LAIV Harmony

with the issues LAiV is having it cannot be a very good DAC.

@tkrtrb125 That’s not a fair conclusion at all. This is a new product, and it’s not at all unheard of that any new product can have an unforeseen issue. The key is how the company handles it, and in this case LAiV seems to be very responsive in fixing the problem quickly if it arises. Almost all owners/reviewers have been very impressed with its performance especially for the price, which strongly indicates it is indeed “a very good DAC.”

@soix I am not being harsh, QC is not optimized if they are getting faulty boards . As @jayctoy said they may sound good but not reliable. Being responsive is their cooperate responsibility and nothing less should be expected. I maybe throwing the baby out with the bath water but heck the L1011 was a great airplane and Lockheed was responsive after a few crashed due to quality and serviceability issues. This is my opinion and we will see how it comes out in the wash, regardless of the reviews, and I have had the opportunity to hear one, and based on reliability issues it is not a good DAC in my book.

I just purchased Harmony, based on reviews, usb implementation in this dac and R2R dacs in general, I2S input is necessary for best performance. To this end I'll implement either Musician Phoenix or Denafrips Gaia DDC with high quality HDMI cable in order to maximize performance.

I'll be comparing to my Musetec 005, new Musetec 006 coming in same time as Harmony. I'm interested in how these Sabre chip dacs compare to R2R. Some claim Sabre chip dacs not 'natural' sound, I've had many Sabre chip dacs, lack of  natural timbre, tonality is not a universal trait of these dacs in my experience.

With the DDC I'll also have chance to compare I2S vs. USB inputs on the Musetec dacs, Sabre dacs reportedly not as sensitive to clocking as R2R.

My long held assumption is R2R dacs in general not as resolving, transparent as Sabre chip.

@tkrtrb125 What data are you using to back this claim?  So far, I've only seen 2 failures out of an estimated few hundred owners (including myself) reporting overwhelmingly positive experiences across various forums.  I've owned the Harmony since launch and hadn't had a single hiccup, despite using it almost daily.

That's an extremely low failure rate.  Check out a new product launch from a major company like Samsung or even Nvidia to compare.  I actually went through 3 returns on a Samsung TV a few years ago that had the same defects before giving up.  Nvidia literally had meltdowns and fires due to their connector design.  I've since bought another Samsung and they no longer have the issue, but the point is that failures (especially with electronics) are common and expected regardless of the manufacturer or product, which is why warranties exist.

Laiv gives a 3 year warranty and is very responsive.  My credit card doubles that and the DAC itself sounds wonderful.

Your argument is that a ~1% failure rate makes it a bad product that should be avoided?  That's insane.

@pynkfloydd  knock on wood. Stand by what I said, hope you are right and I am wrong. Not sure where you are getting your data on ownership and failures. Couple of forums is not a valid comparison. Enjoy your DAC and keep a fire extinguisher close by.