I’m have the Harmony and the HP2A. Habe had them for two weeks. Burnt in over 100 hours.
I have been on the upgrade carousel for some time now. I finally grew disillusioned when MSB started marketing their digital director as a needed upgrade to their Premier. I’d paid over $30k for the Premier and a couple of modules (including their fiber optic USB converter). I have also owned other mid to high end dacs (Chord Dave and TT2 stack, Tambaqui, DCS Lina (the stack), Meitner MA3, Weiss 501, DFripsTerminator and Pontus, Tambaqui.
When MSB pushed it digital director, I started smelling snake oil. I want to be clear for the sake of credibility my finances have improved. This is not about money.
I am also not an objectivist. Measurements are a factor but never the last word. All Dave do not sound the same. However, once a dac is sufficiently well made such that external noise and internal noose/crosstalk are controlled below audible levels, what’s left is the sound signature built into the chip, whether R2R, AKM, ESS or inhouse designs like Meitner/EMM.
The Harmony sounds like a bit the Premier, which was 10x the price. It does what the Premier does. It has that full, lush R2R sound. It offers more resolution and detail than the Premier. I am getting more detail and transient sounds and decay and all of that in a similar sound character as the $30k Premier. I also found that the Premier had a more confused staging, such that I had to adjust my seating position more to get to a cohesive presentation.
This is on an Audio Analogue absolute integrated with Bowers magical D5 speakers. It’s also using various high end headphones out of the HP2A.
the only DAC above that stands out as as memorable as the Laiv is the Tambaqui. It offered similar resolution as the Harmony, with slightly better instrument separation and space/transients around the performers, but a bit less body. Realistic vocals and their transients (breaths, lips etc, if that’s your thing) are better on the Laiv. These are small differences.
I’m a consumer. No money on this. No interest on Laiv. Paid full price from their website. If I have a bias, it’s my long simmering suspicion that my keg was being pulled like a case register lever by these high end manufacturers. For me, Laiv has proven me right.