[MikeLS]

”Better than R26”
But then again different price point.

 

[Deleeh]

I don't think the Laiv is in the same league as the R26.
Certainly a step maybe even 2 above which would be a great update with small compromises.
The Lan part is missing what makes the R26 stand out also because it sounds very good over the fibre mod.
That's why the Laiv is not in the league of the R26, even if its ratings are good so far, also because of the price.
The Laiv really annoys the Spring and the May and what else is up there.
As the hartbeaters have already mentioned here several times, it depends on what you want to listen to DSD or PCM and that separates the wheat from the chaff whether you go towards the R26 or Spring, Laiv ect...because they can play better DSD.
Furthermore, I would also like to say something about being dazzled by the coupling of the HQ player.
Why?
Because the HQ player offers many functions and filters, they are not the same filters and settings if you compare the May with the Laiv or the R26.
So if you don't use a HQ player you should look for reviews where Roon,Audirvana have been tested.to get an objective result the HQ player is just a trick player with algorithms which of course influence the sound the way you want it.if this is real in the end I leave it open.the R26 is the best R2R entry level in terms of price performance with a lot of room for improvement.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Instead the LAIV Harmony, IMO a Teac UD-701N would be a nice upgrade.

https://teac.jp/int/product/ud-701n/top

 

[Luvdac]

I’m really tempted in ordering the R26, but not sure if it will represent a meaningful evolution vs the Chord Qutest and I can’t seem to find comparisons between them, any help will be appreciated!

Also evaluated, Denafrip Ares II 12th and Holo Cyan 2, but from the reviews the R26 seems the best option… apparently the next big thing is Laiv Harmony, but 2700$ becomes 3300$ to ship to EU, out of my budget

I went back to my Chord Hugo2 and 2go. Much more musical in my system. In comparison the R26 felt digital. Digital not in a harsh way, but digital as in it felt the music is the end result of a computation. ASFAIK the Qutest is a Hugo2 sans battery. Again, this is just me, my ears and my opinion. YMMV.

 

[Jake2]

I went back to my Chord Hugo2 and 2go. Much more musical in my system. In comparison the R26 felt digital. Digital not in a harsh way, but digital as in it felt the music is the end result of a computation. ASFAIK the Qutest is a Hugo2 sans battery. Again, this is just me, my ears and my opinion. YMMV.

Always interesting hearing what directions folk go. Tell ya what has made my mileage vary with the R26 quite a lot of late - feeding it with a ludicrously OTT USB source - the PhoenixUSB. Quite a bit more body, warmth and natural flow. Ditto re the LHY UIP to a lesser extent. But then yesterday after being away for the weekend it sounded a bit lean once more.. discovered one of my longstanding grounding cables on the R26 had fallen off.

 

[TherealJohnD]

I went back to my Chord Hugo2 and 2go. Much more musical in my system. In comparison the R26 felt digital. Digital not in a harsh way, but digital as in it felt the music is the end result of a computation. ASFAIK the Qutest is a Hugo2 sans battery. Again, this is just me, my ears and my opinion. YMMV.

$1.7k dac/streamer vs. $4k dac/streamer. I'm very happy with my R26! Especially with the help from this thread and the improvements that have been made since first purchase.
Edit:
YMMV

 

[Luvdac]

$1.7k dac/streamer vs. $4k dac/streamer. I'm very happy with my R26! Especially with the help from this thread and the improvements that have been made since first purchase.
Edit:
YMMV

The R26 is a great dac, don't get me wrong. My reply to npatrix is written keeping in mind that he already has a Qutest, just as I already have a Hugo2 which was bought when it first came out. I plan to upgrade the caps in my r26 to audionote kaesei in an attempt to see if it improves.

 

[TherealJohnD]

Please let us know the results of your cap upgrade. Natural & musical sound were the biggest gains for me. I tried a Ever Solo A6 (upgrade from the fanless Win-10, NUC running Audirvana) but when I switched the NUC to a Roon Rock, it was a OMG moment. The natural SQ jumped, it just sounded rite! Mediately sold the A6 and started looking for a power supply for the Rock. Ended up going with a HdPlex 300W, another improvement in most aspects. Next is FMC's.

 

[Luvdac]

Please let us know the results of your cap upgrade. Natural & musical sound were the biggest gains for me. I tried a Ever Solo A6 (upgrade from the fanless Win-10, NUC running Audirvana) but when I switched the NUC to a Roon Rock, it was a OMG moment. The natural SQ jumped, it just sounded rite! Mediately sold the A6 and started looking for a power supply for the Rock. Ended up going with a HdPlex 300W, another improvement in most aspects. Next is FMC's.

The cap upgrades are on the the horizon but right now all funds are being channeled into my Klipsch LaScala build. Those original S3 compression drivers and horns set me back a pretty penny!

 

[vvume]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... how about three! (And a few words).

This is just a mockup, will take out and triple check no conductive contacts to circuitry, add more cardboard insulators where necessary

Thanks for these wonderful ideas @Jake2 - I did a similar tweak to my R26 yesterday and was greeted with fantastic improvements to micro-details, layering of the sound stage, and a big leap in low end punch. The sound now is completely disconnected from my speakers. I put a copper (2mm) plate encapsulating the entire middle section and MuMetal plates (same one you pointed to in a different thread from Australia) on both the power supply section and the R2R/discrete option section (instead of the cardboard boxes you show in your pictures) - all metal covers fully covered with Kapton tape. Then borrowing the sand trick from the Singxer SU-6 thread, I put in fine sand (wrapped in cling wrap) into the middle and R2R sections and top covered them with the thin 0.15mm sheet of MuMetal. Tedious and cut my fingers in the process, but the results are absolutely worth it for very little cost. R26 does not disappoint - scales really well with tweaks as long as it tonally synergistic in a system.

 

[Jake2]

Thanks for these wonderful ideas @Jake2 - I did a similar tweak to my R26 yesterday and was greeted with fantastic improvements to micro-details, layering of the sound stage, and a big leap in low end punch. The sound now is completely disconnected from my speakers. I put a copper (2mm) plate encapsulating the entire middle section and MuMetal plates (same one you pointed to in a different thread from Australia) on both the power supply section and the R2R/discrete option section (instead of the cardboard boxes you show in your pictures) - all metal covers fully covered with Kapton tape. Then borrowing the sand trick from the Singxer SU-6 thread, I put in fine sand (wrapped in cling wrap) into the middle and R2R sections and top covered them with the thin 0.15mm sheet of MuMetal. Tedious and cut my fingers in the process, but the results are absolutely worth it for very little cost. R26 does not disappoint - scales really well with tweaks as long as it tonally synergistic in a system.

Awesome, great work! Sounds like in several respects (thickness of copper, extent of MuMetal use - I’ve just done my transformers so far) you’ve gone a step beyond me. The low end punch thing in particular ifs pretty satisfying and unexpected eh.

For the record the cardboard boxes were a mock-up long since retired and replaced with layers of copper sheet (but only <1mm thick), graphite foil and felt.

I could try the sand thing as I have a protective layer of film over most sections.

 

[vvume]

I could try the sand thing as I have a protective layer of film over most sections.

Sand does seemed to make a difference. Esp. in the low end punch. Whether it is doing this by minimizing the vibration in capacitors, reducing the EMI/RFI penetration by offering a denser environment, or some other voodoo magic (including placebo), I can't tell. But in my SU-6, my recent GAIA and now my R26, all of which received the sand mod, the result is the same - low end is significantly improved by sand.

Just to be clear for someone who hasn't done the sand mod before, it is not poured directly into the unit - I first put a 2 layer kitchen grade stretch/cling wrap carefully pushing down against contours. Use very large pieces folded (a 15"x15" twice folded could probably do a 4"x4" section) since you need to run them against all sides and then fold them over the sand sufficiently on the top. You absolutely don't want any sand falling anywhere in the unit itself. Dealing with cling wrap is a pain and so I do small sections at a time, with multiple "bags" of sand to complete the entirety of the unit. I also try to remove magnetic particles out of it by running a magnet through the sand several times.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Then borrowing the sand trick from the Singxer SU-6 thread,

Great! Posted that sand mod last year: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/gus...ve-decoding-music-bridge.963630/post-17531570

They thought It was crazy...nobody dared (because life is a beach).