Back to the DAC

I haven’t heard it and I’m sure it’s nice, but the LAiV at first glance looks to me like an 8 pound, half-sized, $1,700 Chinese R2R mini DAC.

In a nice case and box. With a $2,700 price tag.

Obviously, size doesn’t matter (says the Tambaqui to the Playback Designs and others). And of course almost everything has gotten smaller and cost 35-40% more over the last year or three.

So maybe smaller size for higher cost is the new normal. 

@westborn I'm sure all the reviewers that LAiV is sending their DAC to get to keep it. They are spending that $1,000 difference on marketing, I bet.

Latest update from Bricasti:

"It going to be a few weeks, the panel is off the machine and is now being blasted and will need to be sent for platting"

@navyachts - could very well be. I’m not sure how the reviewer compensation or accommodation works nowadays.

Although chips and DAC tech and architecture are obviously excluded (duh), my observation was more of a frustration with mini products with higher prices in this inflation-driven world.

And a disclosure - aesthetically, I just prefer standard 17"-19" components in my main system|rack. I have and love a Musetec DA-005 with lots of power supply regulation. It is a delta/sigma ES9038 Pro based DAC and weighs almost 25 pounds. So it could kick any 8 pound, half width DAC’s butt !! LOL ☺

The LAiV Dac caught my eye even though it's a Dac from China.  I would just have trouble putting major dollars into a Dac with a technology that seems to change a lot with better products.