DEA saidI can’t really explain why it sounds different this week? Last week I was hearing the same things stereophilus and emailists were reporting earlier in this thread, but today I’m not hearing it… strange.
It is possible the DS is selective in loading new FW or misloads it on occasion, but this seems unlikely.
I hope our other two colleagues try going back to the old and then re-loading the new FW to learn if they hear anything different.
Dennis sent me a zipped version of the new firmware files via email this afternoon. I copied the files to the same SD card I have been using without success and that version worked! The DS recognized the newer firmware and installed it with no problems.
Thanks to Dennis/PSA and a special thanks to Gordon for spending 30 minutes on phone with me this morning talking me through various theories and potential solutions.
Amazing support from the PSA team!
VERY disturbing. Does that mean the version you received is not the same as the one posted? I did note the posted version seemed to have extra stuff in it (an extra LOADER.CFG). Which one is supposed to be the “right” one?
The files Dennis sent appear to be have the same characteristics as the ones I originally downloaded – they have the same dates/times and the same file size (although I didn’t do a detailed technical comparison). The 6th file (the one ending in 9999) was not sent and is apparently extraneous. It seems that for some of us the downloaded files got corrupted in some way and the direct emailed ones did not.
Elk saidDEA said I can't really explain why it sounds different this week? Last week I was hearing the same things stereophilus and emailists were reporting earlier in this thread, but today I'm not hearing it... strange.Very Odd. And disturbing.
It is possible the DS is selective in loading new FW or misloads it on occasion, but this seems unlikely.
I hope our other two colleagues try going back to the old and then re-loading the new FW to learn if they hear anything different.
tony22 said VERY disturbing. Does that mean the version you received is not the same as the one posted? I did note the posted version seemed to have extra stuff in it (an extra LOADER.CFG). Which one is supposed to be the "right" one?Oh crap. Wondering if I used the wrong loader... What should the screen show if loaded correctly?
Odd
schacter said Dennis sent me a zipped version of the new firmware files via email this afternoon. I copied the files to the same SD card I have been using without success and that version worked! The DS recognized the newer firmware and installed it with no problems.Thanks to Dennis/PSA and a special thanks to Gordon for spending 30 minutes on phone with me this morning talking me through various theories and potential solutions.
Amazing support from the PSA team!
Odd
tony22 said DEA, I'm curious: where do you normally position the treble balance adjustment on the Tannoys? Did you change it for the DS?I adjusted them when I was breaking them in, just because they sounded kind of wonky during break in. But no, I soon returned it to level, and left it there. I did buy some Auralex SubDude II's to decouple them from the floor, and reign in a tubby bass however.
Elk saidDEA said I can't really explain why it sounds different this week? Last week I was hearing the same things stereophilus and emailists were reporting earlier in this thread, but today I'm not hearing it... strange.Very Odd. And disturbing.
It is possible the DS is selective in loading new FW or misloads it on occasion, but this seems unlikely.
I hope our other two colleagues try going back to the old and then re-loading the new FW to learn if they hear anything different.
On first listen, I kind of liked the new firmware. The sound-stage seemed different, larger… but maybe a little less focused. Like the sound-stage was spread out more, with the individual instruments covering more real estate rather then being in focused in one spot.
But I soon noticed there was a harder edge to the initial attack of different instruments. I was listening to Olivia Newton John’s Greatest Hits (Japan first press - 1983) last night, and it just sounded different from what I was used to. I kept on thinking this sounds sort of like a comic book… the illusion of reality was gone. Instead of the early 1980’s Cd I know well, it sounded like a new remaster. I figured I would leave the new firmware installed and give it a fresh listen today.
So today, I decided to listen to Joe Walsh’s But Seriously Folks (Audio Fidelity), and I noticed the hard edge on the initial strike of the instruments was there again. The cymbals in the first few songs were way to prominent in the music. Fsssst! Fsssst! Fsssst! The detail of the different instruments were all there, but the sound balance between the instruments sounded different. Fsssst! Fsssst! Fsssst! The cymbals were more prominent then the drums.
That was all I could take, and went back to 5407 final tonight. I went back and listened to Joe Walsh again, and everything sounded normal again. No hard edge, no exaggerated cymbals, and all the instruments were nicely balanced again. And what’s that… oh yeah there’s the bass guitar again. Nice! Just finished listening to the Olivia Newton John CD again, and everything there sounded normal again too.
So, I’m thinking what I was experiencing was system related? Either my duel concentric speakers or silver interconnects must not be playing nice with this new firmware? I dunno… but for some reason, the original sounds much better on my system.
schacter said The files Dennis sent appear to be have the same characteristics as the ones I originally downloaded -- they have the same dates/times and the same file size (although I didn't do a detailed technical comparison). The 6th file (the one ending in 9999) was not sent and is apparently extraneous. It seems that for some of us the downloaded files got corrupted in some way and the direct emailed ones did not.
It will be good if PSA provide a hash (md5 or sha1) of upgrade files so the integrity can be verify.
Just to be clear, I listened to the Joe Walsh and Olivia Newton John CDs again today, and did not hear the strangeness I originally wrote about last weekend. Everything is good again.
One cool thing I noticed today… at the very end of Joe Walsh’s - So What, on the last song, you can hear song birds singing on the fade out. Never heard that before, and have listened to that CD umpteen times.
DEA saidSounds like you encountered a similar change in sound that I observed when upgrading to latest firmware. Comforting in that what I experienced is not some freakish outlier. For me the regression in sound quality was immediate and substantial. Like I rolled back 200 hours of burn in... Still waiting for original firmware to be posted on the website so I can compare the old version with the new. In the meantime approaching 48 hours continuous play since the upgrade. Sound is still not satisfying... Imaging, detail, naturalness, warmth, and realism of the soundstage are still worse than pre-upgrade. :-/Yeah, I’m confused too… because it really sounded strange last week. Here’s what I originally wrote, but decided not to post…
@oll the upgrade files are packaged in the ZIP archive, extraction of which automatically verifies consistency of data.
jtrimm said Sounds like you encountered a similar change in sound that I observed when upgrading to latest firmware. Comforting in that what I experienced is not some freakish outlier. For me the regression in sound quality was immediate and substantial. Like I rolled back 200 hours of burn in... Still waiting for original firmware to be posted on the website so I can compare the old version with the new. In the meantime approaching 48 hours continuous play since the upgrade. Sound is still not satisfying... Imaging, detail, naturalness, warmth, and realism of the soundstage are still worse than pre-upgrade. :-/When the opportunity arises, reinstating 5407 firmware, followed by a second upgrade to 6115 should help. Why this should be the case is not clear. I remember with some frustration the issues with later versions of PWD2 firmware, and Gordon's thoughts that there was somehow some layering effect of multiple firmware installations. This seems somehow to have been inherited by the DS. Gordon?
oll saidYes, this has been requested before.It will be good if PSA provide a hash (md5 or sha1) of upgrade files so the integrity can be verify.
Maybe the playback code also is subjected to Simulated Annealing…?
“Just to be clear, I listened to the Joe Walsh and Olivia Newton John CDs again today, and did not hear the strangeness I originally wrote about last weekend.”
With those selections, you should be expecting some strangeness…just saying’ !
oddeophile saidtony22 said VERY disturbing. Does that mean the version you received is not the same as the one posted? I did note the posted version seemed to have extra stuff in it (an extra LOADER.CFG). Which one is supposed to be the "right" one?Oh crap. Wondering if I used the wrong loader… What should the screen show if loaded correctly?
Odd
Um, here’s one for you. I think the files that are in there are actually needed. 
DEA said Just to be clear, I listened to the Joe Walsh and Olivia Newton John CDs again today, and did not hear the strangeness I originally wrote about last weekend. Everything is good again.One cool thing I noticed today… at the very end of Joe Walsh’s - So What, on the last song, you can hear song birds singing on the fade out. Never heard that before, and have listened to that CD umpteen times.
maniac said@oll the upgrade files are packaged in the ZIP archive, extraction of which automatically verifies consistency of data.
The file can be corrupt before or during ZIP so the only way to know for shure is to hash before ZIP. This is ease to do and don’t take much time but it can save you from a lot of trouble an down time. I actually hash sha 256 or sha 1 all of my music files so I can verify them bit perfect. The hash result can be save in a small text file.
oll saidActually each one of the .HEX files has a built in checksum,so if there is a problem it aborts the load.maniac said@oll the upgrade files are packaged in the ZIP archive, extraction of which automatically verifies consistency of data.The file can be corrupt before or during ZIP so the only way to know for shure is to hash before ZIP. This is ease to do and don’t take much time but it can save you from a lot of trouble an down time. I actually hash sha 256 or sha 1 all of my music files so I can verify them bit perfect. The hash result can be save in a small text file.
Dennis