LampizatOr Horizon360

by Dawid Grzyb / March 13, 2025

LampizatOr Horizon360 is the Polish company’s flagship DAC that had its debut in late 2024. After several interesting encounters with this machine, I can finally tell its story in the detail it deserves. Enjoy!

The event

The list of highly successful Polish audio houses is long. However, if I had to name just one that enjoys the greatest popularity in the world of upper-echelon audio, LampizatOr would be my obvious choice. I think that many enthusiasts up to date on the expensive end of this wacky biz may agree. This company was officially established by Łukasz Fikus some 15 years ago. I’ve known about it for as long and have been a faithful customer since 2014. It also holds a special place in my roster. I still remember well my first visit to the LampizatOr HQ that back then located in a small house within a reasonably short walking distance from my previous work. At that time the entire staff of six did their thing in one room, busy with as many assembly stations and one system to evaluate products they put together. Long story short, I left the place with a refurbished DHT-infused twin-box Level 7 DAC that irreversibly altered my view of what directly-heated tubes in such designs actually do. Shortly after also came the firm understanding of the kind of sound Łukasz had been promoting since his operation’s early days. If this voicing turns out to be your thing, odds are you’ll stick to DHT DACs for years to come. This is exactly what I did and without looking back for a long time.While the Level 7 was a significantly higher-tiered affair in comparison to all the nearby electronics I had at my disposal back then, I didn’t get the chance to upgrade them. In 2015 Łukasz introduced the Golden Gate DAC, which was the DSD-only next-gen successor to the Level 7 platform. As such, the former offered far more on sonics, aesthetics and build quality, so I transitioned to it. I still recall how impressed I was particularly about the staggering performance gap between the two, which is the manufacturer’s standard protocol as I’ve learned over the years. Łukasz & Co. don’t do incremental quality bumps on the very top of their lineup. Therein they leap and very high at that. Their current best DAC always stomps hard on the previous flagship. If we take into account a major price hike that also follows, that’s the way it should be.Fast forward to 2018, when the Golden Gate was obliterated by the freshly launched higher-tiered Pacific DAC. While the latter inherited the manufacturer’s signature output/rectification concept, this was a brand new design both inside and out. Shortly prior to its release the company outgrew the old HQ and moved to the new location with far larger floor space. Łukasz hired additional staff and his product offer also expanded. More importantly, while the two previous LampizatOr DACs that I owned had some DIY-like quality to them, the Pacific struck me as its makers’ most professional and serious effort to date. It was also a nice reminder of how much Łukasz’s company has matured over the years. Just one exception aside, in my listening room the Pacific DAC confidently held its ground against all the competitors it faced and kept the upgrade itch at bay for six years, which in this hobby is a damn long time. That single incident however was the spark that eventually led to today’s story.The next top-shelf LampizatOr DAC originated as a side project in the COVID-19 era. It has changed several times over the course of its development stage and was unlike anything else its makers had done before. From one iteration to another, this design named Horizon eventually had flourished into hardware with aspirations significantly above the Pacific. Some three months past its official debut in mid 2023, Łukasz called to ask whether I’d like to have a listen to this DAC in my own listening room. At that point the man already had stout feedback from customers. That didn’t stop him from snatching one unit from the production line and doing rounds among friends. Needless to say, I was game and got the Horizon loaner for two very enjoyable days. While this short time period wasn’t enough for me to pull the usual photos and pen a formal review, it sufficed to map the key traits this newcomer DAC had in store. Below I’ll shed some light on how it fared against the Pacific, but for now let me just say that I haven’t stopped thinking about it ever since and wanted to guest it for longer. Łukasz was aware of this yet remained unfazed. He had to. In case of high-demand hardware such as his Horizon, the following two rules apply. One, paying customers come first. Two, patience is a virtue. Fair enough, I know the drill. While I had no clue when my turn would come, I decided to regularly put money aside just in case.Over the next year and a half, I routinely reached out to Łukasz to see whether anything had changed. No dice. In mid August 2024 the first Horizon was officially discontinued due to the shortage of the key D/A chip the LampizatOr CEO was very happy about. Long before that happened, he and his team were able to secure a nice two-component alternative that resulted in an entirely new digital engine, which introduced significant improvements over the original Horizon’s digital stage. The PSU also developed one extra transformer and Taiko’s proprietary XDMI interface designed for their Olympus platform was added. The sum of all these reworks marked the clear progress that demanded a new flagship model. That’s how LampizatOr Horizon360 came to be. Should the previous-gen Horizon owners want to upgrade their machines to the latest version, 15% of the original’s MSRP (€6’900) is the price to pay for this service.In late 2024 the opportunity to accommodate Horizon360 under my roof revealed itself. Initially I wasn’t fully sold on the idea. While it’s common sense that audio makers want to market their latest developments, I was thoroughly impressed with the first Horizon and that’s where my focus was. Regular shoppers after such hardware would’ve been more than happy to have its shinier successor. My gut feeling however told me that I should pursue the 1st-gen DAC that I’d already sampled and liked. No matter, I waited long enough so was willing to adapt. Then chaps at camp LampizatOr did the best possible thing. Recently they moved to a very nice new facility very close to where I live and suggested coming over. By all means, I intended to see the place at some point anyway. Upon arrival both Horizon versions armed with identical tube sets were already packed and ready to move to my listening room. That way I could comfortably compare these DACs side by side, find out how they differ where it matters and target the one that does more for me. Fun and games, and also a very nice gesture from Łukasz and his salesman Piotr. Thank you!All previous top-shelf LampizatOr DACs were large and heavy devices, especially given their digital pedigree. LampizatOr Horizon360 isn’t any different in this regard. Without tubes it measures (W x D x H) 44 x 55 x 17cm and weighs 33kg, so is one hefty sucker to handle. It ships in a massive robust flight case reinforced on the sides. A handy RC wand, certificate of authenticity, QC sheet and the full tube set from the current production are also included. The remaining specs list native DSD/PCM data support respectively up to x512/32-bit/768kHz in the auto-sensing fashion and that’s all she wrote. Horizon360 is a purist tubed DAC without any utilities other than in-built volume control. It’s worth noting that paying customers rarely get to choose what kind of glowing glass they’ll get upon purchase. Should you find that weird, it’s not. Łukasz constantly has to adapt to the tube manufacturers’ current stock, steep lead times and other factors. The ongoing conflict with Russia also severely complicated everything related to this subject. Customers capable of financing Horizon360 will get the best he’s got in his warehouse, and the scope of what he gets narrows down to tubes available in consistent and sustainable supply, so NOS types are off the table. Just to give you an idea, each of the two Horizon loaners that I got had a quad of Psvane EL34s, KR audio 5U4G rectifier and two Shuguang WE6SL7 Plus dual triodes. Three weeks later I would’ve gotten Stradi 5U4G and the KT88/6SN7 combo from Psvane’s Art TIII range. This also tells us that the Horizon360 project was designed with pentodes in mind, so a major change in comparison to the manufacturer’s previous bests. I imagine that many fans of the brand may consider this detour not quite as sexy as the directly-heated route. Łukasz explained that DHTs are getting rapidly harder to get in quantities sufficient for his needs and increasingly more expensive, while their wide heater span limits rolling possibilities. Most importantly, over the years he managed to mint a pentode/triode circuit that ultimately sounds much better. Since this is what he cares about the most and pentodes turned out to be the golden ticket, DHTs were abandoned in the flagship tier. Should you want to pursue their directly-heated kind in the same offer, fret not. The Pacific DAC was recently upgraded to its 3rd version that’s visually very much in line with the company’s current styling and is here to stay. As an enthusiast interested in sound more than means that make it, personally I wouldn’t lose sleep over not having DHTs in my DAC. Besides, I’ve simply learned to trust Łukasz. On the upside, the list of affordable pentodes and double triodes available on the market is enormous. Their synergy opens up an ocean of possibilities that tube rollers may see as paradise. Horizon360 truly spoils us on this front and I find that a major boon on its own two legs.While I fancied the previous top-shelf LampizatOr DACs for unusual looks, their exteriors comprised of bent metal sheets, visible bolts and minor imperfections here and there gave away DIY vibes. Personally I didn’t mind. Great sound quality can justify many hiccups. On the other hand, in the financial ballpark of these machines, perfectly machined minimalist aluminum enclosures have become the standard over the years. I’m happy to say that team LampizatOr finally got the memo. The Horizon platform ushered in a new chassis type that on build quality is way up there with the industry’s bests. I won’t fault anyone for seeing dCS or MSB casework nicer to the eye. Personally however I find today’s dress code very appealing, all in all gorgeous and, there’s that word again, even sexier. This kind of styling has that particularly fetching visually strong personality to it that I just don’t see anywhere else. Visually utilitarian, industrial, robust, substantial and armed with exposed tubes, it simply packs all that I thoroughly enjoy having around.LampizatOr Horizon360 and its 1st-gen predecessor feature the same housing built upon an internal skeletal frame, encased in thick solid panels bolted to it from the inside. Uniformly deep gaps visible between these blocks at the edges of the entire structure make it externally clever and quite intriguing. Without knowing how it was put together, one may wonder how all the walls connect without falling apart. Rest assured that they won’t, today’s effort is built like a tank. Tight tolerances and lack of screws anywhere in sight make it visually very clean and admirably assembled. It can be ordered either in matte black (Matt Black Hole), or cold aluminium grey with specks of shiny dust (Sahara Silver). The concaved top surface with tube openings and vents is the second customizable piece that can either match any of these colors, or become a semi-translucent red, stainless-steel chrome or copper plate instead. Paying customers can combine the listed finishes to their liking at no extra cost. Speaking of, where I live Horizon360 retails for €67’650 with VAT included and is the most expensive LampizatOr to date. Optional upgrades take the form of Graphite Audio footers priced at €600/3, KBL Sound Taiko XDMI leash (€2’900) and its fancier Taiko XDMI Extrema version (€5’000). Since this additional lot was beyond my scope, I have no idea whether it’s worth the extra coin or not.The front panel doesn’t feature anything above basics. The pushbutton in the middle is the secondary on/off switch and input selector, while those to the sides cycle through inputs (1-8) and regulate volume in 63 x 1dB steps. The highest setting (63) conveniently bypasses the volume module. While all the buttons positioned flush with the front plate look great, they’re a bitch to use. Keeping them pressed on takes some serious physical strength and is necessary in most use case scenarios. This is why the remote wand included in the set is no less than a godsend. Moving on, twin Z560M Nixie tubes display volume level and the currently selected digital (1-6) or analog (7-8) input, which tells us that Horizon360 can be used as a full-fledged tube-infused standalone preamplifier. I don’t think that many owners would exploit it as such, but the option to do so is there. When powered on, the device engages the soft-start procedure that lasts 60 seconds. Then for three seconds we see the selected input and volume level shows up thereafter. The top panel can accommodate too many tubes to list here. In general, the rectifier (5U4G, 274B, GZ34 etc.) takes the spot the closest to the front. Then follows a quad of output buffers (KT66, KT88, KT120, EL34, 6550 etc.) and two voltage converters in the middle (6SN7, VT-231, CV181 etc.). There’s also a ton of tubes without the fitting pinout and/or bases, but still feasible to use via adapters. The business end from left to right sports a fused IEC inlet with the main on/off rocker, ground connector, twin XLR outputs (7Vrms), one of each RCA output (3.5Vrms) and input plus one XLR inlet, followed by six digital inputs: I2S on HDMI (PS Audio standard), coaxial RCA, Toslink, Taiko XDMI, AES/EBU and USB. Four short reversed pyramidal footers under Horizon360 match the enclosure aesthetics yet are easily outclassed on sonics. While this is a phenomenal DAC as is, a quality power cord and specifically hard decouplers will make it far happier.LampizatOr Horizon360 is a fully balanced (quad mono) affair front to back, designed to work without operational amplifiers or any form of feedback, be it local or global. More interestingly, about 80% of this product is the PSU that spreads across 17 separate lines to power all the individual circuits. The digital section enjoys its own toroidal transformer with ten secondary windings, outsourced from the local company Torioidy.pl. The neighboring similarly sized toroid with the same logo provides anode voltage and heating for tubes other than pentodes, while a dedicated EI transformer by the Polish guru Leszek Ogonowski handles heating exclusively for those. The two smaller EIs of the same origin are input chokes. Miflex paper-in-oil types are the DC decoupling caps based on true copper sheets instead of more common vapor-deposited copper layers on various foils. Tube sockets are excellent Teflon specimens with gold pins. For many years LampizatOr DACs rocked Amanero USB receivers, but Horizon360 features a JL Sounds asynchronous USB-to-I2S converter with opto-isolated input and piggybacked clock board with two high-tier Crysteks for 44.1/48kHz sample-rate families. This entire circuit is powered from the two PSUs on floating grounds, which are fed from transformer windings dedicated just for them. The D/A board features its own twin Crysteks and modern high-spec ΔΣ chips for PCM and DSD data. Here it is worth knowing that folks at LampizatOr put a lot of effort into writing their own code that controls the behavior of the entire digital stage. This is in large part the reason why Horizon360 sounds the way it does. Should they change that software, the machine’s voicing will audibly alter, too. Pentodes installed in it are used as triode loads, buffers and voltage stabilizers at the same time. As such they don’t exceed 25% of their full nominal power and effectively remain in the cruise mode no matter what. Dual triodes serve as output voltage converters and then some, so aren’t drivers. Volume attenuation occurs inside a stack of two boards busy with resistors and relays, so in the good ol‘ analog fashion. Now let’s find out how all this translates to sonics.First I should briefly explain what motivated me to finance the 1st-gen Pacific DAC. Ever since that had happened, I’ve been vocal about its profile built upon quickness, openness, directness, accuracy, precise outlines, immediacy and large virtual sound sources, which always served up close and personal make a spatially enveloping at times spookily intimate perspective that becomes quite mental when a recording allows. This highly engaging presentation infused with all the listed high-performance assets effectively put me on stage that felt very much alive, three-dimensional and breathing. The imaging fiends aka Vox monitors additionally reinforced the effect. The Pacific proved so competent in this specific regard that I saw no real alternative to it. This also was one of the key reasons why for a long time it held the position of a DAC that was second to none by my standards. To put that into a perspective, prior to the Pacific’s arrival in 2018 I considered the Golden Gate as already very snappy, agile, open, articulated and all in all groomed for high-RPM direct sound… until it wasn’t. I just had to encounter a far superior machine to notice that. Their confrontation day stigmatized the latter as lazier on bass, withdrawn and nowhere near as clear, controlling, spatially sorted and impactful. Against the Pacific, the Golden Gate’s sound was polite and hooded in a way that didn’t sit right with me any longer. The decision to trade it in, fork out the difference and treat myself with the successor was a large quality leap that felt fully justified. On a side note, the Pacific loaded with KR Audio 5U4G rectifier and LV300B output tubes proved substantially more investigative than I’d initially thought. That particular upshot made my reviewer life noticeably easier.While I had more than one chance to upgrade my Pacific to its 2nd or 3rd version, I just saw no point and never did. In my system with sundry efficacious accessories and tubes to my liking, it simply performed too well to bother. No DAC sent to me since 2018 posed any real threat to it. That LampizatOr was bulletproof. I also knew that at a performance level this high, any alternative capable of providing a noticeable quality hike would be a very tall financial order. The list of those attractive enough to at least entertain the possibility of making any such moves was a blank page. Then the first Horizon showed up and within hours turned things upside down. If any product could clearly outshine the Pacific, this had to be it. While that wasn’t an issue per se, the perception of my daily driver after several hours spent with the newcomer surely was. The magnitude of audible shifts past moving from one device to another was drastic, the quality gap between them criminally large. That’s the gist.The LampizatOr core voicing as I’ve known it up to this point put effortlessness, might, gargantuan imaging, firmness, articulation, wide dynamic contrast, clarity, directness, radiance, textural wetness and vividness above substance, density, warmth and roundness. No wonder, Łukasz has always been big on dipole and high-eff speakers. The combination of their inherent traits gets us sound that’s predominantly big, ballsy, quick and dynamically broad. Many his DACs followed that exact tuning. The Pacific sat the closest to it as far as I could tell. As exciting and all in all spectacular as it was, the 1st-gen Horizon loaner quickly rendered it as noticeably hollow, skinny, nervous, spatially shallower and narrower, texturally matte, dynamically constrained and effectively quite innocent. The Pacific couldn’t hold its position in any regard, let alone coming on top. In comparison to the new flagship it essentially sounded like a shadow of itself that wanted to keep up yet sensibly struggled. No, it didn’t have a bad day. The pentode-infused sibling was simply this much better, so I enjoyed it while I could. Past its departure my audio system had a week-long time off, which I felt was necessary to enjoy the Pacific again.While my first rodeo with the Horizon was short, it fully sufficed to see this DAC as the next obvious target rather than a potential prospect. To add salt to injury, even when connected to the 915R preamp via RCAs just to give the single-ended Pacific a fair chance, the Horizon remained the clearly superior specimen still. The use of its balanced output only enlarged the audible gap between these products. With that lay of the land out of the way, let’s now move to the comparison of the two Horizon versions. Both loaners saw the same power cords and outlet multiplier. They were also constantly powered on and had their volume circuits bypassed, and each rocked the same tubes. To make the necessary rotations, I had to manually reconnect one XLR set and USB leash. Since the Horizon360 outputs signal higher than the original, the volume level on my preamp had to be compensated by about 6dB to achieve the same SPL.I wasn’t sure whether my bias towards the 1st-gen Horizon got the better of me or not, but right off the bat I liked it more than its younger sibling. Early on the former seemed quicker, more articulated and specific on instrumental and vocal outlines, which were rendered closer to the listening seat and naturally larger. In that sense the original Horizon felt spicier and very much in line with the manufacturer’s usual house sound. At that time I thought of it as the Pacific on an ungodly amount of steroids. Meanwhile, Horizon360 felt less flashy and mechanical, but more tangible, grounded and collected, fuller and a touch darker. As such it didn’t want to reveal all its aces right away. Rather, it grew on me gradually one song at a time. The original Horizon emphasized copious amounts of freshness and excitement that felt very familiar, so my focus was mainly on all the speedy traits that it flaunted. Once I fully accommodated to the newer sibling’s profile however, the same kind of intensity and zesty aroma registered, but also so much more. Atop exceptional dynamic potency, off-the-charts imaging skills, effortlessness etc., Horizon360 dug sensibly deeper, hit harder, packed the extra heft and textural fruitiness into virtual outlines, sounded gutsier and eventually emerged as a higher-tiered more mature model of the two. That wasn’t the end of it.Just to clarify, the 1st-gen Horizon was very listenable. In comparison to the evolved sibling however it produced sound that was frostier, leaner, shinier, a touch pointier and more incisive. It also packed the closest sound sources inside thinner frames. This resulted in the well-defined angle that catered mainly to the audience in pursuit of the ultimate speed, directness, articulation, openness and the here and now sensation. Horizon360 went about its business without any sensible bias. The longer it was on the job, the more competent and polished it proved on all the fronts I could think of and cared about. On agile radiant tracks it easily matched the first Horizon’s quickness, snap, clarity,  pronunciation, detail retrieval, background blackness and electric demeanor yet brought greater tonal mass, wider dynamic span, deeper bass reach, higher energy and greater overall might to the table. While on sensual calm acoustic fare busy with a single vocal line it was just as smooth, intimate and delicate, it upped the ante on juiciness, expressiveness, suchness, seductiveness and color provision. On spatially complex music it was more organic, moving and vivid, and also noticeably more gifted as far as the visibility of contents behind the closest plane was concerned. This long list of achievements is fit for a machine that’s as good as they come.Unsurprisingly, the Horizon360 also brilliantly handled the most dynamically challenging music I had on my playlist. That doesn’t quite encapsulate how sensibly fiendish it truly was on such tasks. The level of elasticity, control, composure, crack, feistiness, fullness and sheer aural freedom it offered during very loud playback was prohibitively high. Most importantly, the latest LampizatOr was beyond effortless in its delivery, as if this rare skill was just another obvious position on its broad menu and nothing special to gush over. Elegantly casual atop wickedly powerful and enormously large is the best I have to communicate what I really want to say here. Neither have I ever experienced anything like this in a DAC, nor I’ve encountered one that sounded this intense, gravitational, spatially liberated, meticulous, resolute and complete at the same time. Let me put it this way. If the 1st-gen Horizon were a speaker, I’d see it as a purist full-ranger inside a large folded horn and mindfully curated stereo system. The successor would’ve been topologically the same, but on a far better amp and with a standalone intelligently crossed RiPol support on the side. While both would fare similarly, the latter would simply do noticeably more and much easier at that. That’s the takeaway. Let’s wrap.

Without proper context, LampizatOr Horizon360 may seem absurdly costly. If you see it as such, I can’t blame you. This clearly is a proposition for shoppers accustomed to such insane expenses and familiar with the brand. Then again, we live in times where €200k DACs are a thing. I don’t know how today’s subject compares to any of these, but that doesn’t diminish its silly-high status considering what it already does and represents. Superbly voiced and visually brilliant, in my listening room it behaved and felt like a top-tier affair primed to compete with anything out there no matter how costly. Lastly, while it surpassed the original Horizon by a fair margin, it’s also accurate to say that it casually mopped the floor with the Pacific and left a bloody crime scene behind. For me as a long-time LampizatOr user, this essentially means two things. One, the company’s Horizon360 offers very real progress that fully deserves the red below. Two, this status quo also justifies my decision to finance this monster. Saving paid off, so now it can be mine. Happy days.

Associated Equipment:

Retail prices of reviewed components in EU (incl. VAT):

  • LampizatOr Horizon360: €67’650
  • Horizon->Horizon360 upgrade: €6’900
  • Graphite Audio footers: €600/3
  • KBL Sound XDMI cable: €2’900
  • KBL Sound XDMI Extrema cable: €5’000

 

Manufacturer: LampizatOr

 

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