LAIV Harmony


New company with a new product.  There are several "professional" reviews out there, but not much consumer input here or elsewhere.  Those that have been using now for over a month, what are your thoughts?  What were you using previously and how does it compare?

audiostick

HQPlayer has added correction settings for Laiv’s DACs and it’s definitely the single best upgrade I’ve heard with the Laiv Harmony.

DAC correction support is added to Laiv Micro DAC only, not the Laiv DAC yet at least shown on the HQplayer official website.

https://signalyst.com/dac-correction-support/

DAC correction support is added to Laiv Micro DAC only, not the Laiv DAC yet at least shown on the HQplayer official website.

The correction profile is selectable when the non-micro Harmony is connected and it's also cited on page 20 of their PDF Manual (found in the application folder after installation) alongside the micro Harmony.  The May also shares the correction profile with the Spring, so my assumption is that it's applicable across the range as it sounded fine to my ears.

Feel free to message Jussi to confirm whether the Laiv correction profile universally applies to all their DACs and test for yourself.

 

I also highly recommend installing VB Audio's HiFi-Cable since it enables streaming from additional platforms that aren't supported by HQPlayer:

 

VB-Audio Hi-Fi Cable

I’m a bit surprised I haven’t seen anyone talk about HQPlayer in this thread.  HQPlayer has added correction settings for Laiv’s DACs and it’s definitely the single best upgrade I’ve heard with the Laiv Harmony.

I’ve used HQP with the Harmony DAC with good success for some time - I’ve certainly posted about it but perhaps not on this forum. Thanks very much for the heads up re DAC correction being added and that you’ve found it to be so effective. That’s very encouraging - I look forward to trying this on my return from travelling.

I’ve used HQP with the Harmony DAC with good success for some time - I’ve certainly posted about it but perhaps not on this forum.

I'd be interested in hearing your impressions and what filters you prefer.  I really like the poly-sinc-gauss filters and feel it adds some additional dimensionality to voices and stringed instruments.

I actually avoided trying HQP for quite a while since I thought it'd add too much complexity or limit my streaming to Qobuz.  Was very surprised to learn it's pretty easy to set up and just an extra button click once settings are locked in.