LAiV Harmony Dac

#10

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:

“Thank 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 doesn’t 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.”
It’s working perfectly.
I’m 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.
I’m 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 “bright” than the other Dacs. I don’t find that to be the case.

StandardModel.

#11

LAiV
LAiV480×640 49.6 KB

LAiV 2
LAiV 2480×640 59.3 KB
LAiV 3

This is my setup with the LAiV as the cherry on top!

StandardModel

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#12

@StandardModel
I can see your a closet audiophile. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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 that’s 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 “bright”; you need to see that in the proper context. I find my Ares to be a bit ‘round’ 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 don’t ‘get’ ladder DACs say that all R2R DACs are rolled off. That is not true. It’s the other way around, FPGA and SD DACs use oversampling, lots of filtering and elaborate I/V stage that causes artificial detail and ‘sparkle’ caused by pre-ringing. Unless you tackle it properly. There are exemptions.
R2R just sounds more ‘real’ (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. I’m not that rich.

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#13

Closet audiophile? I call it WAF. :grinning:

StandardModel

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#14

I’m 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.

#15

I know what you mean with WAF - since mine is gone, my setup growed quickly :rofl:

#16

Schauen Sie sich auch diesen an. Deutsche Verarbeitung. :muscle:t2::+1:t2:

:v:t2:

#17
#18

It’s ugly :grinning:

#19

Yes, but it’s the inner values ​​that count.

:v:t2:

#20

Of course, but when you spend large amounts of money, in my point of view, both performance and form factor and aesthetics are necessary. For this reason I chose the Rose which is aesthetically beautiful and offers high level performance. The next component that I would like to have and that I will certainly purchase will be the LAiv Harmony DAC which presents high level performance and exceptional, if not currently unique, modes of use.

#21

You are absolutely right with your statement.
I just wanted to show what is being developed in Germany. I hadn’t yet tried the expensive high-end ones like T+A or Burmester. (click link below⬇️) I actually just wanted to show that there is also relatively affordable high end.

Speaking of which:

I have the Rose RS520…it still plays and I’m happy with it.

:v:t2:

#22

Ist doch unvergleichbar.
Edit: allerdings nichts gegen den T+A . Das steht doch fĂźr Titten und Arsch? Innere Werte sind schĂśn, aber das Auge will auch was.
Der 200 dac ist vor allem geeignet für native DSD (upsampled by PC), PCM ist eher mittelmäßig. Beide werden getrennt verarbeitet. Also nicht optimal geeignet icm Rose Streamer. /Edit

I know we all like to support our own countries manufacturers and so on and so forth. But you are spamming expensive products that have nothing to do with this topic. On this site.

We were talking about an R2R dac. Which is something Rose Audio is not offering. And a lot of people prefer over Sigma Delta for obvious reasons. That is not competition but an alternative.

Edit: Translated: the T+A has two seperate DACs for PCM and DSD (like from a PC upsampled to DSD). The DSD dac is the main attraction, the pcm dac is just mediocre (good but a lot less competitive at this price level). So the T+A 200 is not really a good match for Rose streamers (unless you have a lot of native DSD music stored).

#23

Hi StandardModel,

one question : Did you plugged the ground cable connection between RS130 and LAIV Harmony ?
What is your expericence on that matter ?

Nice weekend, Christian

#24

Hello Christian,

No, I did not use the ground connection. I didn’t find it necessary. It’s my understanding that a ground is necessary only to stop ground loop noise and I don’t have any that I can hear in my setup.

StandardModel

#25

Hello @StandardModel
How’s your LAiV DAC performing ? Are you using I2S connection ?
I am interested to get one. What’s the cons so far you see ?
Thanks

#26

TomT,

Well, first the bad. Like (according to them) very few others, my input board died. I emailed them on a Sunday and I received a response in hours. A Fed-Ex package was sent to me which I got three days later, The “kit” included a pair of white gloves, a wrist-ground strap new screws and a new warranty sticker to replace the one that had to be removed as well as the small replacement board. A link was given to a YouTube video with step by step instructions. Thirty minutes later, I was back in business.
Some reviewers have said that while it’s very beautifully built, the Holo May Spring is better.
“Lots of hype, but the sober take from GoldenSound on that HeadFi thread sounds like it’s a solid DAC for the money, but not on par with a Holo May or better.” I can’t comment about that because I haven’t heard the Holo May.

I like the sound. It’s a bit on the warmer side like all R2R DACs. It has a wide and deep sound stage.I use the I2s input from my Rose RS130. The LAiV has a really nice feature in that it has a large selection of I2Ss input pin connections which are selected on a menu. All I2s DACs should do that. My last DAC wasn’t compatible with the 130’s meagre selection (2). I’m not a sound expert by any means so all I can really say is that I’m happy with it. Are there better DACs out there for less money? IDK.

StandardModel

#27

Thanks @StandardModel for the quick reply.

I had a friend who bought the Harmony and told me that the DAC is pretty good. So I follow his advice. I already placed my order and it is now on the way shipping to me. It will arrive tomorrow or the day after the latest.

Sorry to hear that your DAC got problem in such a short time. It worries me. But the company responded quickly to address your issue. That at least comforts me a little as there’s no distributor in my region too.

Actually I was waiting for the RD160 but its release date is not yet known, due to some compatibility issues some rumours said. That’s ok to me because delay is better than pushing out an immature product with lots of issues.

My current DAC is the Eversolo DAC-Z8, which is priced around a third of the LAiV.
Frankly, the Z8 is a well-built device and sounds nicely to my ear. However, since I never used R2R DAC before and there’s no news about the RD160, so I am still pretty excited to find out how the Harmony is going to sound in my system.

Are there better DACs out there for less money ? I don’t know either.

Have a good weekend
Tom

#28

In my opinion there are no better DACs at a lower price but there are certainly ones with a different musical character both at the same price and even higher, that is, ones that have an unequal presentation of the sound message. At these high levels of quality, it remains only a personal choice and the real protagonist is the context in which it is inserted. The LaiV certainly deserves a high-profile source like the RS130 and in my opinion it performs best with the I2s connection. I am extremely satisfied with it and I have heard several much more expensive R2R DACs, but the harmony is better for me. The maximum quality emerges after at least 100 hours of operation from new, unlike es Denafrips that already arrive broken in from the factory. Replacing the power cable and using a dedicated HDMI cable for the I2s connection is strongly recommended by me. Have fun everyone.

#29

I use the i²s input over an (affordable) DDC now from the RS250. It’s hard to maintain it’s ‘so much better than usb’. I use a good power cable, power filter, good usb etc. Only the hdmi is a standard 4k cable. Just insert the cable and go.

I find the Harmony very natural sounding. What strikes me most is the almost tangible presence of voices, the full bodied sound of a cello, the brush of a cimbals. Very detailed without accentuating highs, or fairy dust twinkle. Instruments sound like they should sound.

I really don’t think you can get better quality sound at this price. Different yes. Better, no.