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Denafrips vs. HOLO vs. LAIV vs. Musician

I’ve been looking at R2R DAC’s and came up with this list:

LOWER COST ~$1,000.00+

LAIV uDAC

Holo Cyan 2

Denafrips Ares 15th

Musician Pegasus II


HIGHER COST ~$2,000.00+

LAIV HArmony

Denafrips Pontus 15th

Musician Aquarius


Does anyone know how they compare in sound quality? This is for a CD only setup - no streaming. I listen to rock, pop, and techno. No classical or acoustic music.

cdc
cdc OP
1,929 posts
 

@kofibaffour Thanks for the advise.

romanesq
121 posts
 

Direct reports I'm hearing say the LAIV uDAC beats out the Holo Cyan. You don't have the connection switching problems either with the Cyan's auto-sense switching. 

I'd try the LAIV uDAC myself and would like to hear how good it is in my system. 

wswedenb
1 posts
 

@cdc  Did you ever end up trying out some of the DACs?  I currently use a Musician Draco and am enjoying it so far.  I want more of that refinement/space/separation more on the neutral side, but still dynamic and engaging to enjoy the music vs sitting here analyzing it too much.  Currently looking into Laiv uDAC, Gustard R26, or Holo Cyan 2 as my favorites.

soix
11,242 posts
 

@wswedenb  Another option would be to add a DDC before your Draco.  I run i2S from a Denafrips Iris to my Pegasus (original version) and the improvement was on the level of upgrading to a much better DAC — pretty amazing actually.  Just another option to ponder FWIW. 

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