I'm not a bat so clearly I can't hear to 22kHz. Heck my last audiology test which I was subjected to (along with MRIs and eye exams) when I was hit with vertigo had me at a limit of 18kHz. I'm no engineer either but like DallasJ said, DACs DO sound different despite what the theory suggests. In my simple mind that means to me that implementation of Nyquist's math is the biggest determinant of those differences. The LH is now my ladder reference.
I heard it (The Da Vinci not the Dual) for the first time in the Singapore MOD DAC Show last August. I was extremely impressed. Yet, you know how shows are. You never can tell what exactly each component brings to the table. You can only take in the whole presentation. I was familiar with the VR-11 Mk2 loudspeakers since my brother owns a pair and I own what are essentially VR-11's cut in half, the VR-9. I was also familiar with the cabling since I use a full Masterbuilt loom. I wasn't familiar with the amplification which were the Kronzilla DX Mk.2s. We also know that rooms make a huge difference in the final outcome and this ballroom was not a purpose designed room like what I am accustomed to. To make sure we could get a clearer picture of the LHDV, my partner and I sought out LH's Singapore distributor and went to his shop at the Adelphi. There it was hooked up to a an Electrocompaniet set of electronics and Joseph Audio Pearl 2s. Given this totally different set of downstream gear, at that point we knew that the textural detail, neutral tone and most importantly spaciousness just had to be in large part to the source. This was compelling enough to take the ultimate test. Get a LHDV and run it through its paces in my own home. I took delivery of an LHDV by November for a show where it was bought within the first 48 hours. Fortunately, the owner's penthouse is undergoing a total renovation so I have had the unit in my care until now and likely for another two months.
Since then I have been using the LHDV with both Puremusic and Bitperfect via a MacBook Pro and been using it via SPDIF using an Accusphase DP78 as a transport. The first few weeks were a bit rough with some burrs in the 1to 3kHz range. This unit requires a lot of break in time. According to my log, I ran it non-stop for 3 weeks listening every couple of days to see how the lower top end transients were progressing. By the latter part of week 3 until today there's been no audible change and the unit now sounds as natural (un-electronic) as I had experienced with the two systems in Singapore. Somewhere in between the LHDV grew some balls and became dynamic as heck. What is most notable to me and what drew us to the LH was it's sense of dimensionality. Almost all players and DACs in my player and DAC graveyard have always struggled to present a soundstage that wasn't flattened front to back and outside the loudspeakers. Separation of instruments has always been good but not separation of musical events in space. Past digital systems crammed events into the same spaces masking one element or another when playing simultaneously.
I don't think the LHDV sounds like analog in the traditional sense by which I mean it doesn't have the characteristic "big tone" and transient smoothing some of my favorite digital "analog sounding" players have. The LHDV is very linear but the spaciousness and texture are qualities that it definitely does share with analog. I'm waiting for my DUAL and while I know that I will have to go through another lengthy burn in process, I am at least confident that the wait will be well worth it. Besides, I'll have the AirForce One to help me pass the time.
Oh and yeah, dagnabbit, it looks GOOD!
