Tonmeister. Translated verbatim it's (duh) master of tone. How I use it here requires a brief rewind. This upstairs system originally hosted the Denafrips Terminator Plus. That fed I²S off a Soundaware D300Ref USB converter which initially doubled as SD card transport. Nowadays the below FiiO R7 as equivalent 1TB SD USB-C transport feeds the Soundaware. Eventually Sonnet Audio's Pasithea goddess, a multi-paralleled R2R DAC with split processing of its least significant bits and variable reference voltage for no-loss volume, kicked T+ to the curb. But I subsequently found a perfect home for the big Denafrips preceding an elite headfi system ending in HifiMan Susvara, a very e-stat type planarmagnetic. That's where we'll meet it shortly. For now the smaller far lighter €5'900 Dutchie as the rather more keen, lucid and small-detail capable converter had suited this more night-time so lower SPL more intimate system better. That's what the Laiv battled next. To rewind still more, many moons ago I'd commissioned Trafomatic's Sasa Cokic for a pair of EL84-based IT-coupled 25-watt monos. My sonic brief for what became Kaivalya had been "45-type refinement and speed, lower THD, higher linearity, more bandwidth and power." Why I'd pursued those output tubes was for their pentode pungency. It's not the sweetness of certain direct-heated triodes. Unless one has just the right speakers, their sugar'n'cream injection can brook energetic laziness or subjective wading through water to which I'm quite allergic. If I must choose between raw and genteel, I'll go raw any day. The EL84 in Sasa's implementation had pithy tonal robustness and a subtle zing unlike a 45's more aerated etherealness. Merging the Laiv into my upstairs 2024 lane now hit me with a Kaivalya déjà-vu.
Past the DAC comes a Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box II set to a 60Hz/4th-order hi/lo pass. MonAcoustic minis are fed by Kinki's EX-M7 stereo amp, the bass goes to a 2×9½" sealed Dynaudio sub.
Where Pasithea was still more micro-cue obsessed which benefitted layer specificity in the depth domain and then was more lit up on top to feel more quicksilvery/lean, Harmony had more radiant tone and substance. Remarkably, this tonmeister quality didn't step on the brakes. It didn't make the tunes feel slower or portlier. If tone colours had a specific temperature—my wife is our digs' painter so that'd be her department—Laiv's temps were decidedly hotter than Sonnet's. Like romantic passion exudes a certain heat or minor fever, so did my nervous system respond to this fierier colour intensity with more participatory passion. Given how in my experience DACs don't differ that much, I was surprised by how potent this particular quality manifested. Again, I'm quite allergic to the kind of tonal saturation which ages musical energy with fat and heaviness. It's why I've divested myself of all transformer-coupled valve amps for speaker drive. And even in the preamp station where one drives the fixed high input impedance of the following amp, my Vinnie Rossi L2 Signature shuns output iron or coupling caps to instead drive its WE 300B with grounded grids so direct.
To be repetitive, Laiv's take on tone as hotter colour temps caused none of the best Terminator's 'cuddly coziness' to overwrite for emphasis. For someone of my stripes this was rare news and extra special for not relying on real pentodes. It also happened to bed into the rest of my hardware to perfection. I felt eerily ready to sacrifice just a bit of Pasithea's additional micro magnification to bag Harmony's deeper tonal effulgence instead. As Pasithea had retired the Denafrips from this floor as the more insightful and energetic performer, Laiv's tonal course correction without real attendant sacrifices now would put Pasithea out to pasture should audiophile lust and a wanton wallet win the day. There I'll stop before you urge me to get a room already. As long as you have a clear notion on Harmony's tonal tuning, additional personal gushing would be in bad taste. We all fancy different things.
Back in the realm of cold hard reason, Laiv's display/font size and high contrast remained perfectly legible in my listening chair even during bright daylight. Pasithea's display has always been far too small and pale and that of the downstairs Cen.Grand's of insufficient contrast to wash out during the day. When features can't be used, they're poorly conceived and a waste. For half the ask, Harmony really showed the Dutch a clean set of heels on build quality and display utility. That sonically I liked the Laiv even more was extra piquant. But I must add that Pasithea's remote-controlled precision volume is a function I wish more discrete R2R designers would adopt. Why should single-source users add a preamp just to gain volume control? Here our otherwise very comprehensive engineers from Singapore missed an opportunity. We can of course run an integrated amplifier; or add Laiv's forthcoming HP²A for another power cord, another interconnect and likely a few G notes. But in the cold hard realm of commerce, selling the same client multiple components is always a win. On that score, rhyme and reason are well served. How would Harmony's victory lap continue in the main downstairs system?
