[Chibs]

Iam really confused and have been sitting on the dac fence for a few years now. The others that appealed to me, only by reviews alone are the T+A Dac200 and the Wave dream. The chord line seems to be due for a replacement, so not considering them at the moment. If money wasnt an issue I would get an Esoteric N-05XD, but sadly it is. So Considering the Laiv, as Iam looking for a neutral and resolving, but natural sounding dac. Rest of my chain is all tubes, so a warm dac will make it all too sleepy I guess.

I’m assuming you’re unable to demo or buy with a good return policy?
It’s tough going off of reviews alone so I understand your hesitation. Especially since the rest of your chain is tube based (so many variables!) I wouldn’t necessarily dismiss Chord because they’re due for an upgrade. Good sound won’t go out of style. There’s always going to be something new around the corner and you’ve already waited a few years. Everything you’ve listed including the Harmony DAC is a decent choice though. Look at the features they offer you and how they fit into your use case. Just my 2 cents. Good luck deciding!

 

[Chibs]

Is there a Laiv harmony review in the works from you Mr. Chibs? -fan of your channel

Thanks man! Yes, definitely in the works

 

[wrxsti09]

I’m assuming you’re unable to demo or buy with a good return policy?
It’s tough going off of reviews alone so I understand your hesitation. Especially since the rest of your chain is tube based (so many variables!) I wouldn’t necessarily dismiss Chord because they’re due for an upgrade. Good sound won’t go out of style. There’s always going to be something new around the corner and you’ve already waited a few years. Everything you’ve listed including the Harmony DAC is a decent choice though. Look at the features they offer you and how they fit into your use case. Just my 2 cents. Good luck deciding!

Thanks sir..I agree good sound never goes out of style

Iam not averse to considering a Chord dac if its sounds natural. My only requirements are a massive sound stage and real sounding voices and instruments. The level of detail or precision of imaging dont really matter much. From my reading alone, I get the impression that R2R dacs do this better than chip based dacs. And I have no idea how Chord's FPGA based dacs measure in this parameter. Hence my curiosity.

I think most modern dacs will out resolve what I already have. I did try a gustard X26 pro at home to see how far dacs have come. And it probably had a smidge more detail compared to my aging Esoteric K-01 CD player used as a dac, when both were fed from my Lumin U1X streamer. But it was not an apples to apples comparison, as I was testing DSD into the X26 pro via a Tellurium black 2 usb cable. And normal 44 khz via a hifidelity coaxial cable into the esoteric. So both formats and cables were different. But the esoteric still had a very noticeably wider sound stage and more dynamic impact.

Considering my above tests at home, felt that I cannot sacrifice sound stage size for that smidge more detail. Hence, my search for a dac that has a massive sound stage size, and sounds more natural like live music if possible. Though Iam aware that a dac singularly cannot make my system sound live. But no harm trying

 

[adeadcrab]

Thanks sir..I agree good sound never goes out of style

Iam not averse to considering a Chord dac if its sounds natural. My only requirements are a massive sound stage and real sounding voices and instruments. The level of detail or precision of imaging dont really matter much. From my reading alone, I get the impression that R2R dacs do this better than chip based dacs. And I have no idea how Chord's FPGA based dacs measure in this parameter. Hence my curiosity.

I think most modern dacs will out resolve what I already have. I did try a gustard X26 pro at home to see how far dacs have come. And it probably had a smidge more detail compared to my aging Esoteric K-01 CD player used as a dac, when both were fed from my Lumin U1X streamer. But it was not an apples to apples comparison, as I was testing DSD into the X26 pro via a Tellurium black 2 usb cable. And normal 44 khz via a hifidelity coaxial cable into the esoteric. So both formats and cables were different. But the esoteric still had a very noticeably wider sound stage and more dynamic impact.

Considering my above tests at home, felt that I cannot sacrifice sound stage size for that smidge more detail. Hence, my search for a dac that has a massive sound stage size, and sounds more natural like live music if possible. Though Iam aware that a dac singularly cannot make my system sound live. But no harm trying

You may like a tube based DAC such as the Lampizator Baltic.

As a general rule, for staging, tubes -> R2R -> Delta Sigma.

 

[obstacleofaffliction]

Deleted

 

[OhmsClaw]

Thanks sir..I agree good sound never goes out of style

Iam not averse to considering a Chord dac if its sounds natural. My only requirements are a massive sound stage and real sounding voices and instruments. The level of detail or precision of imaging dont really matter much. From my reading alone, I get the impression that R2R dacs do this better than chip based dacs. And I have no idea how Chord's FPGA based dacs measure in this parameter. Hence my curiosity.

I think most modern dacs will out resolve what I already have. I did try a gustard X26 pro at home to see how far dacs have come. And it probably had a smidge more detail compared to my aging Esoteric K-01 CD player used as a dac, when both were fed from my Lumin U1X streamer. But it was not an apples to apples comparison, as I was testing DSD into the X26 pro via a Tellurium black 2 usb cable. And normal 44 khz via a hifidelity coaxial cable into the esoteric. So both formats and cables were different. But the esoteric still had a very noticeably wider sound stage and more dynamic impact.

Considering my above tests at home, felt that I cannot sacrifice sound stage size for that smidge more detail. Hence, my search for a dac that has a massive sound stage size, and sounds more natural like live music if possible. Though Iam aware that a dac singularly cannot make my system sound live. But no harm trying

R2R Dac + Tube Pre + TOTL power amp class A

The Tube buffer DAC's like the Pagoda are cool in that you can upgrade the chip with unicorn gold crown chips and Tube roll your buffer stage, but that's alot of work(research and tracking sales) and money for being limited to red book rates.

 

[BlackMagic]

Rest of my chain is all tubes, so a warm dac will make it all too sleepy I guess.

I perhaps delve into reviews more than most – enthusiast first and foremost. I’m fairly familiar with High-Fidelity’s reviews (also preferring CD source), having owned some of the gear he’s reviewed over the years. Whilst not stated exactly (unfortunately), in use are the Ayon CDP + Ayon Spheris III Preamplifier – into a very resolving/transparent (apparently) Soulution 710 Amplifier.

The Ayon gear are Tube designs (so some cumulative flavour ?) – countered by the ‘unflavoured’ Amp. In his review of the Soundaware DAM 1 (which he liked) : “However, I preferred the sound with an external Preamplifier”. So he likes a ‘little’ warmth. Nit-picking but to be fair, I don’t expect him to remember everything he’s written - “The (Harmony) has no output signal regulation, it is a "pure" DAC. And good. I know from experience that it is better to leave this function to external devices”. Not always the case, in another of his Dac reviews with which I’m familiar.

I’m still waiting for my unit but in the meantime I should get a used Topping Pre90 tom – does not break the Bank and according to most transparent. However, one Tuber claims in use, it coloured the sound. You can’t win. There’s a couple more reviews in the pipeline, with different viewpoints, so may add some things to the mix. Mr. ‘Twittering’, probably paired with his Tube Amp but if others on hand maybe those.

 

[]eep]

J

You may like a tube based DAC such as the Lampizator Baltic.

As a general rule, for staging, tubes -> R2R -> Delta Sigma.

That's really comparing apples and pears. Only SD DACs need amplification by tubes or opamp. R2R (except some old IC based) do not need tubes. In my experience tubes don't inject any magic. I have a lot of tube gear bit i don't like tube buffers. In most cases (I'm not saying always) tubes just add harmonic distortion and noise. If you add tubes to a sigma delta you will never get the benefits of R2R. Simply put: tubes won't get rid of the pre-ringing of SD.

I like my tubes straight up. Doing amplifying. Not adding some sound. The tube gear I have (had) never sound tubey, warm or rounded. They sound neutral just with more natural midrange and treble. Bass is always loose (poweramps).

Sorry WRX... technical talk is basic understanding of what sound you can expect. If you don't understand or like to read it, just skip it.