New toy coming. LAiV Harmony Dac to pair with my RS 130. Does anyone on the forum have any experience with this new piece of bling?
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Congrats, I was thinking about that one as well. Hopefully i2s works for you without issue. Are you going to part ways with the Gustard?
New reviews are coming in, this one is a great read:
duffer5,
Iām going to do my own personal shootout. May the best Dac win. Iām not captivated by the OTT bling or great unboxing experience but Iām very interested in how it sounds in my setup. Iāll let you know what I think when it arrives.
There may be an r26 for sale.
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I am not a fan of the gold bling either but I do like what the reviewers have to say about the audio quality. Very promising.
Iām hopeful that their i2s adjustments will talk to one of theTWO RS 130 configurations.
I think you will have success. Enjoy the new toy.
Hereās another review by iiWi Reviews.
He went crazy over it.
You might want to watch.
Mine arrives today.
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I have been playing it.
It is a work of art.
The sound far surpasses my Gustard R26 r2r Dac.
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How is the i2s working for you?
Duffer5,
This was my question too. I sent them the settings from the RS 130 and asked for his advice. One of the issues is that they only give settings for some of the HDMI pinouts and not all of them. Here was the response of Weng Fai Hoh of LAiV:
āThank you for sharing details about your system setup with me. While the Harmony DAC follows the I2S from PS Audio, the HDMI pin configuration you provided for the Rose RS130 doesnāt seem to match exactly. Based on this information, selecting B mode on your Rose RS130 and Mode 1 on the Harmony DAC should work effectively. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.ā
Itās working perfectly.
Iām actually using the RS130 through I2S and the Mac operating the Bacch4Mac software playing Roon through my iPad. The Mac Mini is connected through USB. I can switch between the Harmony and Roon with Bacch4Mac by changing inputs on the LAiV Harmony Dac.
Iām a long way from an expert on analyzing sound, however I know what I like and it sounds a lot better to me than my Gustard r26 r2r Dac. Some reviewers said was more ābrightā than the other Dacs. I donāt find that to be the case.
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I can see your a closet audiophile. 
I am saving up for the Laiv too.
I have a Denafrips Ares II that is very good but lacks some things that my old dac did better (and added things that that one lacked). The Laiv Harmony ticks many boxes for me.
Great R2R sound without being syrupy
Beautiful design
Usable display
Remote
Small formfactor
Very decent price for the quality offered
Lacks native DSD
Lacks volume control (for direct to monoblocks) will be added by upcoming pre/HP-amp. Not really an issue.
I was saving up for a Denafrips Venus 12th but thatās really bulky in my rack and lacks a remote and proper screen to tell which input and sampling rate.
If some reviewer said it was more ābrightā; you need to see that in the proper context. I find my Ares to be a bit āroundā and syrupy in the highs compared to my old 8xTDA1543 dac I modified. All Denafrips have that non-fatiguing high (especially the Ares). People who donāt āgetā ladder DACs say that all R2R DACs are rolled off. That is not true. Itās the other way around, FPGA and SD DACs use oversampling, lots of filtering and elaborate I/V stage that causes artificial detail and āsparkleā caused by pre-ringing. Unless you tackle it properly. There are exemptions.
R2R just sounds more ārealā (pre-ringing in nature is physically impossible).
Here is another review by Hifi (Steve) Huff who knows his stuff.
I just need to be patient and save up a little longer. Iām not that rich.
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Closet audiophile? I call it WAF. 
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Iām still not sure if I should buy one or not. My current DAC Board is already in a higher range. Maybe I save my money and wait for a used Mola Mola Tambaqui. The design of the Harmony DAC is nice.
I know what you mean with WAF - since mine is gone, my setup growed quickly 