Circa mid 2016, Resonessence Invicta Mirus upgraded to the current Invicta Mirus "Pro" suffix. The audio performance upgrade was swapping the former's ESS Sabre ES9018 chips to ES9028PRO models.
Reson. website states: "...MIRUS uses a dedicated SABRE 32 (ESS9028PRO) per channel: eight DACs in parallel to each stereo channel..."
Reson. charges $1k to swap DAC chips from 9018 to 9028.
Does anyone know how many 9028 chips are in this DAC? To me, the text above is cryptic Re. chip quantity. Is there money to be saved paying an independent pro to swap/upgrade the chips?
I searched and found no source/price for the 9028 chips. How is that chip fastened to the PCB?
Thanks!
Reson. website states: "...MIRUS uses a dedicated SABRE 32 (ESS9028PRO) per channel: eight DACs in parallel to each stereo channel..."
Reson. charges $1k to swap DAC chips from 9018 to 9028.
Does anyone know how many 9028 chips are in this DAC? To me, the text above is cryptic Re. chip quantity. Is there money to be saved paying an independent pro to swap/upgrade the chips?
I searched and found no source/price for the 9028 chips. How is that chip fastened to the PCB?
Thanks!
Each chip has 8 DAC on it The performance comes from paralleling all 8 DAC's. It seems they are pin compatible. Its a 64 pin LQFP or square package with 64 tiny legs to be soldered. There are shops who can go this. As this stuff goes these are not hard to swap. not a first time thing and you probably need a hot air rework station and practice to get it right. You can get the part from the US distributor here: ES9028PRO (8 CHNL) New - Shaw Electronics or on eBay. You would need 2.
There may be firmware updates to get the most from the chip. That's something the DAC vendor would need to do. Depending $1K seems high to swap two chips but its not much to take on the warranty and customer support issues not to mention the stuff you need to do to make sure it works. Its still cheaper than a new DAC.
There may be firmware updates to get the most from the chip. That's something the DAC vendor would need to do. Depending $1K seems high to swap two chips but its not much to take on the warranty and customer support issues not to mention the stuff you need to do to make sure it works. Its still cheaper than a new DAC.
Thanks for answering just about every Q I had on this subject.
Some interweb schmuck really poured it on what a ripoff was the fee for this upgrade. Thank you for giving us a much more reasoned assessment. Some persons act as if businesses have no over head and as if after-sale support has no cost and zero value.
Some interweb schmuck really poured it on what a ripoff was the fee for this upgrade. Thank you for giving us a much more reasoned assessment. Some persons act as if businesses have no over head and as if after-sale support has no cost and zero value.
I would charge $1k to answer the schmuck's phone calls too. Audio is not life or death. its not like the DAC suddenly sounded bad when the upgrade was announced. (That would be a good commercial trick but probably illegal.) Unfortunately there are customers who think you should coddle them forever. That doesn't pay the electric bill.
I've swapped out my Buffalo III's 9018 for a 9028. I've described my upgrade here: Buffalo III upgraded with ES9028Pro
It's not a trivial task.
You need to desolder the old chip without damaging the board, which means a hot air rework station and some experience.
You then need to solder on the new chip(s).
Next up is a hardware mod, necessary because of the way the new chips (9028, 9038) are reset.
Then you might need to beef up the power supplies. The new chip is substantially more demanding than the old one.
And finally, you need all new firmware because the new chips are completely different than the old ones.
Specifically for dual mono operation, if the DAC's manufacturer really means to do things right and take advantage of the 9028's new capabilities, he has to do substantial modding to the board to utilize the 9028's on-board ADC used to gain-match the two chips.
Regarding the $1K price tag, I'm not so sure if it's unjustified, especially if he does all of the procedures that I have outlined, meaning he probably swaps out the entire DAC board for a new one.
Plus, if I were to consider the time it took me (or to be precise, still taking since I'm not done completely yet) to write the new software, $1K might be pretty reasonable.
It's not a trivial task.
You need to desolder the old chip without damaging the board, which means a hot air rework station and some experience.
You then need to solder on the new chip(s).
Next up is a hardware mod, necessary because of the way the new chips (9028, 9038) are reset.
Then you might need to beef up the power supplies. The new chip is substantially more demanding than the old one.
And finally, you need all new firmware because the new chips are completely different than the old ones.
Specifically for dual mono operation, if the DAC's manufacturer really means to do things right and take advantage of the 9028's new capabilities, he has to do substantial modding to the board to utilize the 9028's on-board ADC used to gain-match the two chips.
Regarding the $1K price tag, I'm not so sure if it's unjustified, especially if he does all of the procedures that I have outlined, meaning he probably swaps out the entire DAC board for a new one.
Plus, if I were to consider the time it took me (or to be precise, still taking since I'm not done completely yet) to write the new software, $1K might be pretty reasonable.
Dimdim,
Thanks again for confirming what a schmuck was that blogger. I wish I could remember his name, but can not.
I realize there are rip offs out there, but this is not one of them. Some persons act as if they get a Brownie badge for each time they uncover alleged "rip off." Whether someone gets financially slandered or not is of no concern.
If I find that guy later I'll post a link to this thread.
It sounds very much like $1k for the upgrade is not unreasonable.
Thanks for member's thoughtful replies.
Best to all!
PS: How do you assess the difference?
Thanks again for confirming what a schmuck was that blogger. I wish I could remember his name, but can not.
I realize there are rip offs out there, but this is not one of them. Some persons act as if they get a Brownie badge for each time they uncover alleged "rip off." Whether someone gets financially slandered or not is of no concern.
If I find that guy later I'll post a link to this thread.
It sounds very much like $1k for the upgrade is not unreasonable.
Thanks for member's thoughtful replies.
Best to all!
PS: How do you assess the difference?
The difference is not night-and-day (it never is once you have already reached a certain level of performance) but it is definitely audible and definitely worth the 50€ & trouble (if you're a DIYer).
But I do have one objection with the two 9028 in dual mono: there is no real point to it, since you can outperform them by using just one 9038.
But I do have one objection with the two 9028 in dual mono: there is no real point to it, since you can outperform them by using just one 9038.
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