[project86]

How much is it to upgrade from the Mirus to Signature, I had the Mirus for a long time and haven't felt the need for an upgrade, but I am assuming that going to the signature will be a big jump i'll be considering.

I believe Mirus to Signature Pro is a $1500 upgrade. The $750 I mentioned prior was for Mirus Pro models to bump up to Signature status.

Mirus to Mirus Pro was a pretty worthwhile upgrade imho. Mirus to Signature Pro is just that much better. Night and day? Probably not, but worthwhile nonetheless if you have the budget for it.

 

[DrTone]

Outside USB and the SD Card does anyone use any of the other inputs? If the higher PCM and DSD rates aren't needed I was wondering how AES performed in comparison to USB?

 

[project86]

I use AES on a regular basis when listening via music server. As great as the SD Card playback is, I'm hooked on the Roon playback software for its rich metadata/art/etc, so I tend to use my music server more often.

AES works quite well. Not sure I hear much difference compared to USB but it would depend on the source for each signal. I don't think the Invicta platform has a particular preference of its own... when I use my Simaudio player that has AES, BNC, coaxial, and optical outputs, they all sound pretty much the same. But when I use other devices I can hear changes, which tells me the difference resides on the transport side.

 

[DrTone]

Oh I’m a hard core Roony as well, just that I’m going to demo the Aries G2 which gives me more options over the sMS-200.

I’m still deciding on the Signature update. I’ve also been testing the Yggy Analog 2 for the last few weeks. One thing I’ve always suspected was the Mirus cuts a few ms off the start of a new track, having the Yggy in house confirms that it definately is doing that.

 

[project86]

The G2 Auralic stuff looks nice. Expensive, but if performance is improved considerably over their early models, it could be worth it.

Regarding that bug - I never heard it myself but apparently Resonessence Labs confirmed it, at least under certain circumstances. I'm told it is already fixed in the Mirus Pro and Signature models, and they are looking into a firmware update for non-pro models as well. Was a surprisingly complex issue to nail down for whatever reason... I wonder if it exists in other DACs too, and it's just not easy to spot unless you use the right songs. Or it could maybe be related to choice of digital filter, or certain inputs (I'm just guessing here).

 

[DrTone]

I'm told it is already fixed in the Mirus Pro and Signature models,

Well I have a Pro, so it can’t be fixed unless in a newer firmware update. I’ll have to call tomorrow I guess.

Yah the G2 is real expensive unfortunately, but the screen is nice and the unit is much better looking than the last. I’m looking for Quobuz and occasional Airplay. Possibly multiple DAC support as well.

 

[Marcner]

Outside USB and the SD Card does anyone use any of the other inputs? If the higher PCM and DSD rates aren't needed I was wondering how AES performed in comparison to USB?

Funny you should ask .Ihad always used the usb input but got a Allo Digione for another system. Just for jollies, I tried it on the BNC input of the Mirus Pro and ws shocked at how good it sounded. Clearly every bit as good as the USB IMHO. I doubt the results would be different with the AES input.

 

[twsmith]

Well I have a Pro, so it can’t be fixed unless in a newer firmware update. I’ll have to call tomorrow I guess.

Yah the G2 is real expensive unfortunately, but the screen is nice and the unit is much better looking than the last. I’m looking for Quobuz and occasional Airplay. Possibly multiple DAC support as well.

I have a Mirus Pro (not Signature) as well, and have also experienced the same problem (cutting off a few ms at beginning of track). Fortunately this doesn't happen very often but is annoying when it does. Since I only use SD cards, I can't verify whether this occurs with other inputs. Switching among the different filters doesn't fix the problem either. I hope this can be fixed in a firmware upgrade soon. I called this to the attention of Resonessence quite awhile ago, and haven't seen any fixes yet. Maybe this is just a difficult problem to pin down. Interestingly I never had this problem on the older non-pro Invicta that I still use.

 

[DrTone]

Since I only use SD cards, I can't verify whether this occurs with other inputs.

I only use USB so it's most likely all inputs. In all honesty I don't think I've ever had a Delta Sigma DAC that didn't display some type of issue on track start. In my obsessive audio research I think I read someplace that it's part of the nature of the DS DAC, but for the life of me can't remember where I read it. There was a diagram showing how the wave form doesn't start naturally, compared to non DS dacs. That might explain why it isn't fixed.

 

[Louis D]

The problem reported above, where the beginning of some tracks is going missing on the Mirus Pro, is very real and easily reproduced. In my setup, somewhere between 5-10% of the tracks are affected. In some cases, it`s barely noticeable, in other cases, the first couple of notes of the track are missing, but most annoying is the loud click/pop that occurs when the sound finally begins. I don't recall ever having this issue before upgrading my Mirus to the Pro version. Most of my music is stored as FLAC (level 5 compression), created from CD using EAC.

I first reported the problem to Resonessence, along with ample proof, back in March 2017. I recorded the output of the Mirus Pro using Audacity, and sent the resulting traces to Resonessence. These traces clearly showed the problem when compared to the Audacity traces of the original FLAC files. I even found one track where the the first five seconds of the track just vanished. The exact same problem occurred using the SD, AES/EBU and USB inputs. They initially told me that no one else had reported this problem, and for a very long time would not confirm whether or not they could reproduce the problem.

It took many insistent e-mails and phone calls to Resonessence over a six month period to (a) convince them that the problem was real, and (b) that this was completely unacceptable.

Now for the good news: Resonessence finally e-mailed me a fix, namely firmware v7.0.2d for the Mirus Pro (only), on October 12 2017. I'm pleased to report that this new firmware completely fixed the problem in my setup.

I'm surprised that this fix has not yet been made available on the Resonessence web site (and apparently not made available to anyone else?).

Other than this unfortunate glitch, I have to say that I am extremely pleased with the SQ and overall performance of my Mirus Pro (since October 12, 2017...).

 

[project86]

Regarding the issue of clipping the beginning of certain tracks - I reached out to Resonessence Labs and let them know it isn't quite as fixed as they thought it was. Apparently it is addressed via firmware update, which I suggested they post on their page so everyone can grab it. That should be forthcoming.

The reason they had not done so prior is that it only works with the 9028-based PRO units. The register settings on 9018 are different, so this firmware would cause those devices to crash. They will make this very clear on the download page when it gets posted.

I've expressed to Mark M. at Resonessence that users with 9018-based units also need to get this update as well. They are looking into making that happen, though I wasn't given any timeline or guarantee. Hopefully this takes care of all PRO users now, and everyone else soon.

 

[DrTone]

I decided mine is going in for the signature update next week. So they’ll put it on then, though they offered it to me prior if I wanted.

 

[DrTone]

Signature is back with 7.0.2d firmware. Missing start of tracks is addressed. Now to run it for a while, my head has been in Yggdrasil Analog 2 mode for so long, I have to get acclimatized again.

 

[DrTone]

First observation: Signature runs cooler, must be the new power transformer. More efficient, less heat, cleaner will give results.

The upgraded op-amps make me wonder if they were chosen because they measure better or subjectively sound better? I imagine we’ll never know unless someone runs into Dustin on the street.

 

[smodtactical]

How does this DAC compare to denafrips terminator or Yggdrasil analog 2 ?