier Give it some space around to allow free air flow and adequate cooling Do not cover it with blankets or mats Optimal placement Apart from the heat issue as described above the DAC has no special placement requirements Just remember to keep the S PDIF cable not longer than 1 5 m 5 feet and RCA chinch cables not longer than that either Since tubes are microphonic they hate vibrations Therefore it is forbidden to place the dac on top of the speakers or a sub Choose least vibrating location preferably one foot behind the plane of the speakers Power on off cycle The tube lifetime almost like the life of a car engine in polar climate is determined largely by the on off cycle The heat expansion coefficient of the glass is so much different than that of the metal that the air tight seal of the metal pins can leak oxygen inside the tube and eventually kill it Even if it is just one molecule per day So in other words it is better to keep the DAC always on t
21. ive to enable you to power it ON again Do not be upset about the C2013 text it means the date the firmware was written for this module and not the year of manufacturing of the DAC 18 of 36 1 LampizatOr DAC Manual OdB operation at full volume OdB the DAC operates as if there was no volume module This position is recommended for systems with own volume control preamp or integrated amp The resistor ladder is completely by passed DANZUP blue display remote control Alternatively to TAIV VCO3 control we use DANZUP remote system The volume adjustment function is THE SAME and the sound quality is the same as VCO3 From the user perspective the functional differences are in DANZUP system the volume dial knob does not have the push function In VC03 the volume dial knob has a push function and works similarly to the BMW iDrive controller To enter the hidden functions of DANZUP system you must press the service button which we locate on the floor plate of the dac Usually for convenience the secret button is located near the front panel around the center point under the ring button So it is easy to access by index finger Press the button once to change analog input channels PCM DSD Preamp Line Press button more than once to enter service functions like enroll new remote control unit choose dimming backlight function of the display choose alpha numeric descriptors of the names of inputs and we keep ad
22. ly during playback Just grab them by the base To change music tubes you must switch off the amp DAC can continue to work 15 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Aging problems As already explained above the DAC should age very very slowly The digital PCB should last a lifetime The transformer the paper in oil caps the cables plugs sockets should last a lifetime There are only 4 electrolyte caps which we selected from premium brands and they should last circa 25 30 years Other than that we suggest to change tubes every 10 years So short of a thunderstrike we expect no failures or aging problems before 20 30 years Fuse Change The DAC is equipped with a non repairable 25 mm glass fuse circuit breaker inside the IEC AC socket at the back There is also one spare fuse provided in the little drawer removable when changing the fuse The fuses are 1A 1 6A for USA and overrated by the factor of 3 Therefore it is impossible for the fuse to blow without a specific reason a failure inside the player Consequently if the fuse burns it is a signal to send the dac for service and NOT change the fuse Obviously the second fuse will burn as well Spare fuse is here p WE ABSOLUTELY DO NOT ALLOW changing the fuses for any larger size than 1 6A or installing the audiophile silver bolts in place of the fuse Fuses are there mainly to SAVE YOUR LIFE And we mean that 16 of 36 1 LampizatOr DAC Manual Volume con
23. mance rivaling the most expensive DACS money can buy but also to offer very long life of the product Simply speaking if you adhere to some basic precautions listed below the product should last a lifetime and hopefully in this period will never be outperformed by a competing product Whose lifetime one might ask well let s not go into details enough to say it should work flawlessly for the foreseeable future The DAC should be future proof Shall we ever launch a major upgrade to the digital part you can get the upgrade at very reasonable cost Shall you decide you need some added features you can also get them at reasonable cost anytime in the future Be it AES EBU input Toslink input BNC input XLR outputs volume control information status LEDs any option you initially forgot We can t be 100 sure but it is extremely unlikely that the market and the industry in the future will embark any technology of music storage faster than 192 kHz and with more resolution that 24 bits We already hit the human ear limits not to mention the real needs of mass consumers MP3 Data formats The DAC is capable of automatic recognition of all sampling rates from 44 to 192 kHz and bit rates from 16 to 24 Since few if any transports offering SPDIF format of the 192 kHz exist in the consumer market it is hard to guarantee the operation but on the professional ones which we tried it worked From our experience the
24. n dacs equipped with DSD separate engine DSD must be selected by hand 4 Other but only if agreed with the user VOLTAGE All DACs are shipped with the voltage of MAINS according to the country of destination If you bought the DAC second hand and you are in different voltage zone the DAC can be converted by a qualified technician There is no switch or anything like that We need to change transformer windings arrangement of the primaries And do it on numerous transformers sometimes 4 or 5 per DAC TOGGLE SWITCHES All toggle switches are safe to use even if by mistake Dont be afraid to throw a toggle if for example you get no sound while you think you should We orient our toggles physically so their position and orientation of the lever corresponds to the placement of the respective input or output Example if the toggle is marked USB SPDIF the lever towards USB meand USB is selected lever towards the RCA means RCA is selected Same for Toslink AESEBU BNC etc The USB selector selects USB against all other digital inputs Only then all others can be individually selected by the respective switches USB selection to USB overrides all other inputs Similarly DSD is higher on the hierarchy ladder and DSD choice overrides USB and all others 5 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Introduction Thank you for choosing Lampizator DAC We created it with huge research effort to deliver not only world class musical perfor
25. nt inputs of the tube section Buttons 5 6 7 and 8 are reserved Button 0 as well as 9 are fixed and programmed as a switching relay and can perform any desired relay function Usually it will be digital input selector like USB Toslink AES EBU or BNC Note These button functions 0 and 9 do HAVE an alphanumeric representation on the display Pressing the same button again reverses the action Button 0 and 9 in 99 of our DACs this was used to switch between USB PCM input and SPDIF group of inputs By group we mean all of the bi phase inputs like SPDIF Toslink AESEBU BNC etc You will see on the display an alphanumeric text describing the input for example 0 S PDIF and again 0 USB When in S Pdif the 9 toggles between two of them like Toslink and RCA SPDIF and is described o the screen as Si and Si2 To choose DSD always just press button 2 A of 36 4 LampizatOr DAC Manual A quick guide to a smooth start THE RING BUTTON In all DACs up to serial 500 the ring button used to be just the mains power switch Recently we started using the ring for other purposes namely for whatever we think will be most useful in non volume DACs lf your DAC is a non volume type without display the ring button can be 1 Power button if there is no power toggle at the back right next to the IEC AC power inlet socket 2 USB to NON USB switch in DACs which don t have DSD but do have USB 3 DSD to non DSD switch o
26. ply the response is instantaneous and there is no deformation of square wave Usually Toslink ports are installed in cheap low end gear and the power supply to Toslink is completely neglected Not in LampizatOr DAC If you have Toslink in your DAC you can be sure it will sound good and not degrade the sound Of course providing that the transmitter part of the link is at least semi decent NOTE All Apple products which have headphone output iMac MacBook Power MAC MAcMini iPhone iPad iPod have a secret toslink transmitter hidden inside that port Just buy the special cable Toslink Minijack and when placed in the headphone output of an Apple product will emit light with SPDIF in it That is a very good way of using MAC computers as transports 22 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual USB playback USB data requires installation of additional converter module to convert the packet data into a steady i2S stream Our asynchronous converter has internal RAM and two own clocks and own power supply and own power transformer secondary winding The USB module requires a driver for Windows to recognize it MAC OS works without any drivers We use three vendors of USB modules for Level 6 DACs we use eXD the driver for Windows is available at www lampizator eu USB zip For all levels except the 6 and Amber we use Amanero USB module the driver is at www amanero com drivers For Amber DAC and Amber amp we use XMOS drive
27. r http lampizator eu xmos rar Do not install windows driver with the DAC USB connected to PC USB module can be added as a paid option to existing DACs Our USB converter is capable of working with 32 bit files with 384kHz signal frequency Only USB2 rated cables will work The USB standard printer cable will not work USB cables with ferrite filters the thing on the cable will not work For best results please download the jPlay software to manage the Windows parameters and optimize them for working with music via USB 23 of 36 JSI Jur dnt LampizatOr DAC Manual MAC OS operation of USB output MAC OS dos not require any driver installation Somehow miraculously the MAC computer knows how to handle all USB devices After plugging the DAC by the USB cable and turning it on within 3 seconds the device should show up on the MAC Note the device will NOT be described as Lampizator DAC but as Amanero Combo module To verify what is going on please go to the apple sign in top left corner of the screen and choose PREFERENCES and then the loudspeaker icon SOUND Kk Pages File Edit Insert For About This Mac Location App Store Recent Items Force Quit Pages Sleep Restart Shut Down Log Out Lukasz Fikus Aou m a arn Select a device for sound output Name Internal Speakers E res gt dyi gt E E General Desktop amp Dock Mission Screen Sa
28. trol VC03 This concerns DACs equipped with TAIV volume control modules with display and remote The volume control is an extremely nice module that changes the way we use the DAC The module consists of 5 elements 1 Power supply with the DAC power management relay allowing to switchON OFF the whole DAC via the remote while keeping the volume module powered For space reasons some DACs especially Level4 do away with the power supply control feature and provide only volume remote features 2 The display amber backlit 2 x 16 alpha LCD which is our GUI a blue display indicated Danzup module a different brand of the same thing 3 The microprocessor board with memory firmware and the chip that controls the relays 4 Relay volume board with resistor ladder The microprocessor connects the resistors in such way that they form a resistive attenuation L Pad with 63 steps of logarithmic attenuation The overall impedance is held at almost constant 30k and the steps are calibrated in 1 db distances 5 The virtual potentiometer with push action The module is capable not only of volume adjustment but also of the input selection both analog inputs as well as digital Using the volume module Press the volume knob down for 3 seconds and the display will show selection of 4 analog inputs Turn the knob to select the desired input Press for 3 s again to exit this menu The input selection is available from the remote in direct mode
29. uit DON T THEY HAVE DIFFERENT HEATERS Our genius circuit automatically detects the current demand and adjusts voltage accordingly We added a switch which divides the tubes into two groups high heaters and low heaters High heaters are 2A3 300B 6A3 and low heaters are 101D 45 245 345 Our favorite tubes are New Sovtek and Electro Harmonics 2A3 this is actually the same tube but Sovtek is a cheaper brand 45 by Emission Labs New 245 and 345 NOS from Sylvania Tung Sol and RCA 101D by Psvane WE Replica New Nos 6A3 from any US brand 300B Mesh Black from Psvane 12 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual BOTTOM VIEW Above the WE 101D replica triode designed 100 years ago in 1914 13 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Rectifier Rolling Rectifiers are generally less rolled but many customers report that huge leaps in synergy can be achieved when after choosing the optimal music triodes we also choose optimal rectifier How can we tell the rectifiers At Lampizator we use generally two sub groups of rectifier diodes directly heated and indirectly heated Indirectly heated diodes are those which have separate heater coil mounted underneath the cathode The heater current does not mix with the cathode current This has several advantages diodes are smaller they live longer they are much more vibration resistant and they can be connected in series with many tubes sharing one heater source They have 5 acti
30. ut the signal is a mirrored balanced pair of square waves around 2 5 V pp max 5 V pp TTL just as S PDIF but 5 V pp TOSLINK a fiber optic transmission of S PDIF producing at the DAC the 5 V TTL electrical signal RS422 it is practically the same as AES EBU The i2S is the same as biphase but separated into 4 signals each carrying only one type of information Biphase encodes 4 groups of informations in one signal stream Specifically they are System Clock Bit Clock Left Right Clock and Data We can install these four in any type of connector because there is no standard Most customers use RJ45 LAN socket or simply four RCA sockets just like in TV RGB 20 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual 12S Pinouts The JKI2S uses a RJ45 connector to output 12S signals according to the following pin outs 1 SLCK 2 SLCK GND 3 SDATA 4 SDATA GND 5 L RCLK 6 L RCLK GND 7 MCLK 8 MCLK GND 7654321 12345678 Figure d Figure 2 End view of RI43 Plug Looking into an R45 Jack 21 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual The TOSLINK connection Is toslink bad or not That is the question Like everything in life it can be bad or it can be good By using own experiments and oscilloscope observations we concluded that Toslink is not bad and not inferior to RCA SPDIF if implemented properly Toslink is EXTREMELY demanding about the power supply quality Thats why we build for toslink separate dedicated power supply and with this sup
31. ve pins on an octal base We use 6X5 USA or Soviet 6c5s 6u5C type They are very short bottles We used them on all Amber DACs on all dual mono Level5 and Level6 and Level6 two box machines On all Dual mono Big machines On 50 of our Level4 DAC as well as on all preamps PINOUT 2 7 is heater 6 3 V AC Pin 8 is cathode Pins 3 and 5 are two anodes 14 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual Directly heated diodes are older in design physically larger and have 4 pins versus 5 and use 5V heaters versus 6 3 PINOUT 2 8 is heater 5 0 V AC Pin 8 or2 is also cathode Pins 4 and 6 are two anodes Other pins even if existing are not connected To test just use a meter and check resistance in ohms between the pins INA RECTIFIER THE ONLY TWO PINS WHICH SHOW ANY OHM READING AT ALL ARE HEATER PINS THE READING SHOULD BE IN SINGLE OHMS Some people report back that the directly heated diodes sound better than their indirectly heated counterparts but this hasn t been verified in any semi scientific way Generally we expect the directly heated diodes to have up to 400 higher current capability as well as voltage max It al depends on the DEMAND of our circuit Some Lampizator tube stages demand only 2 mA in total some can demand 40mA and more We used directly heated diodes in our amps in one rectifier Big 5 Big 6 Big 7 and on some Level4 DACs Rectifiers compatible 274B 5c3s 5Y3 5r4 5U4 GZ34 5c4s 5u4c Rectifiers can be changed safe
32. ver Control Hy p s v a CDs amp DVDs Displays Energy Keyboard Saver Sound Sound Effects e s Input Type Built in Settings for the selected device Balance i i laft rinht 24 of 36 System Preferences Q Spotlight O g Language Security amp Region amp Privacy Notifications Mouse Trackpad LampizatOr DAC Manual Above on that list the Amanero should appear Next thing to check is MIDI SETTINGS of the MAC computer We go to the top right corner of the screen and press SPOTLIGHT We type MIDI SETUP and enter Normal al gt Q midi setup Aucic MIDI Setup Se TOP HIT Ww Audio MIDI Setup DOCUMENTS 7 Lampizator DAC User Manual pages 7 Manual DSD DAC pages 7 Manual Level 5 DSD no volume D 7 Manual Level 5 no DSD DAC pages 7 Manual Level 5 DSD DAC pages Audio MIDI Setup Version 3 0 6 7 USB manual pages PDF DOCUMENTS pe Manual Level 6 DSD no volume D In the MIDI setup we can choose frequencies of sampling we use for the Amanero output We don t think that the higher the better but your own test should confirm that nooo Audio Devices 4 Built in Microphone P 2in 0 out b Built in Output 4 Built in Input Clock source Default 2 in 0 out Built in Output Input Outpu X 0 in 2 out Source Internal Speakers Format 44100 0 Hz 2ch 24bit Integer 44100 0 Hz Ch Volume 48000 0 Hz Value dB ajii 88200 0 H
33. z 96000 0 Hz ps 0 626 12 a 0 626 12 LampizatOr DAC Manual 26 of 36 LampizatOr DAC Manual LISTENING TO THE MUSIC some practical tips Please use good shelf for the DAC Do not place it on speakers subs or even on transports or amps Again tubes hate vibrations If you try the special devices for placement we feel that granite or marble is bad ringing Cones are just plain ridiculous Ceramic ball bearing feet are great Good wood is great if thick Others please try The way stereo sound is created inside the DAC can under optimal condition re create the musical experience as it sounded live It means that two speakers can cause us listeners to hear sounds everywhere around us above below far in front almost close to our face and also behind us This type of imaging is our goal The sound must be able to get detached from the speakers so called disappearing act and the more our DAC helps doing it the higher we value it and price accordingly We voice our DACs to be as 3 D as possible From our experience speakers should be positioned following the basic rules of LampizatOr Nirvana Room 1 Speakers and listener s head form unilateral triangle 3 x 60 degrees with the distance between speakers being exactly equal to distance head speaker 2 Head must be in exactly middle of the speaker base and the speaker base must be exactly symmetrical versus side walls We place speakers and measure
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