Norton Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 As a Mirus owner, I haven’t heard much from/about Resonessence Labs recently and just noticed the website now goes to a domain placeholder. Anyone know if they are still in business and this is maybe just something temporary given the current difficult environment? Link to comment
Norton Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 Thanks for the detective work. Not conclusive but not reassuring either. If this is anything other than a temporary interruption, one would hope they and their dealers will provide an update to customers with product still under warranty. Link to comment
Norton Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 On 3/29/2020 at 6:03 AM, TubeLover said: your Mirus is a wonderful and brilliantly designed product. Thanks for the kind words, currently enjoying extended listening during “lockdown”. At most optimistic this may of course just be temporary incommunicado. I haven’t see any reference, elsewhere on the web, to them ceasing trading. Link to comment
Norton Posted April 18, 2020 Author Share Posted April 18, 2020 The consensus over on this thread https://www.head-fi.org/threads/resonessence-labs-concero-discussion-review-thead.634760/page-156 is that Resonessence are gone; Project86 seemed to have good links with them in the past. Of course no one other than insiders knows the circumstances, but speculation is inevitable when a company won’t communicate and it does seem to have been handled particularly badly to date (I.e. not handled at all) especially for customers with expensive products under warranty. Doesn’t necessarily reflect well on ESS either given the closeness of the 2 companies. I don’t think it was a sudden decision as I noticed the Thesycon drivers (for which I guess an ongoing licensing fee is payable) were no longer available on the site well before the disappearing act. With the Invicta/Mirus my sense is that this was an ambitious product that they kind of lost interest in, so that the HDMI port never did get configured as an input (would have been great with an Oppo as transport) , BNC never got configured as clock input, and despite the “DXD” logo, it couldn’t actually play 352/384 off a SD card. It would be great if someone could take this on, both for repairs and even maybe further firmware development, but not holding my breath. Lesson to me here is never to buy pricy kit from small manufacturers. Link to comment
Norton Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 8 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said: Sure, but I don’t see Apple lining up to take on the broken products of its ex employees’ companies. Relationship seems closer than that, the person who took over the running of Resonessence after Mark Mallison is also a current ESS project manager, if LinkedIn is up to date. It would be good to hear from anyone who knows their way around Canadian company records as to whether RL have gone into administration or such like, and whether there are any financial or governance links with ESS. Obviously, unlike some other situations, everyone got what they paid for (but with a ? on the warranty support, which was included in the purchase price) and these were great products; but when you are charging $7k+ for a DAC, at the very least an explanatory email to customers would have been the gracious thing to do and not too much to ask. Oppo managed to exit the market in a professional, orderly manner and have seen the resale values of their former products rocket. I don’t think that’s going to be the case here. Superdad 1 Link to comment
Norton Posted April 26, 2020 Author Share Posted April 26, 2020 A Resonessence website has been resurrected but use of English is odd, including “Lab” in the singular, as is reliance on generic imagery. Genuine or not? Of course RLabs could end online speculation just by spending a tiny bit of the income they got from selling $7k DACs on sending their customers an email explaining what situation is, especially those looking for warranty returns or even to download a driver. Odd there’s nothing in the audiophile press about this. Quick to lavish reviews, somewhat reticent maybe on reporting when things go wrong? Superdad 1 Link to comment
Norton Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 13 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said: Or a malware operation. Maybe I should have mentioned, if it’s not obvious, that this site appears to be at the genuine RL’s existing URL so that copious links all over the web will direct to it. My best guess is either that the new site has no connection whatsoever with RL, or that RL has been bought out by an entity for whom English is not the first language and this is a placeholder site for now. I know nothing about internet governance, if the former scenario above, is it that quick and easy to take over an existing url for an unconnected company? Link to comment
Norton Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 32 minutes ago, Miska said: You can find current registrant information for the domain here: https://www.godaddy.com/whois/results.aspx?domain=resonessencelabs.com Thanks. Link to comment
Norton Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 7 hours ago, Dr Tone said: If renewal is Ignored and ownership expires on the domain name, after a grace period it’s publicly available for purchase again. Thanks, still a RL owner? Link to comment
Norton Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 2 hours ago, Turnerman1103 said: I don’t believe Reasonesence acted with integrity Absolutely. One thing I’m not clear about. If you sell expensive products, including upgrades, with a long warranty period factored into the purchase price, is it compliant with Canadian company and consumer law just to shut up shop and disappear? If the warranty is part of what is being paid for and if it cannot be honoured then the consumer surely should have some redress? I also wonder where it leaves dealers who have sold customers expensive Resonessence DACs in the last 3 years that need service under warranty? But again, the lesson here is don’t spend big bucks with small companies unless you are affluent enough not to care about warranty, service or resale value. Link to comment
Norton Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 53 minutes ago, Turnerman1103 said: Hi yes I did find the engineer who worked for Reasonesence Labs and did their repair work and upgrades . His name is Frank H (250) 763 3172 or W (250) 869 0808 . He tells me is willing tip repair on Reasonesence products. Best, Drew Good news thanks. Is there an email address too for us on other continents? I’m getting nervous, what with Marcner’s report above and a guy on Head Fi whose Veritas has packed up. Not sure how much use it would be, but it would be good if ex Resonessence staff could at least make available the various firmware and drivers on a file sharing site so that owners can download copies to keep (like a responsible company would have done in the first place when closing down). Marcner 1 Link to comment
Norton Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Marcner said: Any luck on locating where Resonessence Labs products can be repaired? I have a Mirus Pro. Lights up and will show bit rate of attached source etc but no output from either XLR or RCA outputs. Hope to revive or I have a very expensive paperweight As a Mirus owner I feel for you. If you bought new through a dealer in the last 3 years I would have thought it worth going back to them for repair or refund. Don’t know where you are located, but in the UK, even if out of warranty, a small claims court might provide redress on the basis that it is not reasonable for you to have to write off a 3 yr old $6k DAC. I’m still wondering about the legality of RL just walking away from warranties that would have been factored into purchase price, especially if they just decided to stop trading rather than going bankrupt. Link to comment
Norton Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 13 minutes ago, Turnerman1103 said: He offered no help. He was very coy basically told me I was out of luck and please don’t contact him again Ironic really that people bang on about the perils of “chi fi“ when it’s actually a premium Canadian brand treating it’s customers like this... Link to comment
Norton Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 20 hours ago, Pablooo said: I had my dac upgraded to a signature series by Ahmed Rizki in September last year. The transformer is replaced by a better one, but a 120V version was used instead of 240V That’s’ odd because I had the same upgrade done and like you it was returned to me (in UK) incorrectly set for 120v. Obviously being in Canada, they have to test at 120v and certainly slapdash not to change back before shipping to customer, but the DAC is designed to switch between voltages simply by flipping the fuse holder under the flap on the back panel* and changing over the fuses (which is what I did when RL sent me new fuses) so I have no idea why yours had to go back to RL again. Unless maybe they produced a 120v only domestic version and a dual voltage version for export? *dont ever do this unless you really have to as it’s virtually impossible to remove the fuse holder without breaking it. Link to comment
Norton Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 Great news, thanks. Link to comment
Norton Posted September 3, 2020 Author Share Posted September 3, 2020 Glad you got your Mirus sorted. Reassuring news and I guess Resonessence service and repairs will be a reasonably viable ongoing business, so let’s hope that Frank continues. Link to comment
Norton Posted October 27, 2020 Author Share Posted October 27, 2020 2 minutes ago, eagle3333 said: The light on my Pro's volume knob has started flickering on and off Same here! Seems like a lot of hassle for me to ship to Canada just for this, so I’m ignoring for now (not in my line of sight) Thinking about it, seems a pity that no one was able to buy RL out and take over production. I put the Mirus back in my system recently and it is an absolutely superb DAC with some unrealised potential. Link to comment
Norton Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 3 hours ago, XS1137 said: I am sad to report that Frank Szabo, who provided repair service for Resonessence Labs products, has passed away. I had just started dealing with him for my Concero HD before his untimely passing, and he was very kind and helpful. If anyone is aware of someone else who does repair work on Resonessence Labs products, please let me know. Yes I was shocked to come across an obituary whilst googling RL recently. A heart attack in his early 50s I believe? A pity another company hasn’t taken the RL products on board either just for service and repairs or future sales and development. Had my Mirus back in the system this week and it still sounds terrific. Link to comment
Norton Posted May 26, 2022 Author Share Posted May 26, 2022 On 5/25/2022 at 10:53 AM, Rikard said: I am also looking for someone who has the technical knowledge to repair the Mirus Not aware of anyone for definite, but you could try Infigo Audio mentioned above. It looks like you are in the UK, so you could ask the UK distributors for advice. If you bought the item new from a UK dealer in recent years, you could try and seek redress under UK consumer law on the grounds that you purchased a warranty as part of the purchase price, and which should be honoured, or if warranty now expired, simply on the grounds that there is reasonable expectation of n years service life from an item of that expense, which I understand may in itself be grounds for action under UK/EU consumer law. I imagine though that there are many workshops who could do some hardware repairs on the Mirus (replacing DAC chips, recapping etc). I guess the killer fault though is if the firmware is corrupted, not least the issue of obtaining the correct FW. For example, AFAIK, there was never a subsequent FW upgrade for the Pro models so the Pro FW was never downloadable from the RL website. Link to comment
Norton Posted May 26, 2022 Author Share Posted May 26, 2022 1 hour ago, capetownwatches said: Still taken aback as to how poorly the company has done by it's loyal clientele. Yes, for all the critics of Chinese HiFi sold internet direct, rather ironic that it’s actually a premium Canadian brand, sold through bricks and mortar stores, that treated its customers this way. Also good evidence that the HiFi press and media are not run in the consumer interest. Glowing reviews of RL products abounded and may well have influenced people to end up with expensive unsupported or broken products. But any reporting at all, let alone investigative journalism into the demise of RL? Not so much. Link to comment
Norton Posted May 29, 2022 Author Share Posted May 29, 2022 23 hours ago, Rikard said: What do you think about it? Obviously, as a Mirus owner I’d welcome a readily identifiable (and guaranteed) source for Resonessence repairs, there might even be a viable market in it. However, I’m sure there are plenty of existing facilities that could do some hardware repair work. Whoever does OPPO repairs in US, UK and EU might have the ability to do so, if not the inclination, for example? The bigger obstacle might be firmware solutions for “bricked” items. It would also be interesting to see someone offering mods/upgrades - getting HDMI and clock sync inputs working, eliminating some of the limits/glitches with SD card replay etc etc. Or even go the whole way and acquire rights to restart manufacture. But then again, it’s “just” another ESS DAC line conceived 8 years ago, out of production for 2 years now and rather expensive at the time , so there’s also an argument maybe to just let it RIP, other than for repairs. Link to comment
Norton Posted October 9, 2022 Author Share Posted October 9, 2022 On 10/7/2022 at 7:50 PM, eagle3333 said: The output section of my Mirus Pro has just packed up. I've written to a few hi fi repairers and will advise if I find one who can repair it. (Anyone found one yet?) Meantime, has anyone changed from the Pro to a different DAC that retains the Mirus' 'analogue' nature? Have you tried https://unilet.net as I think they were the UK importers of RL and maybe had to deal with subsequent warranty claims? Changing to a different but comparable DAC may not be easy/ cheap. I’ve recently put the Mirus back into my system and, compared for example to my OPPO205, the level of information that the Mirus retrieves in terms of instrumental tone and 3D substance and a sense of the recording space is in a whole different league, not just “another Sabre DAC”. As I recall, past reviews have bracketed it with DACs from Bricasti and Weiss so, maybe start there? eagle3333 1 Link to comment
Norton Posted September 2, 2023 Author Share Posted September 2, 2023 16 hours ago, Noodle said: surely it’s not asking too much of him to simply direct me and others to someone who can do the repair for a fee ? 4 hours ago, eagle3333 said: he'd get a revenue stream servicing units from the previous company as well as a potential bunch of customers for his new products You both make good points here. I’m sure that there are a number of professionals who could fix a hardware fault with a Mirus, if we just knew who. And given sunk investment involved, likely a decent revenue stream from this. My biggest concern though would be corrupted firmware. The least that the company could have done before shutting up shop would have been to provide a download of the ‘pro” and other firmware and details of how to reflash or suchlike. AFAIK, the latest pro firmware was never available for download. The problem of the company shutdown has been compounded by reports of the subsequent and surprising failure rate of the products. @Noodle yours though is about the worst case I have heard from this whole sorry situation. Link to comment
Norton Posted November 2, 2023 Author Share Posted November 2, 2023 19 hours ago, Noodle said: Sigma Electronics was able to track down the parts from a distributor in Japan Great news on your DAC. Perhaps asking too much, but It would be good if Sigma were able to share the parts and sources for Resonessence owners who might be looking to get a repair done outside of N America. My Mirus has not needed attention so far (fingers crossed) but is back in my system and sounding fabulous. Definitely worth trying to keep these units alive. Link to comment
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