Country of Origin
Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Sonnet Pasithea, Laiv Audio Harmony; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Vinshine Audio x Kinki Studio Dazzle & Gold Note PA-10 Evo in mono on subwoofer; Headamp: Enleum AMP-23R; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Exact Express Flame, Furutech; Power delivery: 2 x Kinki/Vinshine Tai Hang on amps and source stack, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, AudioQuest FogLifters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Preamp: Hattor ARP-S; Active analog xover: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box II; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos; Loudspeakers: ModalAkustik MusibBoxx; Subwoofer: Zu Method; Cable loom: Exact Express Earth; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra, Akiko Audio Corelli Corundum & Castello Solo; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Furutech cable lifts, Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
2nd headfi system: DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Headphones: Raal 1995 Magna, HifiMan Susvara
Desktop system: Source: HP Z2 work station Win11/64; USB bridge: LHY UIP; DAC + Head/preamp: Audalytic DR70 + HP70 both on LHY LPS-80 Dual; Speaker amps: Topping B200 monos; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Viper; Headphones: Final D-8000, aune SR7000, FiiO FT7
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3
2nd upstairs speaker system: Source: FiiO R7; DAC/pre: COS D1; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-M7; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Cobra [on loan]
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Dynaudio 18S; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: $849 ex VAT
Com, no dot. Having just basic etymology, you'll be aware. Complaint combines two words: 'com' meaning with; and 'plaint' tracing back to the Latin plangere for to strike, lament or beat one's breast. Having deciphered 'com', we see that to commiserate means sharing someone's misery rather than causing it. Likewise for compassion. It includes the other and isn't just passion for ourself. Ditto commission. When ordering someone to build or design something for us, we embark on a joint mission; together. If I had a complaint about Laiv Audio's maiden Harmony DAC, it was its lack of volume control and native DSD. If I had a complaint about adding their HP²A preamp, it was being a far more powerful headphone amp than most will ever need whilst approaching €6K for the combo. If as a commiserating punter by proxy I were to commission Laiv's Weng Fai Hoh to comfort our community with an easier solution, it'd result in today's Crescendo Verse.
How so? Let's count the ways. It's a discrete 768kHz R2R ladder DAC with native DSD512 and AKM 4137EQ sample-rate converter. It has a solid 1.1wpc/32Ω on its 4.4mm/5.1Ω headphone port, about 1/4th on 6.3mm. It has standard 2V/4V on 41Ω RCA and 82Ω XLR pre-outs. It does 3-stage headfi gain. It packs a 20×7 dot-matrix LED display, I²S with eight menu-powered pin configs. The lot crams into a stylish silver or black case of just 16.8×18.8x5cm. To bag the loot takes $849 ex VAT. It's a compact component of good company. Combative cynicism instantly suspects major compromises. Alas, such cynicism goes into a coma just after winning the booby prizes of plastic wand and 15V/2A external switcher. Other than those two obvious enablers of a friendlier sticker, nothing gives away how cost cutting versus the Harmony DAC was done. The R2R ladders remain discrete. They don't hop onto a postage-stamp or smaller IC. Past the R2R converter then chip-based analogue volume control, the discrete output stage leads to the buffered pre-outs whilst fronting a separate again discrete fully balanced class A headphone power module. The chassis remains excavated from solid, the styling luxurious.
Feeling compelled by so much good 'with', I accepted this review request despite a February 14th embargo promising a rash of YouTube reviews dropping said day like a synchronized airborne invasion. I usually swear off participating in commercial carpet bombing. But all things comsidered, here I felt like taking one for the team. As it happened, another site broke the embargo three weeks early to remove it for everyone else so things were back to publish-as-you-like normal. To delve deeper into Verse, see its manual. It'll have you appreciate my weakened resolve. Whist wrapping up word games, in musical notation crescendo means going louder. With Verse, Laiv clearly mean to make noise. They want to become relevant to a bigger audience for whom the Harmony models are out of range. With the brand having collected global acclaim for those, Verse would ride into County Clare on a ground swell of good will; even till: "The word 'verse' comes from the Latin versus for a line, row or furrow. It created a metaphor of a farmer turning a plow to start a new line in the field which then applied to a writer turning their pen to begin a new line of writing or poetry. It eventually referred to a line of poetry or song." Laiv's naming is rich in meanings; and indicative of a forthcoming likely short range to not overlap the seven-deep Harmony series. I imagine a stereo amp to continue or complete Crescendo's integration credo. If so, chassis size predicts class D in the tune of GaNFet which Laiv already have experience in. External switch-mode power is part of the compact Crescendo recipe. Might a multi-port linear power supply be down the pike? Wait'n'see shall answer whatever multiverse Verse might eventually become part of. For now it's the first member of team Crescendo. How loud would it go?
In this render, Verse sits on Chorus to tease another Crescendo attraction.
