Hello all,
I may be late posting about this but I only installed Snowmass a couple of weeks back. I downgraded to Yale then up to Snowmass - worked first time with no problems. I’m using the Bridge II at the moment connected to my Synology NAS which is running LMS and using the Bubble app on my tablet. I listen to mainly CD ripped to my NAS in .wav format
So my first listen with Snowmass seemed ok, it was really just to verifiy that everything was working. But the following listening sessions of which there were quite a few - just did not blow me away the way a lot of posts seemed to suggest. In fact I always seemed to be left with the impression that the music I was hearing just sounded not quite right. It didn’t have that foot tapping drive that made you want to get up and boogie anymore. Somehow it seemed slow like it was struggling to get out or like its playing through treacle. Sure its clear enough with good treble and bass but some how it wasn’t hooking me in anymore!
Also, I don’t like the fade in issue at the beginning of certain tracks - not sure I can live with that.
Finally, last night I re-downloaded Redcloud and installed it straight over the top of Snowmass, which again went perfectly, - and listening to the first track I could tell It was sounding brilliant again, the boogie factor was back like it was before I installed the Snowmass, and there was no fade in issue. I think Snowmass was the latest version.
So, - I’m not complaining, as I’m loving the sound with Redcloud, but I’m just curious if anyone else has experienced anything similar with their DSj?
I think in my system on a DS Senior, I prefer RedCloud as well. I think Snowmass is missing some detail. i was a fan of Snowmass at the beginning but over time I have found it to be less detailed than RedCloud.
Yes, similar experience on my DS Jr. I tried Snowmass for one week and then returned to Redcloud. I found Snowmass a bit dry and uninvolving in my system.
Redcloud returned the toe-tapping/PRaT I crave. Torreys might be even better in that regard but I prefer the instrument timbre/texture of Redcloud.
The difference seems to that Snowmass maybe has a deeper soundstage and the voices are set back further in the mix. RedCloud seemed to put the voices more upfront. I wonder if the next version will be a blend of both.
I agree that Snomass is slightly more analytical than redcloud on my Sr. And it did seem to lose just a smidge of toe-tapping excitement in this release compared with redcloud. But overall, after a couple of back and forths with the two OS’s on my Senior, I finally decided that overall Snomass was better overall, and I think it is very unlikely that I will downgrade again.
Thanks for the replies folks, Its reassuring to know I’m not alone. I just felt the question needed to be asked.
Hi Elk, I’m always browsing the forum - 2 or 3 times a week but I only log in when I need to.
One thing I did like about the Snowmass was that when re-powering up, the volume didn’t revert to the 50 level. I thought that was a bug in the latest Bridge update. If so hopefully that will be fixed in the next update.
Also, I haven’t tried Snowmass using the USB input with ‘Daphile’ which I had good results with, so maybe I will try Snowmass again at a later date but certainly I’m in no hurry at the moment.
I think some of what I am hearing is biased by my Bridge II breaking in. It is getting better now and getting closer in quality to the disc player (DMP).