LAIV Harmony

@sns Thanks for sharing. I am used to hearing capacitor leaks but not resistor drifts. There are a few hundred of them in r-2r dac. Time/effort measuring and replacing them might be overwhelming. I am no expert in this and definitely not custom to learn r-2r dac might become a potential maintenance item after one spends a few thousand dollars with it.

In term of sigma delta dac, my preference is always Akm over Ess primarily because the two Akm based Dac I had sound more smooth than Ess-based.  And ironically the only Ess-based one I had is the most expensive one which sounds a bit dry and edgy.  I knew the implementation determines the SQ not the chip itself. Hope the 9038pro chip which can only be found in higher end dac will sound better.  But I were sort of leaning toward r-2r dac when it comes to higher spending on a Dac until leaning drifts issue from you...

Well, the Harmony DAC has a resistor bank that you could just replace them all in one shot for each channel. A lot of DACs use surface mount resistors and they would be very difficult to measure, and almost impossible to replace on the main board.

I've had two components develop issues due to age. A solid state amp and a tube preamp.  Seems to me that components can fail in any piece of electronics.  I like the performance of my Gustard r2r dac, so I think I'll hang onto it and see what happens. 

No such thing as resistor drift for ladder-type DAC's. They use metal-film resistors - not the old carbon comps. Another non-issue by the neurotically obsessed!

Okay, Bourne, now we’re labeled obsessive neurosis (ON). Yes, metal film or modern carbon composite resistors are resistant to aging drifts, as you said, but they can still suffer permanent changes in value if subjected to temperature or electrical overloads/high voltage gradients. Maybe with good surge protection, this won’t be an issue—but who knows? (another ON thought)