Harmony DAC 2

Hard to find. Hard to replace. Now harder to beat.

The Harmony DAC put LAiV on the map: a fully balanced, discrete R2R ladder DAC that brought organic, natural sound to listeners who refuse to compromise. The Harmony DAC 2 keeps that heart and rebuilds everything around it. This is not a new direction. It is the same direction, taken further.

Discover the highlights.

WHAT CARRIES THE SOUND

XLR + RCA BOTH, ALL THE TIME

Discrete Class A output buffer

The original asked you to choose between XLR and RCA. A newly developed discrete Class A output buffer drives both analogue outputs concurrently, with low output impedance that holds its composure into any preamplifier or power amplifier.

Run your power amp and your subwoofer. Run two systems. The buffer keeps the ladder isolated from the load, so what you hear is the ladder, not the cable behind it.

DISCRETE CLASS A OUTPUT BUFFER

YOUR CONVERSION, YOUR CHOICEYour conversion, your choice

Pure NOS for the most direct path, LAiV’s in-house OS mode, or a dedicated hardware sample rate conversion stage that is new to the DAC 2. DSD stays exactly where it belongs: native, NOS only, untouched.

Which is right depends on your recordings and your system, not on a hierarchy we impose. One DAC, three ways to meet your library.

YOUR CONVERSION, YOUR CHOICE

One DAC. Three ways to meet your library.

Direct 10MHz master clock input

The Harmony DAC 2 accepts a 10MHz external master clock directly — BNC, 50 ohm — with no DDC and no I2S detour required. Precision timing is the quiet foundation of natural sound.

If you run a master clock, connect it and the entire conversion process disciplines itself to your reference. If you do not, the DAC 2’s internal clocking carries on the Harmony tradition of getting timing right on its own.

DIRECT 10MHz MASTER CLOCK INPUT

Connect your reference clock directly. The entire conversion disciplines itself to it.

Isolated in, isolated out

The Harmony DAC 2 places full digital isolation between its inputs and outputs, breaking the electrical path that noise would otherwise ride from your source into the conversion and output stages. Ground loops, USB bus noise, and upstream interference stop at the barrier.

What crosses is the signal. What does not is everything else: a lower noise floor, a blacker background, and more of the low-level detail that makes music feel alive.

ISOLATED IN, ISOLATED OUT

What crosses the barrier is the signal.

What does not: a lower noise floor, a blacker background, more low-level detail.

A new face, and every detail behind it

The 16-level grayscale OLED gives way to a 960 x 400 colour display with refreshed graphics: input, mode, and sample rate read clearly from across the room, in a design language that matches what is happening inside the chassis.

Behind the new face, the everyday details are rethought too. A 12V trigger — in and out — lets the DAC 2 wake and sleep with the rest of your system. And firmware now updates over USB-C. No SD cards, no disassembly, no ceremony.

A note on availability

FIRST RUN · VERY LIMITED

We will be direct with you, the way we always try to be. The AI boom has made PCB components genuinely hard to source. Prices have risen significantly, and even at those prices, some components simply cannot be had. We secured enough to build the first run of the Harmony DAC 2 and the upgrade boards, but both are available in very limited quantities. The first units ship in September, with deliveries continuing through October. If the DAC 2 is the heart your system has been waiting for, we recommend not waiting.

Harmony DAC vs Harmony DAC 2

Every gold-dot line is a confirmed change, not a marketing reframing. The R2R architecture, the balanced topology, and the LAiV house sound carry over unchanged.