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Review: Resonessence Labs Invicta - new high end DAC/amp/playback system - Page 9

post #121 of 474
10/8/12 at 7:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by twsmith View Post

I'm not Proj  86, but have been a happy Invicta user for nearly a year.   According to the published specs, the Invicta's headphone output impedance is stated as 1.0 ohms.  Sounds like this issue has been addressed in the production units.   I've never used my unit with low impedance IEMs though -- but I would bet it works just fine.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by project86 View Post

twsmith answered the question perfectly. The built in amp on the production model should be great.

 

Thanks, both of you.

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post #122 of 474
10/8/12 at 9:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by burnspbesq View Post

Also here.
http://www.audiostream.com/content/resonessence-labs-concero-dac
Lots of questions, starting with "bus powered?" and "is it really as small as those photos make it look?" But this is really, really interesting.

Ah....no balanced outs? That kinda kills it for me frown.gif
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post #123 of 474
10/8/12 at 11:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by athenaesword View Post

Ah....no balanced outs? That kinda kills it for me frown.gif

Well, if it's balanced outputs you require, I know somebody who is selling a QB-9 for a very fair price. Or you could get a Gungnir.

Me, I'm looking for the most bang for the buck, and I'm not going to let "balanced" be a shibboleth that gets in the way of finding it.
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post #124 of 474
10/9/12 at 8:15am
Thread Starter 

burnspbesq - good call on the early order! It takes guts to make a blind buy like that. Then again, I think Resonessence has proven their pedigree well enough to where you can be fairly sure of the quality of Concero. 

 

It will be interesting to hear more about it from RMAF reports. They say it uses a 2 channel ESS Sabre DAC, so it can't be the ES9018. I wonder if it is the ES9012 which is also in the "Reference" line, positioned as the stereo version of the ES9018? Or it could also be the ES9023 as used in several popular units like the ODAC and PeachTree DAC-iT. 

 

In case anyone missed them, here are some pics of the new Concero:

 

 

 

 

 

Do you folks think I should make a new thread for this? Or just continue discussion in this one?

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post #125 of 474
10/9/12 at 10:01am

If I had to bet money, I'd bet that the Concero is built around the 9016, the same DAC that is dedicated to the headphone circuit in the Invicta.  We'll know soon enough.
 

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post #126 of 474
10/9/12 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by burnspbesq View Post

If I had to bet money, I'd bet that the Concero is built around the 9016, the same DAC that is dedicated to the headphone circuit in the Invicta.  We'll know soon enough.
 

Could be. I was just going by the wording that they used - "Stereo DAC". The ES9016 is an 8 channel model, though of course is often used in stereo mode. So who knows. Maybe I'm reading more into that wording than I should. The ES9016 is near the top of the Sabre family though so that would certainly be welcome. 

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post #127 of 474
10/9/12 at 8:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by project86 View Post

burnspbesq - good call on the early order! It takes guts to make a blind buy like that. Then again, I think Resonessence has proven their pedigree well enough to where you can be fairly sure of the quality of Concero. 

It will be interesting to hear more about it from RMAF reports. They say it uses a 2 channel ESS Sabre DAC, so it can't be the ES9018. I wonder if it is the ES9012 which is also in the "Reference" line, positioned as the stereo version of the ES9018? Or it could also be the ES9023 as used in several popular units like the ODAC and PeachTree DAC-iT. 

In case anyone missed them, here are some pics of the new Concero:







Do you folks think I should make a new thread for this? Or just continue discussion in this one?


I'd say just keep it in this thread for now until the first ones hit the street. And then start a review thread just like this one. Otherwise the new thread's just gonna be a lot of noisy chitchat.
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post #128 of 474
10/9/12 at 8:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by burnspbesq View Post

Well, if it's balanced outputs you require, I know somebody who is selling a QB-9 for a very fair price. Or you could get a Gungnir.
Me, I'm looking for the most bang for the buck, and I'm not going to let "balanced" be a shibboleth that gets in the way of finding it.

For me it's not so much a balanced vs RCA argument per se, but my amp has only got one set of rca and 1 set of xlr inputs and I wanna feed it with 2 sources, my smyth realizer for movies and dac for music. Qb9? The ayre? Pm me what he's looking at in terms of price? To be honest tho the ayre wasnt even in my top 5 Choices of dacs just because its so dated and The dac markwt has moved forward so much since the ayre was released. Haven't heard of gungnir myself
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post #129 of 474
10/10/12 at 11:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by athenaesword View Post


For me it's not so much a balanced vs RCA argument per se, but my amp has only got one set of rca and 1 set of xlr inputs and I wanna feed it with 2 sources, my smyth realizer for movies and dac for music. Qb9? The ayre? Pm me what he's looking at in terms of price? To be honest tho the ayre wasnt even in my top 5 Choices of dacs just because its so dated and The dac markwt has moved forward so much since the ayre was released. Haven't heard of gungnir myself


Re QB-9 for sale:

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/630808/price-reduced-ayre-qb-9-usb-dac

 

Re Gungnir:

 

http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=11

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post #130 of 474
10/10/12 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 

So I've got a Concero headed my way soon, and am hoping to line up a few competitors to have a showdown. So far I already own the Matrix Quattro DAC and the Yulong D100 mkII which is my benchmark in this price range. I also have access to a Peachtree DAC-iT and possibly a Bladelius USB DAC as well. Any others that I'm missing? 

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post #131 of 474
10/10/12 at 5:19pm

Garry from Musical Paradise has recently released an AKM based, tube output DAC, the MP-D1. I'll be receiving one next week and could send it your way at some point, depending on if I have another to use in the meantime.

 

http://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

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post #132 of 474
10/10/12 at 8:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by allyl View Post

Garry from Musical Paradise has recently released an AKM based, tube output DAC, the MP-D1. I'll be receiving one next week and could send it your way at some point, depending on if I have another to use in the meantime.

 

http://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

 

Interesting product, but they'd better hope that Musical Fidelity's lawyers never get a look at that logo.  They're cruising for a trademark-infringement suit.very_evil_smiley.gif

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post #133 of 474
10/10/12 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by project86 View Post

So I've got a Concero headed my way soon, and am hoping to line up a few competitors to have a showdown. So far I already own the Matrix Quattro DAC and the Yulong D100 mkII which is my benchmark in this price range. I also have access to a Peachtree DAC-iT and possibly a Bladelius USB DAC as well. Any others that I'm missing? 

 

The Concero's price puts it pretty much smack-dab in the middle between Bifrost and Gungnir.  One of those should be part of the comparison, if for no other reason than that so many people have heard one or both of those.

 

I could loan you an Arcam rDac (a product that, IMO, deserves more love than it gets around here) for the comparison.

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post #134 of 474
10/10/12 at 8:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by allyl View Post

Garry from Musical Paradise has recently released an AKM based, tube output DAC, the MP-D1. I'll be receiving one next week and could send it your way at some point, depending on if I have another to use in the meantime.

 

http://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

 

Thanks for the offer. I forgot about that model, but I actually might have one available to borrow locally. If not I'll let you know.

 

Man, you are really blazing a trail through various great sounding DACs aren't you? Kao UD2C, Yulong D18, EE Minimax+, MDAC, Audio GD.... where are you planning on stopping? 

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post #135 of 474
10/10/12 at 8:16pm

I don't think you can trademark horizontal lines.  =]

 

--

 

I'm almost there!  Someone please buy my Zodiac, and convince me not to spend too much money on my little vacation this weekend, so I can buy the Invicta in the next few weeks.

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