LAIV Harmony

I’ve been listening to the Harmony for several days now, and between burn-in and playback sessions, I probably have well over 100 hours on the DAC.  I like it very much and have little to add to the positive accounts in this thread about the sonics, other than to add that it puts out the best digital sound that I have ever heard in my setup.

But, I have experienced an issue with the “Track Info” display when playing CDs.  While playing some discs, the track information will blink continuously.  On a few other discs, this problem is intermittent.  This does not seem to be a source issue, as it occurs with both my TEAC transport and an old Yamaha CD player that I am using to burn in the DAC.  The great majority of CDs that I have played so far do not produce the problem. 

I wrote to Weng Fai Hoh about this, and he replied that Laiv is working on a solution, that the problem seems to be confined to coax input, and that the blinking display can occasionally be resolved by changing to another track.

The blinking display is not a deal killer for me, the sound is far too enjoyable, and I simply turn off the display with the remote when it occurs.  I tried the track change hack, and it does work sometimes.  I do have to say that it is mildly annoying, and I hope a firmware upgrade will resolve it.

@smweber2,

Does the blinking occur when playing the same CD/ tracks on both disc spinners, or do different CDs blink randomly on each player?  When intermittent, does the blinking reoccur at the same location on the track when replayed?

Yes, the blinking occurs with both spinners.  I have not noticed any differences in the problem between the two.  The display will sometimes normalize if the track is changed with a command from the remote, and sometimes it doesn't.  It can occur midway through the tracks on a CD, and from the first track on a couple of others.  On CDs that produce blinking from the get go, the problem never responds to a track change or spontaneously resolves.   I have not noticed any predictable location points for intermittent blinking.

I need to emphasize that the problem does not occur with the great majority of CDs that I have played. 

@smweber2

Are these HDCDs by chance?  Just thinking out loud.  Thanks for sharing this issue.  Let us know if/when Weng replies with solution.

I realize that you and I are probably the last two people listening to CDs on earth, but this issue matters.  I will probably give in and subscribe to Qobuz later this year, knowing that when I do so, my CD tower will become a monument.  Oh well.

@audiostick

No, the blinking CDs are all standard redbook.  I have yet to identify a pattern in the incidence of the problem that might shed some light on its origin. But, I'm not grinding my teeth over it.  As you point out, there are only a few of us who still spin CDs, which likely accounts for the absence of comments in numerous audio forums about the blinking display.  I have a streaming set up (Bluesound Node 2i, Tidal subscription) which sounds really good through the Harmony.  I use streaming to find music that I like well enough to buy as CD or LP.  I suppose I am just stubbornly addicted to physical media.