[dave64k]

What is the FPGA reprogramming for? I too own a Concero HP, never ran into any problems in the last 3 years.

For some reason WIndows couldn't connect to the Concero HP so sent it back to RL. They said they couldn't find a problem but reflashed the FGPA. When it can back it worked fine (in hindsight I do wonder if the problem was with WIndows but I also have a Concero and Herus which worked fine) Sadly I didnt check the SPDIF connection as didnt have a need to use but as you can see above now I want to it seems to be a problem. I might set it to SPDIF in to see if that actually works. Certainly changing the setting in the updater turns USB off.

Agree with the points you made about Resonessence 'cut and run' but that can happen when firms go bust. I have reached out to Hans Looman but nothing forthcoming.

 

[project86]

It pains me to know that Resonessence Labs decided to just up and leave without even a proper acknowledgement. No warning, no heads up just bam disappeared without a trace. For a company so closely associated with ESS I expect better behavior towards us customers. We deserve to know what's going on, and if our products will be supported in the future. It's nice knowing that another company will take care of repair but what about software support?

I own a Concero HP and a Veritas. The latter can upgraded to firmware 2.0.0 but the website verification thing just won't allow it. That and I don't have the upgrade file.


Shame on you Resonessence. Shame on you. Your products sound excellent but your behavior leaves a lot to be desired. Way to turn a customer off.

Yeah it's a sad situation for owners and probably for some dealers as well. It seems that Mark retired (I still speculate health issues but that's not confirmed) and was basically replaced (or maybe bought out?) by Ahmed, who at the time was also a high-level ESS employee. Ahmed is the one who seems to have disappeared, folding Resonessence and quitting ESS, so he would really be the one to blame rather than Mark.

 

[atistatic]

Yeah it's a sad situation for owners and probably for some dealers as well. It seems that Mark retired (I still speculate health issues but that's not confirmed) and was basically replaced (or maybe bought out?) by Ahmed, who at the time was also a high-level ESS employee. Ahmed is the one who seems to have disappeared, folding Resonessence and quitting ESS, so he would really be the one to blame rather than Mark.

So now that Resonessence Labs has gone ... which is the best DAC to buy then ??

 

[project86]

Lots of good stuff out there but thus far I have not found one that does everything my Mirus Pro Signature can do... without costing $15k+. I'll keep looking though.

 

[lambdastorm]

The folks at resonessence must feel that they owe me a parting gift. Because one month after I expressed my dissatisfaction, my Veritas has suddenly stopped working. I don't know when it happened but when I found out, the DAC won't respond to any key press. Turning the scroll wheel still makes the resonessence logo flash, but the screen is stuck displaying the same thing. Ever since I restarted it the screen hasn't shown anything. Just pitch black. I have since taken it apart and examined the internals, and found nothing abnormal. Nothing's fried or blown. I suspect this might be a software/firmware issue. Well, in this case I actually would much prefer if its a hardware issue since most hardware issues can be taken care of with a solder gun and a few SMT parts. Firmware/software issue on the other hand, with all those engineers gone I doubt anyone can come up with a solution. That's 3 grand down the gutter folks. 3 grand for a good-looking aluminum brick that does absolutely nothing. My Concero HP has been powered on for 3+ years without a problem. This Veritas though, I just don't know what to say.

I've already contacted the dealer, doubt he can do anything but we'll see.

 

[capetownwatches]

That's really bad news. A machine of this caliber cannot be left to die in such an ignoble fashion!

@project86 any way of reaching out to Hans Looman regarding this matter?
Maybe a former staff member thought to save a database of firmwares etc?

 

[project86]

Hans is available at Hans@InfigoAudio.com - although last we spoke he was in the middle of travelling and very busy. So part of me says please don't bombard him with questions at this point, while the other part of me says the more demand he sees for Resonessence related support, the better.

Either way, @lambdastorm should definitely inquire about his issue. Keep in mind the support for "legacy" products was only a future plan when we last spoke. But perhaps he has some ideas that can get that Veritas working without much trouble.

 

[lambdastorm]

Hans is available at Hans@InfigoAudio.com - although last we spoke he was in the middle of travelling and very busy. So part of me says please don't bombard him with questions at this point, while the other part of me says the more demand he sees for Resonessence related support, the better.

Either way, @lambdastorm should definitely inquire about his issue. Keep in mind the support for "legacy" products was only a future plan when we last spoke. But perhaps he has some ideas that can get that Veritas working without much trouble.

Thanks for the info!

 

[dave64k]

Hans is available at Hans@InfigoAudio.com - although last we spoke he was in the middle of travelling and very busy. So part of me says please don't bombard him with questions at this point, while the other part of me says the more demand he sees for Resonessence related support, the better.

I emailed Hans a couple of times. He came back once to say he was travelling and would reply soon but never heard back so gave up. @lambdastorm I hope you have better luck getting a reply and resolution.

 

[capetownwatches]

@lambdastorm please keep us posted. Interested to hear if Hans can come to the party.

 

[arjuna93]

Does Concero HD work with Catalina as of now? Considering firmware update to 2.8 isn’t possible.

 

[tvr2500m]

Any Resonessence'ers out there...?

I have a Herus DSD DXD and a Concero HP DSD DXD (2.7 version firmware). Love them... ...99% of the time. These devices have been the most finicky of all the audio devices I've used in that they are they are the most prone to noise of any device I've used. Pops, clicks, drop outs. Digging into this, I tried using them with and without the Resonessence driver (current builds of Win 10 Pro). I checked into possible PC latency issues. My PC is my general use machine, with lots of stuff going on, and the latest installation was long time ago. Latency measurement tools warned of latency issues. Tried the devices on another machine that measured as low latency, using JRiver or Foobar and the streaming services, things worked much better, even sounded better. I've tried a few different types and lengths of cable.

I'm trying off-loading the processing effort to streamlined, dedicated music players and streamers - an RPI-4B with various software, Roon, pCP, Tidal, Qobuz, RoPieee, VitOS. All MUCH better across the board with everything I've used them with.

BUT, the Herus and Concero still get cranky at their highest playback formats, where all the other devices I have do fine. That means that at 24 bits/358.2 Kb/s the Herus and Concero get unusably noisy. Compared with the Chord Mojo, Aurender Flow, Denafrips Ares II, which each can playback a wide range of file formats, all these will always play their highest spec'ed file formats without a problem. And the same with the devices I have that won't play such high res files, but will still play their max specified file formats, like the Meridian Explorer2, Halide DAC HD, Schiit Modi Multibit.

I'm not so terribly concerned that the Resonessence devices won't playback a 24 bit/352.8 Kb/s (or DSD/DXD) file because there aren't so many of these around and there are many other file formats that sound just fine, but it would be nice to have the devices work up to their designed specification.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[project86]

Yeah I've always had reliable results with those using Linux-based transports (mostly Auraliti and Aurender from the same era) as well as MacBooks. But friends who have borrowed the devices did mention Windows being picky at times.

Instead of using a pre-made solution like XMOS, they use a general purpose Cypress Semiconductor chip running their own custom made code. I've always thought that was one of their advantages in terms of extracting great sound, but it seems to have a drawback on Windows-based systems... though I'd say the newer releases like Veritas and Invicta Mirus Pro had anecdotally fewer problems.

 

[capetownwatches]

I have no playback issues at 24 bits/358.2 Kb/s with my original Concero running v.2.7 (Win 10 PC using JRiver MC25)
Not that I have many recordings at these resolutions...but nice to know it can do it!

That said, I do get an intermittent "ticking" noise from time to time, usually but not always when switching from high to lower resolution playback.
Stopping and restarting playback gets rid of it, but it can be an irritant.

 

[tvr2500m]

Yes, and same here. That irritating ticking noise, or worse, can sometimes be cleared up by restarting a track, or switching to another track, then back again. These few tracks I can't get to clear up. I kinda feel that just a little while ago, after I had initially set up the RPi/Roon/RoPieee kit, I tested every file format and everything played without issue. Not now, though.