When my input board crapped out, Laiv sent a new one in a few days and the installation video on You Tube was a big help. It took about 1/2 hour, and has been working fine for months now.
- ...
- 208 posts total
I have no dog in this fight, as I own a Denafrips Pontus II with I2S from a Denafrips Iris DDC. I know quality seems to be an issue right now for the Laiv, but if anyone will help get it corrected; it is Alvin Chee at Vinshine Audio (importer for Laiv, Jay's Audio, LHY, Kinki Studio....and formerly Denafrips). He is still bar none, the best and most involved importer I've ever dealt with. Secondly, if anyone is still looking at the Laiv, Vinshine is offering at 10% discount on the Harmony for any of his previous customers. That's $3,300 Singapore dollars, which is $2,540 in US dollars |
First listening sessions with Laiv. Preliminaries: Spent the last few years obsessing over entire steaming chain, all T's crossed and I's dotted, most everything custom and/or off the shelf and modified to some extent. If interested in particulars, on my virtual system page.
In any case, Musetec MH-DA005 has been my reference for the past few years, Delta Sigma using Sabre 9038pro chips, virtually unknown dac without a single professional or youtube video I'm aware of.
My setup employees optimized usb setup, used to have Singxer SU6 for I2S, no longer have provision for this, thus, usb input to Harmony used.
So here we have the Harmony, seems like dac of the month or year or what have you. Not expecting much with these type dacs, flavor of the month and all. On top of that, R2R/ladder dac which I've been biased against as relatively low resolving, overly forgiving topology. So I started off in OS mode, meh, not interesting in the least, over processed, analytical sound, not musical in the least, and the Musetec easily bests it on any analytical scale while being far more musical, natural. So switch to NOS, so ok, this more like it. Like an instant blooming of sound stage and imaging, something like when burning in tubes and they suddenly come on song. Speaking of sound stage, I heard both deep depth and a wide stage, width is one criticism I've seen in some reviews, this not the case here, pretty equal to Musetec here. As for depth, I heard more layering vs Musetec, something that seems to be a specialty of ladder dacs in general. Imaging, very dimensional, each performer individualized on this large sound stage. And size, life size, full bodied, just as they are with Musetec. No doubt modded Klipschorns have something to do with this, large speakers play large in my experience.
Keeping in mind sound stage and imaging are part and parcel of the resolving abilities of our equipment, the Harmony no slouch here, it dug deep and brought out lower level information, much like the Musetec, Transparency up there as well, easily brought performers into room, typical of Musetec and my system in general. Overall, the Laiv presentation very involving.
Speaking of presentation, Harmony vs Musetec. Really hard to get a grasp on this, both very involving in different ways, and most interesting some recordings sound superior on one dac vs the other and vice versa. Very strange how I can't predict which recordings will favor one or the other, sometimes I'd think certain audiophile recordings, lesser recordings, or recordings based on genre or complexity would favor one or the other and I'd be completely wrong! Speaking of particulars, Harmony has this holistic feel, or sense of natural flow that comes closer to replicating vinyl. Musetec presentation highlights inner detail, greater individualization of performers, yet still in a highly cohesive presentation. I find both compelling!
Now for the nits of Harmony, bass easily more prominent, rounder and less articulate than Musetec. Sometimes bass overwhelmed, bringing excessive attention to bass register, could even color certain recording a shade dark.Overall, I prefer Musetec here, bass presentation neutral, simply presents what's on the recording. Still, I wouldn't call the bass problematic, as on some recordings I actually preferred the Laiv, my sense is if the bass on recording is proportional to rest of freq. spectrum Laiv ok, also fine with more natural sounding recordings, Natural resonances of bass instruments fine with Laiv.
The other nit with Laiv concerns a certain loss of composure, organization or ability to individualize performers during complex passages. Mustec retains an even keel with complex passages or recordings with large number of performers. I suspect timing issues at play here, R2R dacs reportedly play better with I2S inputs. This makes sense from a technical viewpoint, large banks of resistors rely on accurate and precise clocking in order to perform best.
Another enigma heard with Laiv, can't get a handle on dynamics just yet, especially the micro kind, just when I think I'm hearing lacking here, suddenly springs to life. I find my attention focused on this certain flat, sameness at times, the breath of life the Musetec does far more consistently seems hit or miss proposition. Could be burn in, believe Harmony may have as little as 50 hours of so on it.
Bottom line, I believe this dac is the real deal, certainly I can hear nits but with some more burn in and/or I2S input I can take up a notch. So, yes, I'd say the nearly universal praise of this dac warranted. With the exception of Hans' pan and Michael Lavorgnia's positive evaluation of OS mode I concur with this being a nice dac regardless of price, could be reference dac for many.
My only issue regarding value is, if this thing requires I2S to reach full potential this means another box, another expense required. In my case, Denafrips Gaia with Audioquest Diamond hdmi cable, $2500 plus $2700 equals $5200. If one already has I2S capability they forego this, but I'm sure many of us don't. Already in house I have the Musetec 005, $3200 retail, in process of burning in newly purchased Musetec 006, $3900, T & A 200 dac available used at around $5k, also the LTA Aero, $3900. These all dacs on my horizon as I switch focus to dacs in the coming year. |
@sns Yeah, I think a trial of the LTA DAC would be a great idea in your case and no i2S option to fret over. If I’m you I’d buy a used Denafrips Iris and a cheap HDMI cable (that’s what I did) just to see what happens — I have a feeling it’d take the Harmony to a significantly higher level, and if it doesn’t just sell it but at least you’ll know. BTW, my Iris isn’t going anywhere unless I eventually upgrade to a Hermes. Just my $0.02 FWIW. |
- 208 posts total