Singapore-based LAiV Audio built its name on the original Harmony DAC, a fully balanced discrete R2R ladder converter aimed at listeners chasing an organic, natural sound. The brand has now opened pre-orders for its successor, the LAiV Harmony DAC 2, alongside a smaller companion launch: the Crescendo BEAT, a dual-output linear power supply built to declutter a rack full of wall-wart adapters.
A Discrete R2R Ladder DAC, Evolved
LAiV describes the Harmony DAC 2 as “the same direction, taken further” rather than a redesign: the fully balanced, discrete precision-matched R2R ladder at its core carries over unchanged from the original Harmony DAC. What LAiV rebuilt is everything around it. A new discrete Class A output buffer now drives the XLR and RCA outputs concurrently, at low output impedance, so owners can feed a main amplifier and a second system at the same time without choosing between connectors. The LAiV Harmony DAC 2 also adds a direct 10MHz master clock input over BNC, skipping the DDC and I2S detour the original model required, plus full digital isolation between its input and output stages to keep upstream noise out of the conversion path.
On the format side, PCM now has three selectable paths — pure NOS, LAiV’s in-house OS mode, or a new dedicated hardware sample-rate-conversion stage — while DSD is always handled NOS, converted directly to multi-bit for the ladder rather than oversampled. A 960 x 400 colour display replaces the original’s 16-level grayscale OLED, and firmware now updates over USB-C instead of an SD card. LAiV has been candid about supply: component scarcity driven by AI-industry demand has made key parts hard to source, so the first production run of the Harmony DAC 2, and of the upgrade boards planned for existing Harmony DAC owners, is very limited.
The Crescendo BEAT: One Power Supply, Two Components
Launching alongside the DAC is the Crescendo BEAT, a dual-output linear power supply designed to replace two separate wall adapters with one box. It delivers a 15V/2A rail and a 5V/3A rail simultaneously, enough to run two compatible components — LAiV shows it in its own system powering a Crescendo headphone amplifier stacked underneath. Inside, a 70VA toroidal transformer feeds two-stage linear regulation, with noise specified as low as 10uVrms. It is a small, focused product, but it fits LAiV’s broader Crescendo strategy of building compact, high-performance components around a shared aesthetic.
LAiV, founded in 2023 and based in Singapore, has built its catalogue around exactly this kind of iterative refinement rather than starting from a blank sheet for every product: the same fully balanced R2R architecture that anchored the original Harmony DAC also underpins the smaller Harmony µDAC, keeping a consistent house sound across the range. For owners weighing whether to upgrade, LAiV’s own comparison is unambiguous: every feature added on the LAiV Harmony DAC 2 is additive, with the R2R ladder, balanced topology, and overall voicing carried over unchanged from the model it replaces.
Pricing and availability
The LAiV Harmony DAC 2 is priced at US$3,994 and open for pre-order now, with first units shipping in September and deliveries continuing through October 2026; LAiV recommends against waiting given the limited first run. The Crescendo BEAT is priced at US$494, available from August 2026, with US availability following in September.
Key specifications
- LAiV Harmony DAC 2: fully balanced discrete precision-matched R2R ladder DAC
- Discrete Class A output buffer, concurrent XLR (4.15Vrms, <50Ω) and RCA (2.08Vrms, <25Ω) outputs
- Direct 10MHz master clock input (BNC, 50Ω), no DDC required
- PCM: NOS / in-house OS / hardware SRC up to 705.6/768kHz; DSD always NOS, direct multi-bit conversion
- THD+N 0.0035% · SNR >125dB · dynamic range >110dB · crosstalk <−120dB
- Digital inputs: USB, Optical, Coaxial, I2S, 10MHz clock; 960×400 colour display; USB-C firmware updates
- Crescendo BEAT: dual-output linear power supply, 15V/2A + 5V/3A rails
- 70VA toroidal transformer, two-stage linear regulation, noise as low as 10uVrms
Full specifications and pre-order details are available on LAiV’s own site.
