StereoMojo is "thrown…for a loop" by how great the LampizatOr DAC sounds

Direct Price: $4,950 USD

Special note: "The review price quotes Polish price FOB Warszawa. The actual US price includes shipping across the ocean, US duties and customs, insurance, VAT exemption paperwork on European Community border, and US sales tax and US customs agency paperwork fees. So please check with the US distributor."

Review by

James Darby 

&

Michael Peshkin

First, thanks to NORMAN WILLIAMS, a loyal reader who suggested we review this DAC. He even contacted the designer to help facilitate the review. Norman, if you send us your address, we'll ship you a free copy of our Stereomojo Ultimate Stereo Evaluation Disk as a token of our appreciation. That brings us to an announcement: The first person who suggests a product that ends up being reviewed will likewise be sent a free Stereomojo Ultimate Stereo Evaluation Disk. This is the disk we use at audio shows to evaluate systems and components as well as our in-home evaluations. About 16 full tracks that test every aspect of a system. The guys demoing at shows invariably ask us for a copy telling us it's the best demo disk they've ever heard.

You can't buy it, but you can earn it! Just email us your review request.

This is the DAC that won our 6 DAC shootout a couple of months ago at Mike Peshkin's Ribfest in Pennsylvania. It was originally sent to Mike for review, but after I heard at the Shootout, I had to hear it in my own system. I asked designer Lukasz Fikus if that would be OK with him and he graciously agreed ~ publisher

THE LAMPIZATOR LEVEL 4 DAC

by

James Darby

"I never knew digital could sound this good!" 

"I never knew music could sound this good!" 

"Wow..I've got to rethink my LP collection. This has thrown me for a loop!"

"How much did you say this thing costs?"

Those are the comments I heard from guys at the DAC Shootout as well as everyone who has visited my home since I got the Lampizator in my system. My buddy Stereo Mario has been over 4 times just to listen to music via the "Lamp" as I call it, bringing several of his favorite CD's each time, "..to hear what they really sound like", he says. Previously, Mario used to bring over LPs, either new ones he'd just purchased or some from his extensive, high-quality collection. We'd listen to some of his and some of mine and discuss them and other musical trails to which the conversation led. We'd talk some about the newest gear I'd gotten in since his last visit, but mostly it was about music. But Mario has fallen victim to the Lampizator's abilities. His remarks have been the same as listed above, except with a marked Italian accent, of course.

If there is one thing the DAC Shootout proved, it is that DACs, even those in the same price range and using the same DAC chip, can and do sound very different; enough that the judges could all hear differences and describe them in the same way even though they were listening on a system that was not their own and not in their familiar rooms - and even though they had no idea what DAC they were listening to. The panelists were surprised at the level of differences in the sounds as was I. I thought there was the distinct possibility that no one would be able to hear any significant differences among the contestants much less agree on the differences to any scientific factor.

The Lampizator Level 4 is the creation of one Lukasz Fikus, a proud citizen of Poland, where he hand makes every single one. "I have electrical engineering background and I design things according to the best engineering knowledge, but as we know well,  high-end designs go 'beyond engineering' - the sonic results are unpredictable and requires listening and open mind to  various hi-fi voodoos and stuff like that. Why one capacitor or wire sounds different  than a similar other - nobody knows, but I am open to such experimental findings", he told me.

Since the Lamp we have is designated "Level 4", you might surmise that there are other levels. The Level 1, not available in the US, is a kit version of the Level 2. The Level 2, which we also have in house as we write this, is $1,750. The Level 3 is $3,250 and this Level 4 is $4,950. There is also a Level 5, but it is a custom order consisting of dual chassis (two boxes) with separate tubed PSU and NOS exotic tubes like a rare VT99. As Lukasz describes, "The Level 1 is a simplest kit for DIY, Level 2 is a compromised (slightly) DAC that is already very good. Level 3 is a sweet spot - very refined and musical, easy to produce. Level 4 is the very refined version of Level 3, incorporating everything that I have learned. Level 5 is a special level reserved to no compromise, crazy designs, with two box configuration, very rare exotic parts, overkill PSU and so on. It is usually a custom order for particular requirements".

There are some options: The USB adds 400 USD, Balanced option adds 500 USD and remote controlled volume with relays/resistor ladder adds 500 USD. I have to add that prices have gone up a little because of the near collapse (so far) of the US dollar, a problem all distributors of products in the US face. By the way, expect further increases in hi-end gear (and most other products as well - have you been to the grocery store lately?) coming soon as prices of everything from metal cases to copper, to the rare earths found in many circuits have skyrocketed. If you've been waiting around to pick up a new product, better buy it soon.

I've listened to hundreds of stories from audio designers as to their extensive research and development of their products, but I don't think I've heard any as exhaustive as Lukasz'. He has listened to and tested virtually every DAC chip on the planet during his 4-year quest to produce the world's best DAC. The list includes Burr-Brown, Analog Devices, Sony, Cirrus Logic, Crystal Semiconductors, Philips, Asahi Kasei Microsystems, ESS, Sanyo, Matsushita, Nippon Precision NPC, and Wolfson just to name a few. The same goes for tubes, cables and pretty much every other component that goes into his products. Those products consist of DACs, DACs or DACs - he doesn't make anything else. Talk about singularity of purpose.

THE BIRTH OF A LAMPIZATOR LEVEL 4 DAC

All of the Lamp models are non-oversampling, meaning they take the original bit rate and pass it along exactly as is without any digital manipulation. Upsampling involves the introduction of multiple filters and other digital algorithms that change the original sound and introduce extraneous artifacts when doing so. As we have revealed previously, upsampling is more a marketing gimmick than anything else, at least that's what we've been told off the record by several  digital designers. Almost all of them have said that they prefer non-upsampling themselves, but include it in their products because the public demands it, thinking it's the latest, greatest thing. I've been communicating with Lukasz Fikus for the better part of a year and I can tell you that there is not one gimmicky cell in his prodigious brain. He's all about making the very best musical sound he can, pure and simple. Literally.

Some basic information about the Level 4 is as follows:

Input automatically recognizes frequency, up to 192 kHz
Bit length is up to 24
Balanced operation: possible
AES/EBU - possible
Toslink - possible
The whole circuit - the whole DAC - both digital section as well as analog section have zero transformers, neither on S/PDIF nor on analog I/U conversion
There is only ONE capacitor in the whole circuit - both analog and digital - in the so called series path. 
There is only ONE gain stage
The output impedance is circa 600 Ohms

All the wiring inside is made with silver wire in Teflon, and no wire is longer than 2-5 inches. The optimized point to point allows for connection by part legs - without any wire at all.

As for the tubes he told us, "Signal tubes as standard are Soviet 6H6P - very smooth, powerful and analog sounding. They are used up to 25% of their nominal power which leads to life expectancy of 20 years or more. For the die hard audiophiles, a substitution with NOS ecc88 or e88cc is possible. Or for Soviet 6N1P for a different sound (more slam and detail, less analog liquidity)", he says.

Regarding the power supply he says, "It is a basic well filtered and much over specified 9 V DC supply. It works so well, there is no need for batteries. Under even the worst case scenario - the supply is flat, noiseless and capable. It makes the DAC and receiver very happy. Every digital consumer has one regulated power stage per input. (currently there are 8 per PCB plus tube heaters (regulated as well). The supply paths to the digital part make the best use of Sanyo OS-Con capacitors, SEPC series where it matters, and tantalum military grade caps and small chokes too. Even if the whole lampized DAC consumes only 25 Watts in total, we employ a custom made toroidal transformer capable of 50 Watts with separate secondary winding for every task needed. The Digital board is supplied by a separate EI custom made transformer".

"Also the analog output caps, despite their nominal requirement of 0,47 uF per channel - we install Paper in Oils of 1,5 uF or more, to make sure that all the glory of the deepest bass notes comes out unharmed with no phase shift. To ensure a trouble free longevity of the Lampizator DAC, all the caps are overrated in voltage by at least 100 %. Knowing the military standards - the real ratings of voltage failure lies somewhere 400 % above of what we use". Further he states, "I designed everything from ground up, digital board as well as analog section and power supplies. Totally original, not based on anything known".

Specifically about the Level 4 he tells us, "It has the best PCB with digital section that I can make. The receiver is a very rare one, a video industry top level DSP chip which happened to have by coincident very good SPDIF section. As far as I know nobody else uses it for Audio but I used it because of spectacular detail and space retrieving. The DAC is a top of the line 32 bit unit, very rare in HIFI circles. The combination of the two has never been used before, as far as I know".

"This combination of two chips needs 8 separate power supplies with regulators, and each regulator has CRCLC filter stage after regulation. The PCB has hand made traces, with thin silver wires as connections and silver solder all over them. No copper traces".

"The differential balanced signals from DAC are summed up inside the tube stage called by me  “Differential Summator” stage. It is an SRPP stage for amplification, buffering and summation. One stage, cleverly designed by me, does all three functions, preserving - due to simplicity - the very beauty of the music. This is done by four triodes of e182CC breed (two dual triode tubes). The principle of Summator is that I am trying to realize a simple mathematical equation: each phase of the differential output of the DAC chip sends out two components: music and conversion errors. Other phase sends “minus music” and the same conversion error. In Summator - the signals are summed out of phase, producing the output result of:

Music, minus (minus music) plus Error minus Error = 2x Music and zero error. 

"To my ears it sounds very natural and musical at the same time. I can forget about technicalities and get immersed in music".

And that, dear friends, is exactly what I and everyone else experiences when listening to the Lamp 4. Even though you may be the world's most critical, cynical or inquisitive audiophile, you don't give a damn about the technicalities of the DAC, you are too immersed and transported by the music it makes. i can sit here and wax poetically about the liquid, non-digital presentation of the Lamp, the exquisite linearity from ultra high to ultra low frequency, the perfect sound stage and on and on, but that would be a disservice to you because I'd just be filling space to make this sound like a typical "review". Suffice it to say that this DAC has 

transformed the event of listening to recorded music for Linda and myself. It is in a different class than any other DAC I've heard in its sheer ability to produce music in my home.

For example, last night we both looked forward to yet another long weekend listening session. We started about 8:30 when it got dark outside and stopped right at midnight when the last track I had programmed on my Qsonix music server finished. The music once again transported us to the extent the we had no idea what time it was and were amazed when we turned on the lights to discover that it was nearly tomorrow. I might point out that is a continuous 3 1/2 hours with no break between tracks. No changing disks, just one track - all from different recordings - after the other. Now to be fair, part of that is the fact that we currently have the best sounding system we've ever had for review by means of the DarTzeel integrated amp and the Evolution Mini Two speakers. But the system truly hit a transcendent level when the amazing Eastern Electric MiniDac was replace by the Lamp. 

That's right folks, the Lampizator Level 4 eats the EE alive. Of course, it's four times the price, but believe it or not, the enjoyment we get from the Lamp is greater than four times what we got from the EE, and that is saying more than a lot because the EE is a very special very musical component. But the Lampizator lives in a different universe. 

Now to be fair (and we always meticulously strive to be fair), the EE DAC in the Shootout as well as the ones Mike and I own are obsolete. They are imminently to be replaced by a new, updated and improved version 2 of which we are promised the first sample for review. How will it compare, at about $1,000, to the Lamp? We'll soon find out.

You want other comparisons, maybe something closer in price? Okay, how about the wonderful PS Audio Perfect Wave transport and DAC for which we did the world's first review a couple of years ago? Its price is $6,000 for the pair, though the DAC by way of apples to apples is $3,000. The Perfect Wave sounds stiff and wooden compared to the Lamp 4. In audiophile terms the Perfect Wave is outstanding. Incredible specs! And it sounds immaculate. Until you've experienced the Lampizator. You might notice I avoid using the words "listen to" in favor of "experience" when referring to the Lamp. That's because in all of the hundreds of hours of listening to nearly every conceivable genre of music, the DAC shows absolutely no favorite among genres, types or styles of music; it adores them all. 

"All", you say? Surely you exaggerate! First, don't call me Surely, and my Qsonix reports 1,670 recordings with 19,739 tracks - 6,614 artists and 562 genres. 562 genres? Bet you didn't know that many existed. Surprise. One thing of many that sets the Lamp apart is its ability to so portray vocals that it renders lyrics in such a way that they are not only easy to decipher, but their meaning is clarified as well. I can't tell you how many familiar songs we've listened to resulted in us thinking, "Oh! Is THAT what they are talking about?! Wow...". The same goes for the illumination of instrumental consciousness. There's simply more music there. Notice I'm not talking little about things like detail, air, tone color and other audiophile terms. Those are things of which we are just not conscious with the Lamp. It rocks, it rolls, it moans, it whispers, it weeps, it exclaims. Its holy, reverent, inspiring and introspective when listening to Bach, Gabrielli and Palestrina. It's sexy, sensuous and arousing when listening to music that is intended to be so.

Here's another shocker. The Lamp makes high bitrate MP3s and other lossy formats sound very listenable. It's not going to make 128kzh MP3 sound like CD quality for sure, but go ahead and listen to (ahem...experience) something north of 256 and tell me it doesn't sound good. That's amazing in itself!

Are we saying the Lampizator 4 is the best DAC in the world? No. We have not heard every DAC in the world. Besides, Lukasz makes a Level 5, remember? We presume that must somehow better the Level 4, though it is hard to imagine that digital playback could be much improved ever what we are, um, experiencing. But if it is one thing we know, there are people like Lukasz Fikus that can imagine how much better the lowly CD can sound and are hard at work proving it.

Michael Peshkin

This is a radically inventive device…it isn’t your typical audiophile product. The time Lukasz Fikus, a proud resident of Poland, spent developing the Lampizator, I assure you, justifies the price a few dozen times over. This is the DAC you buy to impress yourself, not your friends. Innovative, with ideas incorporated that are truly cutting edge technology.

Everything within and without was developed from scratch, taking two full years to culminate into this work of electronic art. Every DAC, every receiver chip listened to until what Norman felt was the ultimate had been achieved. The power supplies have eight independent fully regulated and triple filtered, using chokes for every line.

No feedback is used. The tubes used, Soviet 6H6(pi)…(6N6P) have no equivalent in the Western hemisphere. Tube rolling is hugely frowned upon as the regulation is within 1mV accuracy. Life expectancy, as only 20% of the power is used, should be approximately 20 years.

The Lampizator’s PCB is all point to point wiring, any cable runs kept to absolute minimum using silver in Teflon wire.

Connections (up to three digital inputs) can be ordered, S/PDIF, RCA or BNC, AES/EBU, Toslink, i2S, USB. 

Lukasz Fikus’ Lampizator Level 4 DAC t is an all out attempt at perfection (and I think he gets awfully close).

*******************************************************************

I enjoy reviewing the “affordable” gear on the market, the market I dwell within. I enjoy it because there’s so much really good gear out there; I don’t enjoy, for my own pleasure or for review purposes, I want to be moved, get my emotions rattled. I have to say a lot of the more expensive gear I’ve heard leaves me awed with the sound, completely emotionless musically. That should not be the case! Granted, lots of the gear I could never afford can play music beautifully; give me the satisfaction I’d get from a live performance. Still, a sub-1000 dollar turntable should get timbre correctly, it should hold speed steady so a natural decay is heard…on and on.

There are lots and lots of sub-$1000 DACs delivering the power and glory of great music. While I suspect, as it happens with other gear, any product with a cost that approaches that for a down payment on a luxury car, is going to sound wonderful. But there are very few products in hi-fi that are capable of making you toss the price sticker out of the window and saying, “I have to get this!”

No sticker shock here, folks, the Lampizator’s cost is dwarfed by its performance. I listened to CDs I’ve owned for years, CD-Rs of LPs I’ve owned for years, streamed radio from the PC as well as using the disc drive as a CD player. During this time I found the world of music servers, saving my music to a hard drive of a computer for later playback, recording my LPs to the hard drive and making copies for my car (great idea if I’d remember to take the CD storage book). As always, I listened to pieces I knew quite well and those new to me.

Listening to a 1999 CD, The Vandermark 5 Simpatico, an avante garde CD; the music completely uninhibited, but never out of control, the Lampizator allowed rather raw feelings from the group roll over me like a huge wave. Great attack, Vandermark’s reeds sound about as real as it gets,.

So much avante garde music loses contact with the roots of the composition, but the Lampizator and the musicianship allowed me to stay in contact, I never lost the feel for any of the cuts. I find the sound of the better DACs possess that coherency that earlier digital, even if it was reasonably good, did not possess. The Lampizator allows the instrumental structure to develop very much like the best analog. With some DACs, the separation; right/left information, is perhaps too sharply defined, real, live music doesn’t sound like that. There is a roundness, an analog-like feeling that is uncanny. All this while listening to music through my computer! I used the Mapleshade S/PDIF adapter so as to be able to access my computer’s USB output. I did that merely to make sure the Lampizator was fully burnt in and to ascertain what the lowly PC could supply in the way of music and sound using decent RCA ICs but not approved digital cabling. I’ve been mesmerized by the music I’ve heard.

It’s something I’m constantly surprised with on my digital journey. The sound is perhaps not the very finest, but it’s damned good and very satisfying. More so, it’s a musical education. I’m hearing music I never would have heard sourced from my own collection, streaming radio opens up a few thousand musical directions to explore!

Streaming! PC sound. I can’t get enough music to satisfy me in most situations, changing LPs, changing CDs…the process slows down the input and I must have input. But CDs…ayiiii! Who’da thunk 20 years ago that a big black box could be hooked up to your system and using a decent CD player as transport the sound would shake, rattle, roll, inflame, gasify and reduce to ashes the mind-set I had concerning digital sound?

While the processes of cleaning, playing, and thus listening to an LP will probably always nose out in front in the digital vs. analog battle, for me and many others the battle has become a user friendly one. I am certainly just as thrilled by the music whether digitally produced or played via a rock traveling down a ragged polymer canyon. The thrill is not gone, it is stronger than it ever was!

The Lampizator reveals the control Boz Scaggs has when he smoothly moves from lower to higher notes. His glissando on Goodnight Louise on the wonderful disc Come on Home is marvelous. I’d never taken notice just how beautifully he performs that tune.

But the Lampizator, sadly, can’t gild a rotten apple. The CD of Bud Powell’s The Scene Changes (The Amazing Bud Powell) is apparently no better than the original LP, magnificent music, and inferior sound. The piano sounds as if it has been put into a drained swimming pool, the recording mikes put in the girl’s locker room.

Streaming Pandora, as good as it was before adding a 75 ohm coax, was similar to putting new tires on my car. Much better grip on the music. From attacks, for instance, a stream from Pandora, Joe Locke’s vibraphone’s shimmer and (OH MY GOD!) the attack…it just can’t get much better than this.

OK, I know the limitations of streaming, worst knowing nothing about the quality of the recording other than by those standards some refuse to acknowledge as important (one’s ears). I have no means as to measuring any music received, but my ears tell me the improvement of 75 ohm cable versus 3.1 ohm IC is stupendous.

Instant identification of Mulligan’s sound a few moments before, as I was writing, McCoy Tyner regaled me with his finger-stylings…this set-up gets timbre dead on! Mulligan’s masculine sound is quite identifiable, of course, but that grip of every note played was startling; never once did I feel the wicked digititus monster eating my brain.

The FIM CD reissue of Getz-Gilberto was rather astounding; never once while listening to that CD did I have the feeling, “Ho-hum, I’ve heard this before…” The sound is fresh and vibrant…it’s a new piece of music!

Listening to some very well recorded CDs via the DVD drive, for instance, Miles’ Bag’s Groove (JVC XRCD Prestige 7109) I really have to wonder (and thus making me want to get it into that system) how much better the Lampizator would make the CD sound played on the Audio Alchemy transport. The sound is so lively, Davis’ trumpet, SOOO much Davis’ trumpet (that timbre thing once again), that it is hard for me to believe that it can get any better.

The manner in which the Lampizator allows instruments with big, brawny dynamics show their stuff was scary! I’m not just using that word to prove a point; I mean scary! While plucking the strings on his bass is powerful, the drummer smacking the snare woke me from a deep sleep…and I was’t asleep! Meanwhile, back on the farm…or stage in this case, all of the instruments may be seen in full, three dimensional images. 

Some of us speak reverently of the venue. If we are transported to the recording site, we’re lucky in that we are listening to a phenomenally well recorded music; listening on a phenomenally well set up (and most probably more expensive) system. Once in awhile the music allows, calls for, and is given to us in our own living room. A 70 piece orchestra crammed into the average living room, would not be a pleasant experience. First, they’d probably dirty the floor. Second and most importantly, we know an orchestra will not fit! But a quartet can fit in our room, no problem. Whether the music and recording gave me the “feel” of a symphony hall or listening to the players in my room, the Lampizator constantly amazed me with how it either transported me or transported musicians; in the house or on a stage.

This is not a rarity…well, yes it is. Placing those instruments and their players is one thing, seeing them in distinct three-dimensional images makes the listening experience far more exciting. We know at that moment that something really special has just been presented to us.

Whether I played CDs on the AA transport or listened with the Lampizator hooked up to my computer, the sound leaped from the quietest of backgrounds. Let’s Move on Pat Metheney’s Day Trip contrasts Metheny’s light, sure touch upon the strings of his guitar against McBride’s bass. Lightly played, we hear Metheny’s fingers as he first contacts each string. Each note decays naturally; the composition is lighthearted and the sound wraith-like when needed. Strong, powerful sounds by the bass all but bullies Metheny’s guitar, yet the method by which the piece was recorded does not allow it to overwhelm Metheny or his listeners.

Playing the same cut with the Lampizator in the big-rig was as beautiful as the computer had been, but possessing even more contrast between those two instruments. CD after CD I was able to hear things I may have taken notice of before, but but I didn’t recall doing so. The Lampizator grabs you and pushes, pulls, shakes and makes you quake as you listen, destroying myths you held sacred about just what was happening in a recording you knew well.

I kept hearing gut vs. steel as I played older guitar LPs. The floor wasn’t just shaking on bombastic passages but with all bass information! From earthquake to a foot massage, I felt everything.

I have had a large number of my LPs converted to CD, some of which are incredible evaluation tools, some simply for listening. While a pig was always smelly, a great recording knocked the stockings off my feet. I cannot recall not being impressed by any piece of music I listened to, the average recordings still presented in a way that pulled me into the music and affected the day I was having!

I listened to a few LPs I had CD copies of and felt that while the CD-R sounded superb, analog continues to caress my soul. I refuse to admit that the Lampizator took those burned CDs and made them equal to their analog originals, but I really doubt many listeners could hear the difference between digital and analog. Heresy! They’re coming to take me away.

Will I record all of my vinyl to CD and/or hard disk and then sell all my LPs on E-bay? Sure, and while I’m telling truths, did you know orangutans are actually purple and speak English better than most American Literature professors? Actually Mike, I was aware of the American Lit professors part...publisher

It is disturbing to have your beliefs shattered. I’d read and listened to a gentleman who I trust highly speak and expound upon how great anything he’d copied to digital sounded as good or perhaps better than its analog. John is a numbers type of guy…if it can’t be measured by John directly it doesn’t exist. If pressed, he’ll admit that a paradigm shift has occurred. He’s been copying his LPs to disc for years. He was speechless when he was asked what he thought of the Lampizator.

Be forewarned: The Lampizator Level 4, if you haven't experienced state of the art digital playback, will rock your world. It will make you reconsider of what the lowly CD is capable. It turns out all the digital nasties we've all heard over the years was not indigenous to the CD itself, but the technology available to decode it. 

You have just read two reviews of a Digital to Analog Converter by two different reviewers in two different systems in two different rooms (and two different states for that matter) who both are ardent vinyl lovers and owners of significant LP collections (Mike has somewhere around 10,000) and several turntables who both are raving about it. Unapologetically. Both of us have stated that it is a game changer, even though we've heard many other DACs. I just realized we haven't said anything materially negative about it, and believe me, we love to find real weaknesses when they exist, and they almost always do. We suppose if your visual tastes prefer elegantly attired components, the simpleness of the Lampizator's visage may not impress you. And that's ok. We all have our preferences. Mike said that you don't buy this DAC to impress your friends, but I think he meant appearence-wise, because this DAC has musically impressed, awed, moved and changed the mind set of many of our friends. Emphasis on the word musically.

For whom is this DAC best suited? Anyone who loves music more than stereo gear. Anyone whose goal is not to listen to the glory his system, but to the glory of music.

I'm keeping the one I have even if I have to sell other things to cover it. Like my wife. Okay, not Linda. Maybe some of my LP collection though. An amp or two. Sending it back would mean such a backward step as to make listening to music an excercise in frustration now that I know what is attainable.

How about suitability to different price categories of your system? Mike's system is not a big bucks behemoth, though it is high in bang-for-the-buck value. What's it worth? I dunno. Ten grand maybe? All of which he owns? The system I have in house at the moment probably retails for north of $100,000. Most of that is going back to the providers though. Dammit. But not the Lamp. No way. The point is that both of us, regardless of price and attendant resolution and quality, have stated that the Lampizator is a game changer. Big time. You can take your cue from that.

We both beleive that it performs far better than its cost. We believe you may waste your time listening to any other DAC out there in the land where capacitors and resistors dwell. If you enjoy wasting your time, go listen to others, we are betting you’ll return to hear the Lampizator with your own gear, in your own listening environment.

The only caveat is that we have in-house the Level 2 that sells for $1,750. How close is it to the Level 4? Do you get 80 or 90% of the Level 4 for less than half the price?

Then, Lukasz the "sweet spot" of the line is his Level 3 that goes for $3,250. How does it compare to both? Lukasz, we think you're going to have to send us a Level 3 so we can solve this pressing issue! Please?

The Lampizator DAC easily merits our rare Maximum Mojo Award. It is also easily at the top of our list 

for a Product of the Year Award - so far.

Congratulations to Lukazs Ficus