Review: Resonessence Labs Invicta - new high end DAC/amp/playback system - Page 18

This DAC is getting ridiculously bad ass and thus more difficult for me to ignore. While I'm hoping to upgrade my analog significantly before my digital system comes back in this DAC is really starting to make me rethink that. There's just so many features being packed in here. 

Definitely awaiting impressions once that update drops.

Quote:

Originally Posted by project86 

 

That was fast - I figured there would be some confusion. See, what the next firmware does is actually change the two 1/4" jacks to dual 3-pin XLR format through a proprietary FPGA liquid molding process.....

 

Oh wait, that's impossible. What it actually does is allow each headphone jack to act as a separate channel for balanced drive. Just like the Matrix Quattro Amp does, or the Chazz 2 tube amp. A special cable would be required - check my Chazz 2 link for an HD650 cable for $45, or else see HERE for more options including adapters that work with existing 4-pin XLR or dual 3-pin XLR. Or of course you could just contact your favorite cable manufacturer and have them make one for you. 

 

This balanced mode essentially doubles the juice received by the headphones, as well as minimizing crosstalk from using a single TRS jack. I know people complained about it in the Matrix Quattro and thought they should have used XLR jacks. But since Resonessence is essentially retrofitting this upgrade, I find it brilliant and wouldn't mind working around it with a new cable or adapter. 

That struck me as the only way it'd be possible, but using 2 TRS for balanced is so uncommon -- I dismissed it immediately.  But anyway, cool!  

I suppose that for example, Alo Audio, and respective competition, will accept orders for the necessary custom cables.

Actually, the Cardas Clear, are basically two separate cables joining in a single plug, so it would be just a matter of keeping them separate up to the plugs...

Another topic, does anyone have an audiophile grade power cable for the Invicta? Did it make any significant difference from a regular "supermarket" cable?...

Quote:

Originally Posted by project86 

For those discussing track order a few pages back - apparently the latest FW also fixes that issue as well, so tracks should appear in the order dictated by their tags. Maybe someone who has an Invicta handy can confirm this?

I did mention the track order situation previously, so indeed this is welcome news.   When I logged on to the Resonessence website, however, they only had the last SW update (3.0.3) available for download, which is the one I have installed now and it does not fix track ordering.  So it looks like we'll have to wait for the next update to be posted. 

Just as curious aside, a few prior posts have mentioned the possibility of using the Invica's dual TRS outputs for balanced drive.  I'm aware that there may be "adapters" available to do this, but what I don't understand is how the 2 channel output from each TRS is converted to either a right or left channel only -- I assume this must reside somewhere in the adapter but is this really equivalent to a true balanced configuration?  I suppose if the conversion were done internally by the Invicta itself (maybe through user-available software), then it might make more sense to me.  But maybe I'm missing something here?  

Quote:

Originally Posted by twsmith 

Just as curious aside, a few prior posts have mentioned the possibility of using the Invica's dual TRS outputs for balanced drive.  I'm aware that there may be "adapters" available to do this, but what I don't understand is how the 2 channel output from each TRS is converted to either a right or left channel only -- I assume this must reside somewhere in the adapter but is this really equivalent to a true balanced configuration?  I suppose if the conversion were done internally by the Invicta itself (maybe through user-available software), then it might make more sense to me.  But maybe I'm missing something here?  

Possible correction to my above post - in reading through prior posts more carefully, I think someone did mention that a future upgrade to the Invicta would permit the 2 TRS outputs to be used in a true balanced configuration.  Is this really true? -- it would great to confirm this, since for many users this would be a welcome upgrade to an already incredible DAC/amp.  I find the single-ended outputs to sound fantastic so it would be quite interesting to see how much improvement (if any) you would hear from a balanced output. 

Shame...Units shipped on my birthday have the new software...but I don't have one...

Worst. Birthday. Ever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by project86 

The press release says "units shipped after January 14th will be equipped with version 4.0.0 of our software" and then mentions that current owners will be able to download 4.0 after that date. However, their website "news" page gives January 31 as the date of release for 4.0 - so I'm not sure. One way or another, it should be up sometime this month.

 

And yes - the new software will configure the 1/4" jacks to balanced mode. At that point will operate as a true balanced output, just like a balanced amp that uses dual XLR jacks - just with a different connector format. Pro audio consoles often use TRS instead of XLR to save space. 

Just went to our recent headphone meet and I was able to try out various headphone with the Invicta's headphone out and I must say the HD800s paired extremely well.  Everyone was stunned at the simplicity of the setup:

SD card > invicta > hd800

And the sound was a match made in heaven.  Highs were non fatiguing, vocals were floating and the bass lines were extremely well defined.  I didn't have my stax setup with me, but I could say it was awfully close in sound quality.

Its a great dac and I personally have A/B this dac at home for months against a Weiss dac202 (slightly warmer and a touch more laid back) and I prefer the Invicta (more dynamic and engaging). Both are on equal footing in terms of sound quality its just a matter of preference but the Invicta wins in terms of features and price.

ps. The kicker was when I told people that you could use HDMI out to a monitor or hd tv and display the music from the SD card on screen :)  People had to pick up both their jaws and eyes from the floor 

Does anyone know what the wiring for the balanced headphone operation is going to be? I'd like to diy my own connectors for the job.

What do you mean? It's going to be Dual TRS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpz 

Does anyone know what the wiring for the balanced headphone operation is going to be? I'd like to diy my own connectors for the job.

Well I meant since each TRS plug has 3 conductors, which wires will be used for positive, negative and ground so I could diy my own adaptor.

ie. Dual TRS to dual 3 pin xlr or dual TRS to 4 pin xlr.