New, new Torreys ready for your approval

[nested quotes deleted]

Further to the above, I changed back to Yale and it worked. I then changed back to Torreys beta and it didn’t work. Then Yale and the Torreys again. On this second swap USB has started working. Maybe another aberration.

Will now have a good listen. Thank you

John

vhiner1 said Curt,

You’re not crazy. I had a similar experience with a track off of James Taylor’s October Road. There’s the sound of a dog panting at the end of track 6. With the original PW, I could hear it clearly. Now it’s still there, but not as prominent and not something I find myself paying attention to. Here’s my take: Each final version of Ted’s firmware strips away more of the veil between us and the music and lowers the noise floor. When we begin to notice more detail, some details become less important, even on a subconscious level. Some of the worst systems I’ve heard enable the listener to hear certain details, but at the expense of other, equally important ones. That’s not to dis your old Cambridge DAC, but my theory is that it was emphasizing part of the bandwidth at the expense of another part. Just a theory.


Emphasis is exactly how I would describe it. The first time I heard it, I was startled.

It seem odd to go from that level of presence to barely audible. That CA dac is not a slouch by any stretch of the imagination. One of the things that stood out was it’s detail and the ability to bring out that detail at a modest volume.

Was the loss of the dog panting between firmware sets or between dacs?

Between DACs…and while the original Perfect Wave DAC was no slouch either, it’s not even in the same league as the DS with Torreys B/C.

I should add that the differences between Torreys B and C cause me to re-focus as I listen. As a result, I notice some things with one and other things with the other. It reminds me of going from one really great phono cartridge to another. And we get it FOR FREE!!! What a wonderful world.

The beauty and harmony of Torreys “C” has now shown through.

I had to roll back to Yale and reload Torreys “C”.

For the sake of sanity, would it be possible to create firmware that would “wipe” everything clean before new firmware is installed.

I have no concrete proof, but I suspect that there are residual bits and pieces of previous firmware gremlins causing glitches.

You could name it “Clean Slate”, load it before loading new firmware.

Several switches between Torreys B and C under the belt.

St first I thought there’s some smearing going on with C but it became obvious that’s wrong. C is just FULLER. Right across the board. More visceral punch too, and it’s not losing anything that I like about B, it’s just giving more. Or perhaps losing less. For me it’s more heart and perhaps less head. I noticed a fuller tone and longer, more natural decay on cowbells. You gotta love that.

Next I’ll be living with C for a while before going back (or forwards if there’s yet another version).

So I bit the bullet today… I downloaded and installed Torreys “c”. I don’t have as much time as previously for comparing firmwares, so I resisted initial Torreys iterations.

Its pretty clear straight up that Tc has more detail (again), compared to Yale. There is also that “fullness” referred to by most here. Interestingly for me, I now find it very difficult to discern differences between DSD and redbook PCM (redbook sounds that good!). I guess that has been the aim all along with the DS DAC…

I always preferred Yale beta to Yale final, and comparing Tc to Yb, i don’t find much difference in width or depth of soundstage. I’m not sure if the fullness of Tc is a truer reflection of the original or an added resonance product, but it is a sprinkle of extra flavour in the Torreys soup and I’ll take it as a positive.

curtisr said Hi, Curt here. First post.

I want to thank Ted and Dennis for their efforts, the results speak for themselves. Every endeavor requires a champion, a Sparticus, to act as a catalyst to push it ever onward. Getting paid to do it is just a bonus. My gut says Ted would be doing this with or without anybody elses involvement. Kudos to you, Ted. Please keep learn’n and burn’n!

Paul…without turning this into a bromance, you are the reason I am here. Seeing the passion, and more importantly the openness and community, that you exhibit running your company literally drew me in. Much like Nelson Pass with Pass Labs and FirstWatt, your willingness to pull back the curtains and get your customers involved is inspiring. I’m sure it is riddled with angst at times. Watching Torreys unfold over the last month has felt like a grass roots movement, for lack of a better term. The fact that you could just as easily be doing this in the back room and selling it to us but have instead chosen to involve us, as customers, says a ton. As I said, it’s the reason I bought PS gear and the reason I’m here. Thank you for having the courage to do so, I sincerely hope you are rewarded with unwavering customers.

What a very kind note and thanks for posting! We really appreciate you being here and I am happy you're part of the community. Thanks.

Hi, Curt

Well said.

Paul and Ted’s dedication and openness is, I am sure, the reason people here are not only willing but delighted to help by testing beta releases with such care and dedication.

I’m finally a convert, i.e. at last I’ve worked out “just what’s going on”.

I felt that compared to Yale the sound was thin and male voices had lost gravitas. I’d been very careful to use identical volume levels. I’d noticed that some reviewers felt Torreys was louder whilst others felt it was quieter. If you’ve a rotary volume control that doesn’t display a number it’s difficult to ensure the same replay level. My system is digital into the Directstream(s) and I control volume by a pre-processor leaving the volume set on the Directstreams at 90 (high output). I’d chosen to set my pre-processor volume to -10.1. However, to get the same overall effect with Torreys I need to set it to -8.5 (and to give male voices a bit more depth without affecting other things too much I’ve introduced a parametric equalizer of 0.8db at 280hz with a Q of 2.5 (so it affects frequencies between 230 and 342)).

I’m now a lot closer to getting the magic back and can get the benefits of Torreys (e.g. on Shelby Lynne’s Just A Little Lovin at 4mins I hear a very quiet voice in the background - now I know it’s there I might, or might not, hear it on Yale).

So, in summary the main problem was that I needed to increase the digital volume level significantly - I’d have thought that would be measurable?.

I have noticed a ‘slight’ increase in stridency to string tone. When I first installed TC it was not there. Can this be a break in anomaly? Anyone else notice?

danofesherintheuk said So, in summary the main problem was that I needed to increase the digital volume level significantly - I'd have thought that would be measurable?.
The differences in frequency response of the various releases (and the phase response for that matter) aren't measurable at the macro level by my scopes. The changes are at a very low level. Some changes are changes in the noise spectrum, some look like changes in THD, some are changes in the jitter spectrum. Depending on which features of a particular track we use to asses volume one listener may say that a given track is louder with a given release while another listener might say it's quieter. Personally I find that Torreys sounds a little louder than Yale at a given volume setting, but conversely I can listen to Torreys at a higher volume setting without fatigue compared to Yale. YMMV.

I do know that the FPGA in the Torreys release produces less power supply noise and less jitter in the outputs (but this is before the last reclocker…) I also know that the DSP in Torreys is more linear at low levels. The earlier versions of Torreys had less inband noise than Yale, but I traded a little of that off for more low level linearity in the last versions of Torreys. Both of these changes are measureable but neither explicitly explains people’s differing perceptions of changes in frequency response.

Just loaded Torres C…as mentioned by others there seems to be more detail. More air around vocals and much easier to hear the ambiance of the recording venue.

One functional problem…the volume control on my JRemote no longer works. I am able to switch tracks and albums, but no volume control of the DSD. BTW, I am using JR22 and the Bridge II. EDIT Rebooted my iPad and the volume control now works. Funny how that simple thing cures many computer glitches. :). EDIT#2 The volume control via JRemote is not working again, despite rebooting, so there is a bug to be worked out.

Installed Tc today and experienced two sudden and seemingly random halts in sound while playing files from my MBP. The first halt happened during the first track I played after installing Tc. The second halt occurred a couple of hours later. In each case, the only way I could find to re-establish sound was by power-cycling the DS. I never experienced anything comparable with v1.21, PP, Yale Beta or Yale Final. I am reverting to Yale Final at least until the official Torreys release.

Paul

Uploaded Torrey’s beta to my DSD - immediate perception of wider sound stage and “meatiness” in the sound.

But noted that DSD touch screen is not as responsive as it was. Difficult to alter output bar - is either non responsive or overshoots - from 80 to 45 in the blink of an eye - and then difficult to get back to 80. I also found that altering the Phase on the touch screen would alter the output bar even though the phase setting was touched. Did not happened when using the remote.

Mike Williams

I just installed the new Torrey DSD 1.8.8 and there is NO Bridge II showing up, did i do something wrong, any one have an idea how to fix this ?

Brent IMG_9163-1.JPG

The last two posters (Michael and Brent Bolthouse) need to recalibrate your touch screens, the procedure is in the manual or at http://www.psaudio.com/ps_how/how-to-calibrate-a-perfectwave-touch-screen/

Finally returned home and have had a chance to load and play with Torrey’s C firmware. Amazing!

When I first loaded Torrey’s B last week, I was talking with Woot, and told him that the sound had deffinatly changed, but I was going to need some time with it to work through the changes in my mind. I was enjoying it, but the new soundstage width, depth and hight had seemed to have shifted instruments and voices of very familiar song to new unfamiliar areas. One of the tracks I use for testing is Mellisa Etheridge’s Sleep While I Drive. When I played this track the sound was full, vibrant, deep and had a live feeling about it. All great. However, Mellisa herself seemed larger then she should have been. The same with Shawn Mullins Tannin Bed Song. Instead of closing my eyes and picturing them playing in the room, it was like I was seeing them on a big screen TV.

All that has changed with Torrey’s C in an amazing way! The full, vibrant, deep live feeling remains, while vocals and some other instruments now are sized and placed correctly with the rest of the music. It is by far the best the DS has sounded! And Yale was no slouch!!!

I’ve had this unit in my system since it was a PerfectWave MK1, and the journey to where it is now has been incredible. This has by far been the best investment made to my system!

T

highstream said Haven't done a Yale-TorreysC comparison yet, but Emil Gilels playing Beethoven sonatas with TorreysC is stunning in its clarity, body, flow and dynamics, all of which draw one into the performance. It's like listening to a different system. Tonally, it strikes me as having the same slight tilt toward dryness that one hears while listening to a piano live and unmiked in a smaller room (that's a compliment, I think). Which leads me to suspect that Yale will sound a little sweeter, but that's to be seen (or heard).
I've copied my earlier comment to give context to this one. I've been doing a comparison on my desktop computer (USB) with Yale and, as I suspected, TorreysC is definitely on the dry side here and Yale is not. What TorreysC does well draws me into the performance, but that dryness distracts and is off-putting. Yale, OTOH, draws me in emotionally, and tonally - or is it pitch? - it's noticeably closer, a bit lower in pitch, to what I think instruments and voices sound like. There even seems to be greater preciseness of notes with it. With Yale, I lose some great things that TorreysC offers, but I rarely feel pushed off. Perhaps because of what I'm listening to, it's caught my attention most from the midrange on down (orchestral cellos, acoustic bass, female voice, piano), but I suspect more of the spectrum is involved. I've often wondered if a sense of dryness is in part a tonality issue and, if so, what I'm hearing between the two supports that. I'm drawing a clear distinction, so don't want to be misunderstood: the work Ted, Paul and others have done with TorreysC shows in elements of performance and sound I've never heard so well done before, yet I would be a torn camper living with it.
tpauline said the new soundstage width, depth and hight had seemed to have shifted instruments and voices of very familiar song to new unfamiliar areas. All that has changed with Torrey's C in an amazing way! The full, vibrant, deep live feeling remains, while vocals and some other instruments now are sized and placed correctly with the rest of the music.
Your observations backs up the comments I have made all along.

With a few more, it might constitute a statistical significance and not only subjective imagination :wink:

According to Ted the changes in FR is barely measurable between compiles, so this is really weird…