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RE: Curious to know....

Posted by Todd Krieger (A) on April 24, 2025 at 16:10:13

In Reply to: Curious to know.... posted by AbeCollins on April 23, 2025 at 20:23:35:

"How did the two Toppings compare to each other? D90 III Discrete vs the Centaurus?"

I preferred the Centaurus..... (The iiWi reviewer on YouTube prefers the Discrete.) They're both excellent DACs, the Discrete to me sounded somewhat "hyperdetailed" up top. The bass was somewhat "lean" as well. (The Topping D90 III Sabre excelled in bass, but was even more "etched" up top. The bass on the Laiv is in the same league as the Gustard X26 Pro.)

The Centaurus is more musical, the bass was better than the Discrete, the top end had a slight "R2R vagueness" that kept me from embracing it more. A ran the Centaurus against a friend's Black Ice Audio tube DAC, the Centaurus had better resolution, but the Black Ice had that "sparkle" up top. (My friend found out the hard way the Black Ice DAC wouldn't stream 192 via the optical input, which was his digital input of choice.)

"Does the Laiv uDAC display Volume Level? And how many levels are there?"

The uDAC plays at a fixed volume..... You would need either a preamp or streaming app to adjust volume level.

"Does the Laiv uDAC display the incoming sample rate?"

Yes..... In large numerals..... That's the only thing being displayed when the settings are not deployed. (This can also be blanked out.)

"Is there a display time-out that can be set so the display goes black after a while?"

Yes, but if a new track plays at a different sample rate, it won't momentarily display the new rate. (I leave mine displaying the sample rate all the time.)

"Did you order direct? And where did it come from?"

Yes, directly from Laiv.... I ordered this sooner than I wanted to avoid potential tariff issues. (I might order a second one for the main system..... Provided the price isn't jacked up by the tariffs..... I'd get the optional remote to then operate both units.)

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