(The greatest thing since gaslight.)

Written in 2006

Lampizator - from Polish "Lampa" meaning the vacuum tube (or a valve) - lampizator is "the one who makes things tubed".
The man, in this context - it's me.
Or a device converting CD players to "tubed type". In this context - the output amplification device.
Lampizator is the most talked-about item in the hi-fi circles after the rise and fall of SACD !       ;-)

This page is a manifestation of my general disagreement to how the CD players sound and my own proposal how to make the CD sound fantastic.



Lampizator DIY step by step for beginners

Reference list of over 60 Lampizator conversions
Alphabetical list of CD players
CD PLAYER RANKING
CD DAC giant shootout contest - the battle of champions
Why Lampizator - technical explanation
Various types of Lampizator
Is Lampizator a safe investment?
Which CD'P's are suitable for Lampization?
Master clock upgrade
MEASUREMENTS AND PART TWEAKING
DAC chip data-mining |
Commercial page of company which followed similar path. Great minds think alike.
TRANSPORT Article

Lampucera and lampizator inside one lampucerized CD host

http://www.vasiltech.nm.ru/files/cd-players/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm - list of DAC and transport

LISTENING
HOME

LAMPUCERA




The thing of the past - vacuum tube triode - what a paradox - became the ultimate device of the reproduced music technology.



Didn't we audiophiles hope to have constant quality progress? Always upward sloping ? Didn't we take for granted that after inferior CD, the next thing will be much better? DVD-Audio, DSD, SACD ? Just 5 years ago, who might have guessed that the good old CD - which everybody was complaining about - would actually turn out to be the PEAK on the quality curve? And DVD-Audio  or SACD ? Whatever happened to them? Nothing happened. They did not happen. Did not go beyond a dream. No software, no recordings, and above all - MP3 killing that dream. We realized that for 99 % of the population simplicity and convenience of MP3 overshadows the subtle quality difference.
So what we have to face gals and guys is that CD is the best media we will ever have and we have to live with it. Lets re-discover the good'ol CD player and let's fall in love with it.

Some audio fetishists out there claim, that CD is inferior to vinyl LP or that SACD is a major step forward. But I am trying to make a point - your observation is based on wrong assumption that CD sounds bad because of it's format. (44 kHz/16 Bit) NOT TRUE. CD format is fantastic but it's full potential has never been fully realized, even by it's original  makers - Sony and Philips.
CD is great. It is here to stay for a while. It is convenient, it can be easily copied, it is cheap compared to rare SACD samples and - what you did not know until now - it offers fantastic sound quality never realized before.
It is obvious, that we have CD collections. Hundreds, or even thousands of albums for which we paid lots of money. Much too much money.
How is it possible that CD can be so good? ? By coincident, making endless experiments with CD player tuning, I found out the following:
A) recording high quality material from vinyl onto CD-R on my cheap Philips CD recorder results with FANTASTIC sound, far far better than this from oryginal commercial CD's of the same music. This lead me to believe that the recording process in the commercial CD production messes-up the quality, if my simple recording can be SO MUCH better. While my vinyl setup easily outperforms CD on very good pressings, THE CDR COPY is indistinguishable from vinyl direct!!! So the "digital sound does not need to be bad. And 16/44 is not a limitation. The limitation lies somewhere else.
The media limited by 44 kHz and 16 bit resolution is NOT the limiting factor, like the SACD marketing people wanted us to believe to sell us the same collections AGAIN, paying for them 30 euro per pop AGAIN.  Oh no folks, count me out. SACD, which is surely a superior CD format, brings only very small and questionable improvement, because the original master recording is transferred to SACD with same horrible compression. Same bad recordings are transferred to more revealing media only resulting with magnification of bad quality issues.

and I found out B) from the point where the signal leaves the DAC chip in analog form, it goes through a jungle of crappy components - op-amps, filters, electrolytic caps, relays etc. Considering OP-AMP equivalent schematics - the analog signal goes through over hundreds of components before RCA outlets. This seems to deteriorate the sound quality in a huge way!
My first idea was - what if I use instead of that output stage just ONE active component - a triode? A super triode ?
I heard before so many great systems which had one thing in common - CD player was tubed type.

It took me 1 hour to put together a tubed stage and install it in a 200 euro CDP (Kenwood 5090). I connected it to my high-end system, fired up and --- you guessed right - the music BLEW ME AWAY. After that I spent four years with my "lampizator-in-a-box" - installing it by hookup wire in everything that spins the silver disc. From cheapest crappy players from the eighties to the real exotica. And in DAC separates as well. And I tried almost every DAC chipset in existence - the result was consistently identical every time:
Tubed stage of LAMPIZATOR outperforms every commercial CD no matter what the price, including other tubed ones. The general broad conclusion is, that the CD reproduction in every player, from Wadia to supermarket DVD player - is quite good and similar between spinning mechanisms, digital receivers, and DACs. What makes the BIG NEGATIVE DIFFERENCE  is the output stage. Apparently - very easy to GET RID OF entirely by installing the LAMPIZATOR. This mod, without any other unnecessary popular tuning mods, turns every CD into a high-end giant-killer. This sound quality- on the store shelf - would cost you 10 000 Euro. I am not joking - I challenge everybody to try for himself. Don't trust me at all, because Lukasz told you so. Try for yourself. I challenge any SACD player at any price to stand against my old cheap philips 630 for 50 Euro or a marantz 40 or even super crappy Technics 470 with LAMPIZATOR installed.
At that time I owned a super CD, yes, the tubed balanced BAT VK5-D SE (with extensive after-market tuning) costing circa 8 000 USD. My lampizator however beat the BAT with one hand tied behind the back. And to that day BAT was untouchable, even by Wadia, Mark Levinson, Audionote AN-2, not to mention the simpler Teacs, Marantzes, Revoxes etc.


(This is Denon CDP with installed balanced mode lampizator (hence 4 tubes) and you can see new RCA sockets at the back plus new XLR sockets in the top plate.)




This is a test-box lampizator with hook-up wires tapping to the Pioneer DAC chip and testing the capabilities of this player (PD-S904)

I learned a lot about CD players in the process. What I discovered is shocking. Few people have seen so many CD player guts as myself. And believe me - WE ARE BEING CHEATED by the manufacturers. The price point has almost NO CORRELATION with build quality. I could demystify the top 10 biggest names in the industry and put them to shame. They sell us mediocrity and cheapness in expensive housing with an expensive legend attached.  And the price tag to match. Prime example is Marantz, which just added weight to the chassis floor and metal cheeks but kept virtually UNTOUCHED the simple Philips PCB, all the way from a 50 Euro CD40 to 1000 Euro CD80. (ebay prices)

I DECLARE universal disagreement with the status quo of the sound quality from  high end equipment manufacturers: CD player, amplifier, cables, speakers - NO MORE CRAP. We deserve better.
I am a self proclaimed Prometheus - I steal the truth about good sound and give it back to people.
I devote this web site, my free time and energy - to help as many people as possible to break free from this virtuous circle of never-ending upgrading and spending without finding musical satisfaction.