On spec. At just 25.5cm wide, 25cm deep and 5cm tall—add 2.5cm for the spikes—our Laiv is quite petite and just 20mm wider than my 'half' kit from Enleum, iFi, Lhy and Singxer. Access to its menu is by frontal button then the rotary/push control for navigation; or by remote. The rotary also selects inputs. The display extinguishes by short press of the power button. Max output voltage is 2.07Vrms on RCA, twice that on XLR. Optical/coax support 192 PCM no DSD, USB/I²S PCM 768 and DSD 256. I²S supports eight different pin configurations. Their selection is menu driven and for other Laiv gear requires no user intervention. NOS/OS and ± phase are user selectable again. The included alignment card helps fix the locations for the spike shoes before one sets down the component. The display shows selected input by small icon; whether oversampling and phase inversion are engaged; PCM/DSD file type; external/internal clock; and input/output sample rates. Display brightness has three states. Delayed display dim can be set to 5/10/20 seconds or never. The remote can control two different devices. The so-called 'shape' function of triangle or square sets the correct pairing. A 115/230V selector is accessed without having to remove the bottom panel. No need for a factory rewire should we move continents to a different wall voltage.

Positioning the R2R ladder cards upright reduces their foot print hence impact on chassis width. The spike-shoe setup mat pulls out the front after installation.

The only thing other than make chai which our Harmony DAC won't do is change volume. It's a fixed DAC. We need to follow up with a preamp or integrated amplifier. Presumably Laiv's forthcoming HP²A headphone amp too will make an excellent perfectly stackable and cosmetically continuous companion. There's even the option to do volume in the digital domain via Audirvana & Co. Most purists simply prefer to present their converter with a full-scale signal.

To wrap my virtual inspection prior to getting hands on, in my mind Laiv had ticked all boxes. Particularly their I²S auto configuration between Laiv kit struck a happy nerve when many competitors rely on play-it-by-ear fiddling with dip switches or obscure button combos to trigger a phase-correct DSD-happy handshake between sender and receiver. It's all down to no industry standard for how to assign pins for external I²S transmission; and which plug type to use¹. The Harmony DAC does I²S mode selection by remote so comfortably from the seat.

Making two remote buttons assignable as shortcuts is more emphasis on user friendliness. Likewise for displaying output and input sample rates. It shows when a source applies hidden resampling to for example 48kHz. Lastly, how many brands offer silver and black remotes? In my book team Laiv showed mature consideration in their choices then cranked desirability to 11 not just with slick styling but the promise of a complete set of electronics within a year's time.
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¹ The number of active conductors used for I²S makes for far more than eight possible combinations. Laiv thus focus on the most common ones. It's still possible that certain outliers won't lock correctly; in which case you'll use this DAC on another input.

Denafrips were arguably first to put high-end Sino DACs into the West's mainstream for en-masse coverage and acceptance. Early last year Cen.Grand pinged our communal radar with another proposal. Where Denafrips promote discrete R2R with high-rate PCM/DSD support, Cen.Grand resample all to DSD up to 1'024. Denafrips support I²S, Cen.Grand do not. Denafrips don't do displays, Cen.Grand do. Laiv from the Lion City would seem to fall in-between. Then Cen.Grand and Denafrips both expanded into preamps and power amps. Laiv's road map shows like intentions with two surprises. One, GaNFet monos suggest class D which their Chinese colleagues haven't attempted yet. Two, Denafrips still don't offer a streamer with integral display. Cen.Grand's has been teased but not released yet. Laiv's is already modelled. This team appear committed to waste no time pulling even or overtaking their most obvious competitors. The 'designed in Singapore, assembled in China' silkscreen on the back explains how Laiv approach being competitive. Of course no shiny business plan matters a mole hill if buyers won't pull the trigger. Often that's about support. Aune, Gustard, Musician, Singxer, smsl & Topping trade through large portals like Ali Baba, Amazon and Aoshida. For many shoppers a $2'700 ask like today's warrants more specialized pre/post support. Here Weng Fai's apprenticeship at Vinshine Audio promises full recognition of Western expectations and proven strategies to cater to our spoilt-for-choice lot. The Laiv website and shop certainly looked oriented along those lines already. Happy days?

All round buttons are subtly textured with a tight spiralling surface.

Factory reset accessed in the menu insures them just in case. FPGA-loaded firmware opens doors to future updates/upgrades without a return to the Singapore day spa. Should new firmware launch, it'll be user installable. PS Audio for one have made continuous firmware updates a unique selling point for their digital kit. Ditto ferrum. That's not just about new features but sonic progressions. It's also a benefit embedded in discrete R2R. Rather than rely on the closed architecture of an off-the-shelf IC from the usual suspects, digital diskretniks manipulate the behaviour of their conversion tech in software code. New code controlling the resistor ladders can mean superior sonics a few years down the line. Rather than just get older, such gear can get better over time. It's digital's approximation of selling future proof like modular analogue swaps boards, AGD's class D rolls output stages. From the perspective that hifi hardware represents legit tech investments, upgradeability can be important. To check our status, the Harmony's 'about' menu layer displays the current firmware version. The factory warranty is 24 months. Dispatch time from Singapore obviously depends on destination and tail winds. For me a Wednesday pickup by FedEx had the package in and out of Guangzhou, Cologne and Paris the next day and available for clearance at Shannon airport early on Friday. Would it quickly whisk past the inspector to still make the white delivery van on the same day? Would it languish in storage over the weekend? I'd have considered it a speedy delivery either way. But with an 'out for delivery' note by 8'10" AM the same Friday, two days from Singapore to our door by the river it really was. The Laiv DAC sure had its hustle on. Knowing of my disdain for black hifi wherever a silver option awaits, Weng Fei had shipped me a light version. Choices. They're nice to have. For a maker they're a royal pain. You never know what finish will be more popular to inventory accordingly. Imagine having full shelves of the wrong colour whilst you must back-order eager clients who want what you no longer have. "Would you mind waiting eight weeks and not shop the competition instead?"