DMP 3.09 firmware released

Playing the DMP just now and the sheer musicality with 3.09 is outstanding…! The DMP’s redeeming quality, the one aspect that has stopped me from moving it on, …is its uncanny ability to play music… If the DMP had only been an average run of the mill sounding player it would have been binned ages ago…

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I thought with 3.09 things had turned the corner. Although I’ve had few issues with this update, it’s unfortunate to hear about all the problems others are having.

I don’t know Elk…With the way road rage and violent tendencies in today’s society plays out every day on the news,sidewalks can be a death sentence in most urban settings in America…

Sadly, you are correct. I had not looked at it this way.

I used to tell my employees that emails tend to come across negatively, so be very careful how you say what you say…

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This is certainly the ugly flip side… and also very true.

On a positive note, this is a remarkably good group overall and this forum enjoys wonderfully helpful members.

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I am curious. What do we hope to gain by these discussions? It seems we’re working ourselves into a lather. Wakethetown clearly has our best interests at heart as well the best interests of our community in mind when he brings them up. But, to what end? I am not being critical, just curious.

As Elk suggested, there’s a relatively small number of rightfully unhappy people with DMP issues—issues that we have taken too long to address. I agree. We all agree.

Perhaps let us continue to work through them so we can get back on track? Or am I missing something?

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The reviewers had (and several still have) the DMP for a good long time. They, and most of the other 1,000 owners have had a good experience for what they were doing. I am not diminishing or making light of those with frustrations.

Exactly. They had them (and as I said many still own them) for a good long time but focused primarily on DMP’s core CDs and SACD.

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This is one where the ripped CD version sounds better than the HD Tracks Hi Rez download version. I mentioned this to HD Tracks. They didn’t care. It’s why I don’t buy HD Tracks stuff any more.

I expect a reviewer to explore all aspects and features of a component they are reviewing. Especially, as it would seem, they had the review samples for ample time to do a more thorough job than any of them actually did. To report that DMP worked “flawlessly” (January 2017) borders on complacency on the task at hand, if not incompetency.

I think the aim is as you have generously recognized: to assist you in doing a better job. I think when you and Elk repeatedly point out that “most people” are happy with the product in response to those that have had ongoing and cascading issues with this product, it sounds dismissive. Why the need to remind those having problems they are in the minority, that professional reviewers know things they don’t? It seems defensive and self-interested, not what we’ve come to expect from you and PSA. It’s what we’ve come to expect from corporations who will do whatever it takes to deny problems. And, do you know for a fact they are truly a minority?

Your second counter is “we are working on it.” My point here is that these words start to ring hollow past a certain point in time. How many do-overs are reasonable from a customer point of view? Trust wears thin over time. Are the remaining bugs simply a manpower issue? Or, are there still elements of the code that remain outside of your developers understanding? How this is handled going forward will influence how customers react to your other products that rely heavily on software.

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I am comfortable this is true. Thousands have been sold, relatively few show up here with complaints (fractions of a percent of sales), Paul similarly reports there are relatively few complaints or returns.

Of course, there may be a vast audiophile conspiracy hiding these people, demanding their silence, and preventing them from acting . . .

But, as I have stated repeatedly, this does not diminish the fact that there are those with problems and who are otherwise dissatisfied. PS Audio has released two new firmwares in the last weeks and is clearly working to resolve the remaining problems people are having. Everyone recognizes there are issues to be resolved. No one is denying this is the case.

Other than continuing to respond to users’ concerns and fixing the firmware, what else do you want PS Audio to do?

This does not mean that the silent users are not having the same issues as the vocal ones. They are just not as aware or are not using the features like we are. I don’t believe for one minute their DMPs are doing anything different than ours. We appreciate the hard work going into building a working firmware that will cause the DMP to operate the way it should. If a unit offers cover art and text it should function. If it is supposed to read USB thumb drives it should. If it is supposed to play recorded DVD Audio it should. I personally have not had trouble playing any of the data dvd’s that I have created including dop dsd recordings. They have made great strides with the cover art. It is nice to be able to play the DSD layer of SACD’s when it does. I know they are working on that issue. I believe that by us pointing out the issues we are helping to get them corrected. I love the sound that I get from my DMP and Directstream DAC. It is performance that I could not have without spending many times what I have invested in these two products. We all need to keep the faith. They are moving in the forward direction.

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This is certainly possible and may even be likely. If the unit does everything one asks of it there is no reason to be unhappy or to complain. These would be perfectly contented users with no reason to fuss.

I would typically agree with this, but there appears to be variability as to how the various units in the field respond. I recall PS Audio tracking down at least one reason this is the case.

Absolutely!

One option would be for PS Audio (and their importers to countries outside the continental USA) to offer full refund of the purchase price paid + shipping for the return of a defective DMP unit. That way the faithful could keep their units and wait and the frustrated owners could get their money back and move on without taking a large loss selling used to a market that knows there are ongoing issues.

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Yes, the very strong consumer protection laws in Australia could force that issue, should any owner wish to pursue it leaving the manufacturer/distributor no choice in the matter. When you buy products they come with automatic guarantees that they will work and do what you asked for. If you buy something that isn’t right, you have the right to ask for a repair, replacement or refund. The remedy you’re entitled to will depend on whether the issue is major or minor. Certainly, some of the behavior exhibited by some DMP units (as reported) would qualify as a major defect that would mandate a full refund. These being: it has a problem that would have stopped someone from buying it if they’d known about it, it is significantly different from the (marketing) description, it is substantially unfit for its common purpose and can’t easily be fixed within a reasonable time, or it doesn’t do what you asked for and can’t easily be fixed within a reasonable time. Any one of those reasons in Australia would get you a full refund. For my DMP, not only one but the full set applies. Except I didn’t buy my DMP in Australia so I don’t have that remedy open to me. If I did I would have returned it within the first week.

In other markets the situation may well be different and you’re stuck with whatever the manufacturer warranty says.

“”This does not mean that the silent users are not having the same issues as the vocal ones. “”

Exactly………

To start with 3.09 appeared to function much better. BUT. Two friends who are DMP owners (don’t post on the forum) they are experiencing similar issues/quirks as reported on the forum with both of their transports… That’s 3 of us, I am the only one who posts on the forum. What is my/their “bugbear” is all 3 DMP’s exhibit different quirks….! Why not the same quirks on each DMP ? With 3.09 my friend Ian still has difficulty when switching between PCM &
DSD. DSD & PCM. which I have no problems with ? (There are other issues but I have covered them before and I am just wasting my time recounting it all over again…) We are still stuck in the mud !

And, we were told that the finishing line is within sight, almost there, just a couple of more revisions, etc. well, with 3.09 my DMP (occasionally) loses sound - which I have never experienced prior to 3.09 and, the CD can clearly be seen to be playing but there is no sound. If I change inputs it makes no difference so I have to stop the CD and reload it again then the CD will play perfectly (not disk dependent it could happen with any CD)…

Another quirk that’s only occurred since loading 3.09: A few times this has happened now - when the music is playing nothing responds to command - when I press ON or touch the screen it doesn’t illuminate and the remote doesn’t work in the sense that the DMP doesn’t respond to it…….the only way out is to flick the rear switch then reboot.

The Repeat function still doesn’t work properly: It is back to 3.06 whereas 3.07 Repeat cleared when the CD was removed and hence operationally the same as the PWT.

The force load files were a plus because without them my friend was stuck on 3.07…

Going by the issues I have highlighted (my feeling) the finishing line is just a mirage…

…Speaking for myself - I am not unappreciative of all the work that’s involved but as an owner / user my DMP now has operational issues that ‘bug’ me more than previous iterations of code…

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Ahhh. Yes. Thank you. This makes sense. I appreciate the insight. Of course, we each come from a different perspective and so the view of the problem differs. I certainly don’t want to come across as defensive as that does no one any good.

The remaining bugs are proving to be very difficult, not because we don’t understand them but because they are timing issues. And timing issues that vary from device to device. So, for example, when the play button is pressed there’s a slew of activity that must go on and that activity happens both in the core Oppo mechanism as well as the external PS Audio system. Some Oppos respond slowly while others respond quickly. The PS control system doesn’t know which one you have and thus we struggle to make it smooth for all Oppo based products. If we make it wait for what we suspect to be the slowest among them, then the quicker units can feel frustrating because our GUI doesn’t change (it’s waiting) but the Oppo does.

One of the biggest challenges we faced was trying to interface with another company’s operating system. That’s been at the root of the problem all along.

I wish there was a good way to separate what our work has been in software from this particular challenge. Had we started from scratch with our own CD transport the task would have been exceedingly simple relative to what we’re now tackling. We will keep getting it better.

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