If anyone is at Munich High-End there are some Wandla GSEs about, one is in the Meze room :)

So I was pretty much the same regarding ESS stuff for a while. The reason I loved the Original Wandla so much was specifically because it did NOT exhibit those 'typical ESS' traits. As you can read on from impressions from various folks in the Wandla thread, the great thing about the Wandla is...

You can't do USB in and out, but can do network in USB out

Topping HS01/HS02 seem quite a lot more basic internally, what the noise performance on that one is IDK unfortunately

I'm confused though, how is the 10Mhz clock implemented/used in this sort of setup if the DAC doesn't accept 10Mhz

Can you even use a 10Mhz clock? The clock inputs on the dCS DACs are word clock inputs (usually 22.579Mhz and 24.576Mhz) are they not? Not 10Mhz

Noise up to 500khz is <9uV. For reference, johnson noise with that bandwidth (the noise literally just from the atoms in the metal being at room temperature) is about 6uV so it's basically as close to the physical limit as you can get. As to reclocking, USB reclocking has no effect on jitter...

Yes, and the Intona has actually been measured and tested to show insanely low noise whereas most other products have not. The PCIe cards are definitely going to be cleaner than a mobo USB out, but are still a device internal to a big PC and it's going to be really difficult to keep them as...

Don't get a PCIe card unless you absolutely have to. Something such as the Intona 7055-C would be a much better choice

I'm not sure what the max rate is, but DSD is converted to PCM internally anyway

The Laiv was running OS since running NOS would cause treble rolloff vs the Wandla. DSD wouldn't be appropriate since the Laiv doesn't convert DSD natively (technically neither does ESS but it's a little more grey)

I don't feel it's the same tier as the May or a Wavedream or something. It's a very good DAC for the money, but tbh I think the people saying it's a $10k DAC giant killer are overhyping it

Thank you! Looking forward to hearing what you think of it :D

The build is definitely better, the machining/casework is excellent. SQ wise I prefer the Wandla. The Laiv is great for the money though. @DJJEZ came over to my place today and had a chance to compare the Wandla GSE and Laiv amongst other stuff so he might be able to share some thoughts

I will have a review up yep. It'll be on patreon first then youtube a few weeks later