John
Remember Resonessence Labs’ INVICTA – their statement DAC and headphone amplifier? Refresh your memory with Michael Lavorgna’s review at Audiostream and Srajan Ebaen’s coverage over at 6Moons. You’ll note from the picture below that Mark Mallinson’s team have added DSD support to new and existing INVICTA owners (via a field-flashable firmware upgrade). DSD, DXD, PCM 352.8kHz and PCM 384kHz playback now runs on the INVICTA over both USB and SD card reader.
The INVICTA’s insides centre around two ESS Sabre 9018 chips. One is dedicated to the RCA and XLR outputs, the other for headphone output(s).
So far, so simple…
…but what if the headphone stage was culled from the INVICTA design and its slice of Sabre silicon diverted to the RCA and XLR outputs, so that both 9018s run in parallel? Voila, INVICTA Mirus!
The same DSD/DXD and PCM playback specifications apply. Technical details are here. It also looks like Apple Remote control compatibility has been extended from the baby Concero to the Mirus.
Talking of which, Resonessence Labs are also busy prepping the Concero HD (DSD, DXD, 44.1-384kHz playback) and Concero HP (head phone amp/DAC with volume control with DSD,DXD, 44.1-384kHz playback). More information to follow but expect to see these mid-June.
The INVICTA and INVICTA Mirus are available now for CA$4995 (direct from Resonessence Labs’ web store) or from an international dealer in your region.
Further Information: Resonessence Labs | Addicted To Audio
