LAIV Harmony

I have compared the Harmony with the latest Denafrips Pontus 15 

on its own with its dual precision clocks and bigger dual o core transformers and now big upgraded capacitors from Japan  sonically a bit richer then the harmony 

that being said I bought the Iris DDC reclocker with the pontus using I2S 

for less then the Harmony ,and they will be running another combo sales my friend said ,using the latest Iris 12 reclocker it 100% exceeds the harmony 

we compared them 2 weeks ago with several other high profile dacs 

I have ve 2-3 audio systems at any given time , my wife is finally on board I go to all the events and audio clubs and let’s me buy Audio on her behalf since I have 40 years + as an Audiophile .

Being semi retired I am going to be settling down soon 

the T+A200 still the best dac under $12k !!

What I can say  is 2 of their new engineers  Cal poly tech , anything going forwards from 15 on dual bigger transformers 80vac dual higher precision clocks   As well as low noise regulators smoothing capacitors much higher quality Evox capacitors from Japan the big white ones ,used in the Terminator , If you want warmer you go with the nos but Tom if you want a bit more leading edge precision and still slightly warm the oversampling ,   Buch better depth of image, vs the harmony I feel better balanced especially with nos or no nos , with the Big silver  gold transformers 

better bass control, asa bonus , what I found is my wife’s Iris 12th DDC reclocker 

is much better then the previous gen and cleans the signal up very nicely runn8ng a hdmi -I2S cable to the dac , for less monies then the harmony ,it is now I feel as good as the Venus 12, now Denafrips had no choice but to design a new Venus 15 coming out in a month. In a Ca. Audio group my brother met one of the new engineers born in China and  great at what he does in digital.

Wig  the pontus 2 my wife has and Iris ddc , my audio buddy 2 towns over has the pontus 12th  the 15th on all their gear is now a generation better with these new engineers ,when Alvin left he took one of Denafrips engineers ,for the harmony  which is a good dac ,  the pontus has non oversampling,and over sampling 

which is good it gives you solid choices  this new dac much better resolution ,then the 12th anniversary which was a bit better, this 15 model is a big jump up  with the Iris 12 ddc added,now  
best inner detail I have heard under $3k instruments have much more depth and dimension ,a drum head you can hear more of the interplay and Macro details 

buying a reclocker is s no brainer  it cleans the signal  before it goes into the dac ,the Hermes better still but $1300.  for $550: for the Newer Iris 12 it is clearly better then my wife’s gen 2 model.  I2S is built into the newer Iris 12 .Wireworld Hdmi uses the same pin out as PS audio  does . Just look inside  on these 15 series dacs vs the previous 12 th. Pretty apparent ,  my unit still needs breakin  ,but my friends has 400 hours ,I bought a older terminator 2 from my brother that is a solid dac , the new one in another league yet to hear it though    Very good technologies in digital are progressing rapidly.

The LAIV is a very good dac but in several respects I feel the Denafrips New 15 

is a bit better in several areas especially low, midBass for it has Large Dual power supplies and much higher end Evos capacitors ,he power supplies not just shared  ,and depth of image a bit better this too maybe do to the power supplies ,leading edge the LAIV is a hair better in imaging  ,but the 15 th has 2 modes  non oversampling and nos, your tweeters character would determine which mode to use .the LAIV being $800 more ,if you throw  in another $400 you can have the Hermes 12  Reclocker which then makes nothing in its price class this good .this  reclocker I find once you put it in your system your dac just is not as clear and defined without it  . The Denafrips Hermes is a bargain at $1200, at our audio gatherings ithe Pontus 15 and Hermes combo beat every dac in its price class and easilly beat the Venus 12 pretty soundly,as well as Holo springs 3. if you have $3200 to spend and use the preferred I2S -hdmi connection .

My favorite dac Best Buy under$12k is still the T+A 200 dac,preamp, which I Donot own . I have decades in audio and mod loudspeakers ,and have had many things upgraded,  parts quality I know well, just  look  compare Apples  to Apples in other brands and build quality,many people forget this very important aspect. the harmony dac should have used separate transformers and power supplies,  that is for example for the Digital to Analog conversion ,then to try to squeeze transformer taps all in one like a integrated amp.vs separates ,this is why monoblocks  have  much better isolation and Sonic purity and ,better bass punch for 1 example.

A Farrari is a great car  but if it has design,reliabity  issues what good is that ? 
remember Microsoft , great new operating system was great but have to work the bugs out ,That is why is why you run proto types ! if they went with a larger 

case and dual transformers power supplies and regulators  better stability 

but at a higher build cost . I owned a Audio store for over  a decade 

and saw everything including digital from the mid 80s to  today it has come a long way , nothing is perfect ,but some issues are preventable.