LAiV Crescendo VERSE Impressions & Comparisons to Harmony series DACs

LAiV sprung us a surprise when they told us that they are releasing the Crescendo VERSE, a compact all-in-one solution combining a high-performance LAiV R-2R DAC, a discrete output buffered preamplifier, and a fully discrete headphone amplifier. 

This news came unexpected as they kept it in the dark only until 2 weeks ago! The VERSE is certainly welcome in a world of continously constrained and smaller homes. Standing only at 168mm x 188mm x 40mm, the VERSE provides compact yet powerful amplification up to 1.1W per channel on its balanced headphone outputs. 

The biggest differentiator for VERSE vs LAiV's other DACs is how much customisation the listener gets. For example, the Harmony µDAC and Harmony DAC has only the onboard NOS and OS settings to alter its presentation. The VERSE however, offers NOS and also SRC filters that toggle between Sharp and Slow filters at selectable resampling rates:

• PCM: 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x (up to 768 kHz / 705.6 kHz)
• DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, DSD512 (Only available in DSD native mode)
• On DSD native setting, all signals will be converted to 1-bit DSD processing at the chosen DSD sample rate

This means that users have the option to select a multitude of settings to find their tailored experience. 

The VERSE is designed to drive both headphones and IEMs well and without background hum or noise. With its low, medium and high gain options, it can drive low sensitivity, high impedance loads such as the Modhouse Tungsten to rather loud listening volumes.

I've taken my time in the past two weeks to immerse and familiarise myself with the Crescendo Verse. The most common question I've gotten is how the VERSE's DAC section compares to the Harmony µDAC and the Harmony DAC. After thorough examination and a very extended period of listening, I feel confident enough to describe how it sounds. Let's dive right in. 

DAC shootout: Crescendo VERSE vs Harmony µDAC vs Harmony DAC

Source chain: Phone with Spotify lossless -> µDDC i2s -> VERSE/µDAC/DAC -> LAiV HP2A -> Modhouse Tungsten.

Music: I primarily listen to english pop, mando-pop, canto-pop and also math rock. 

NOS Setting

It's not quite easy to describe what the VERSE sounds exactly like due to its plethora of customisable settings. Let's start with VERSE's NOS option first, versus NOS options on both the other DACs. On NOS (non-oversampling), source files are not upsampled, and are played in their native sample rates. While perfect in the time-domain, this causes some kind of frequency roll-off into 20khz. Personally, I resonate more with oversampling techniques but I will attempt to describe how VERSE compares in NOS. 

VERSE NOS: The warmest and densest of the three DACs. VERSE places an emphasis on center imaging, with instruments on its left/right channels panned closer to the center. Images are not quite as well defined compared to the µDAC or Harmony DAC. However, there is some kind of a unique density that it's older brothers do not seem to have. The µDAC and Harmony DAC sport faster transients and are lighter on its feet. 

µDAC NOS: Picking up the pace from the VERSE, µDAC has slightly improved imaging and is a little bit wider sounding. Less warm, but still with good tonal density expected from an R2R. More spaced out in staging compared to the VERSE, however the gap between both DACs is not very far. 

Harmony DAC NOS: To be honest, this one is playing in a whole different league compared to both the VERSE and the µDAC. The Harmony DAC sounds effortlessly large and wide, almost over-blown in proportions sometimes, and yet still retains great 3D density in its body with great energy and liveliness. 

Oversampling / SRC Setting

I'll take a moment to write about how the different filters impact VERSE's sound processing and which filter I found myself gravitating towards.

VERSE Sharp filter: this is the best filter for VERSE, in my opinion. With different 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, and also with conversion options to DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, DSD512 modes, the Sharp filter sounds precise, impactful and with a wider stage compared to NOS. My preference lies with 4x PCM upsampling, and DSD128 when on DSD. Greater upsampling tends to render transients too hard of an edge and increases perceived brightness, though with the perception of greater resolution and sharpness. However I am sure that my settings will vary based on the headphone or IEMs I use. This currently works best for me on Modhouse Tungsten fed via the LAiV HP2A - so just play around with it and see what works for you!

I want to note that particularly on the DSD128 setting, the VERSE has an incredibly beautiful and spot-on warm tonality, albeit with a softer treble. The Sharp filter 4x PCM in comparison, is less dense, lighter on its feet, and is more "accurate" and neutral. DSD has a smooth liquidity to the transients that the PCM sampling does not have, and it renders midrange vocals and instruments in a dreamy and midforward way that I really enjoy. 

VERSE Slow filter: the slow filter is extremely dense and warm, even more so than on the NOS setting. I've omited this from my testing as I much prefer the Sharp filter.

µDAC Oversampling: Compared to the VERSE on Sharp 4x, µDAC finds itself with a wider staging, albeit lighter on its feet. Highs feel a tad more resolute, and the staging is more diffused sounding and wider on the µDAC. Where the VERSE emphasis more on lower mid body for vocalists, µDAC brings out airier qualities with a less dense feel. µDAC has more air and space between instruments, however not by a wide margin. The gap here is close, and I can see someone even picking VERSE over it should they prefer more tonal density. 

Harmony DAC Oversampling: Again, the Harmony DAC plays on a complete different field. Much wider and larger sounding than the two DACs. Whle the Harmony DAC's tonal balance is more filled out and even compared to the VERSE and µDAC that can lean warmer and more meaty, somehow the Harmony DAC's transients have incredibly realistic body, depth and energy. In some sense the Harmony DAC feels more 3D despite the µDAC and VERSE's thicker sound. I really love this one for what it does. 

Taking a step back..

Does it mean that the VERSE and µDAC are far inferior to the Harmony DAC? No! Quite the opposite really. Both the VERSE and µDAC prove that they are great options in their price category, and frankly I was quite surprised by how well the DAC section of the VERSE sounded. One would think it is compromised due to the budget allocated towards its preamplifier and amplifier sections, however when put in comparison with its the µDAC, the VERSE's DAC section does not fall that far behind. While I still have to acknowledge that the µDAC sounded a little better in general, I found myself actually preferring the tonal balance of the VERSE as it is a little warmer and denser than µDAC. On settings such as DSD128, the VERSE is hauntingly beautiful in tone with a wonderful liquidity. 

So far, I've written only about how the DAC section of the VERSE sounds. I have a lot more to write about with its amplification since the VERSE is best used as an all-in-one solution. Just talking about its DAC section alone however, VERSE clearly isn't compromised compared to its siblings in the Harmony series. Rather, it takes on a different direction through greater customisation, setting it apart through greater flexibility and tweaks.