[bergman2]

Wow! great pice of kit!
after unboxing my lavry and hooking it up I am overwhelmed. I auditioned a benchmark about a year ago and was pleased with it but didnt pull the trigger on a dac purchase until last week...having never listened to the lavry before I was taking a little bit of a leap (and relying on the comparisons of fellow head-fier's)...thankfully they were right....

my set up...
computer (wavs, flacs, mp3's) > fire port > m-audio firewire audiophile > spdif out > zu firemine coax > coax digital in lavry da10 > xlr out unbalanced (bullet adapters to rca females) > zu oxyfuel rca's > earmax pro (2 jan sylvania 6922's & 1 baldwin labeled raytheon 12ax7a (all with herbies tube dampers)) > stock cabled hd650

amazing depth, soundstage and extension....great air bw instruments...helps the relatively slow presentational speed of the earmax handle more complex and quick hard rock passages without sounding muddy....totally engaging, submersive and such ease in presentation...perhaps the biggest improvement, surprisingly, came in the enhanced quality of ****ty mp3's---even my 128's sound better....an incredible audio experience and proof that high end COMPUTER audio is not only possible but right here right now...i'll update later with pics. but i am very happy with my purchase...BUT there is one problem...those outputs are yelling at me and, I can tell already, will compel me to go full balanced in the future draining even more of my money

 

[bergman2]

....pics added....

 

[Spareribs]

Very cool set up!

 

[bergman2]

some more lavry love...the thing which stands out most in this little gem is the balanced presentation...where other dacs, tube and ss combined--noteably the benchmark, scott nixon and tadac-- all have a tendency to alternatively color or weight the musical presentation either on the top, middle or bottom, the lavry is even from down low to up high...this lends an ease to reproduction and gives one the option of achieving any final outputted sound by a proper match of tube or ss amp (in my case, as i mentioned, the emp synergizes very well)....the neutrality of this unit is honest, direct and punchy as one would expect of a ss unit...but it still manages to be very engaging (perhaps my earmax pro synergy at work here)...the lavry also provides prodigious extension without the grain associated with oversampled units....delicious

 

[bergman2]

the saga continues....sorry to bore some of you to death with my observations but this thing continues to impress....the lavry proves quite flexible in musical reproduction equally at home driving rock, jazz and classical...the human voice, of course, shines but thats to be expected...whats most impressive was in its ability to 'wake up" recordings, cd laydowns, and rips that I thought sucked or were otherwise compromised by a crappy audio engineer who went a little mad with all those buttons and switches in front of him...case in point, pre-signals rush has some of the worst recorded cd's i ever heard, and even though i am a die hard rush fan i always felt like i was missing out on the purity, verve and dynamism inherent in geddy's bass, neil's drums, and lifeson's guitar..the lavry has miraculously given these old recordings life scavenging stuff i wouldnt have imagined was there....likewise my Firm & Judas Priest stuff--wonderful nuance to guitar riffs and bass texture that i never heard before....and madeline peyroux, holly cole, norah, and eva cassidy sound beautiful---but it is not a drippy, over sentimental soundstage that i remember from some tube cd players (bada, joilda, etc.)...the female voice is easy to get good, but some overemphasize...the lavry stays unfailingly honest throughout...cheers again and i think its time for some goldberg variations

 

[krmathis]

Congratulations!

The Lavry is a nice little unit.

 

[bergman2]

some more observations and experiments....after reading the rather thin lavry users manual, particularly the section on volume levels for unbalanced and balanced operation, i figured i'd do some experiments....generally, i find the levels for the unabalnced to be a bit higher than optimum...i started with an output volume of 47 (oh, did i mention how much the volume toggle SUCKS) and controlled volume thru a combination of my earmax pro and foobar dashboard...first, I tried raising it in increments of 5 until the dac seemed to overdrive the music...then, i lowered it in the same increments...what i found was that the driven clean volume benefitted more from a relatively low da10 volume (about 41) and as much as your external amp can handle....with the da10 volume up too high it just seemed forced and on the verge of losing that wonderful lavry composure....i did some side by sides with the lavry headphone out vs. the earmax pro & g&wt2.6f doing amp duties---with the hd650's the lavry was very competent but benefitted much more from the warmth of the earmax pro and even more from the g&w...with my sa5000's the lavry amp did not make a positive impression...the earmax pro more so than the g&w were a necessity to sweeten the antiseptic quality of the sonys...all in all its been a great listening day in my apt with IKE raging outside and me inside listening to my cans...cheers

 

[bergman2]

250+ hours...more holographic imagery...details pop...more detailed top end...more nuanced bass....with the earmax pro & hd650's, music never sounded so easy...

 

[chesebert]

congrats on the Lavry.

However, having said that, I failed to notice any of the short-comings in your description of the benchmark DAC.

 

[bergman2]

i wouldnt say anything was wrong with the benchmark but the lavry did seem to do better in some areas...to wit---the 3d imagery of the lavry is massive and totally immersive whereas the benchmark didnt exhibit as much of a 3d effect....presentation at the edges was also better with the lavry (in the down low, bass was fuller and punchier and up top it had less grain)...and then there is the presentation of the lavry across the range which exhibited a more balanced output as opposed to the mid-high bias of the benchmark....finally, the lavry demonstrated a much greater ease in reproduction AND pop that stood out...BUT to reiterate, these are not demonstrable strikes against the bechmark, they just weigh in favor, comparatively, to the lavry...a couple areas where the benchmark shines, however, and which could tip the balance for some people, is in build and ergonomics---the lavry seems like a generic tinker toy versus the slick and solid machined look of the benchmark; output and input flexibility is also better on the benchmark....to me, I dont give a lick about these considerations---its just about the sound AND I couldnt be happier with my purchase

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bergman2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i wouldnt say anything was wrong with the benchmark but the lavry did seem to do better in some areas...to wit---the 3d imagery of the lavry is massive and totally immersive whereas the benchmark didnt exhibit as much of a 3d effect....presentation at the edges was also better with the lavry (in the down low, bass was fuller and punchier and up top it had less grain)...and then there is the presentation of the lavry across the range which exhibited a more balanced output as opposed to the mid-high bias of the benchmark....finally, the lavry demonstrated a much greater ease in reproduction AND pop that stood out...BUT to reiterate, these are not demonstrable strikes against the bechmark, they just weigh in favor, comparatively, to the lavry...a couple areas where the benchmark shines, however, and which could tip the balance for some people, is in build and ergonomics---the lavry seems like a generic tinker toy versus the slick and solid machined look of the benchmark; output and input flexibility is also better on the benchmark....to me, I dont give a lick about these considerations---its just about the sound AND I couldnt be happier with my purchase

your memory of the DAC1 sound is over a year old. you sure its reliable?

 

[bergman2]

this is true...but you asked knowing that

 

[Dominat0r]

grats on your lavry...its a nice piece of gear for sure.

Im kinda tossed with the sound though....i mean, its nice, its accurate...however it just seems alittle stale when it comes to the music. It just doesnt give you that toe tapping sound ive come to know and love.

Classical music just sounds FANTASTIC to say the least on the lavry. Im thinking its cause its used mainly for recordings and such.

Are you using a balanced transport?

 

[slwiser]

Now you know why I have two to them...

Congratulations! Enjoy the Music.

 

[bergman2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HighLife /img/forum/go_quote.gif grats on your lavry...its a nice piece of gear for sure. Im kinda tossed with the sound though....i mean, its nice, its accurate...however it just seems alittle stale when it comes to the music. It just doesnt give you that toe tapping sound ive come to know and love. Classical music just sounds FANTASTIC to say the least on the lavry. Im thinking its cause its used mainly for recordings and such. Are you using a balanced transport?

as for the staleness---its not something I would characterize the sound repro as...BUT, i do like a sweeter outputted sound and therefore use an earmax pro for amp duties---the 2 work great together with a wide range of music (vocals, jazz and even rock)

as for my outputs---unbalanced at this point BUT, I hope to pick up the hagerman usb-xlr box to get a balanced signal from my computer to the lavry and then later on i'd like to get a used balanced tube amp to go the full balanced route. that'll have to wait however as the budget allows. for now i am very happy with my new acquisition