[sphinxvc]

Quote:

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:

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

 
Thanks, both of you.

 

[athenaesword]

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

 

[burnspbesq]

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

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.

 

[project86]

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?

 

[burnspbesq]

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.
 

 

[project86]

Quote:

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. 

 

[athenaesword]

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.

 

[athenaesword]

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

 

[burnspbesq]

Quote:

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

 

[project86]

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? 

 

[allyl]

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

 

[burnspbesq]

Quote:

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.

 

[burnspbesq]

Quote:

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.

 

[project86]

Quote:

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? 

 

[sphinxvc]

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.