Snowmass 3.0.5 vs. 3.0.6

Audio Components DACs
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Either what I suggested is true, or the DirectStream DAC has a different tonality at different output levels. They’re similarly priced. Which would you prefer to be implicated here?

For technical reasons, I’m of the opinion that the DAC is the more consistent performer. So any variation being heard as per recent posts would logically be due to differences caused by the pre-amp’s analog volume control.

When you change the volume on the DS DAC, no values of resistance, capacitance, inductance, impedance or anything else I might have forgotten change in the DAC’s circuitry. It’s the same circuit with the same parameters doing exactly the same thing. All that changes is the pattern of positive and negative voltage pulses coming from the digital switches, and as a result you get a larger or smaller waveform coming out of the low pass filter. And I know Ted has focused on preserving linearity in all of the computational aspects of the DAC – you can hear this for yourself with a 24-bit test album that has the same audio repeated at lower and lower levels, starting with your analog system at high gain (or with no pre-amp) and the DS digital volume very low, then increase the digital volume to hear each successive version of the audio sounding completely identical.

When you change volume in a pre-amp you are changing the parameters in an electrical circuit. Something is changing in resistance usually, leading to different responses from the circuit to the inputs that it receives. But changing resistance necessarily has impacts on voltage and current, and potentially from there you have second-order effects which could result in different sound characteristics. The best pre-amps will show the least amount of this effect. Maybe some are so good as to be inaudible, but from what people say about the sweet spot for their systems… I’m guessing most aren’t.

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Neither is being “implicated”.

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You guys come up with some crazy stuff to explain what you think you hear…

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226

I’m offering an explanation to what others claim to hear… myself, I don’t have a pre-amp and I find the DAC’s digital volume control to be awesome.

If others are actually imagining what they say they hear, no explanation would be necessary :man_shrugging:

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227

with some friends we just compared versions of snowmass and on my system no version can bring the life, rythm and space of redcloud… So i keep it, i will try the next update…

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We sure can be an obsessive bunch. Focusing in on minut differences in firmware updates can rob you from enjoying the music. I’m done comparing versions of Snowmass. They all sound great, pick one and get on with enjoying the music. This is mostly a memo to myself.

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229

You have to be careful on these forums saying you enjoy the DAC direct to the Amp they crucify you for that around here!

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230

Wow, Gary, you are so right!!! It’s comical some things that people complain about; things they decide are design flaws. One of the funniest was quite some time ago, someone pronounced the remote control as “a design failure” because they couldn’t program how long the light stays lit, or something like that.

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231

Roon over bridge no longer showing album metadata with 3.0.6

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Make sure you have a blank SD card installed in the back of your DS Sr - the Bridge II needs the SD card to store and display album info.

If you do have a blank SD card installed and continue to run into trouble, let me know and I’ll make sure we get to the bottom of it.

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Wait - blank? Not with whatever the current version of the firmware is?

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You only want the OS firmware on the SD card when you are doing a firmware version change. Otherwise, the SD card should be blank for Bridge II display purposes.

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235

I went back from 3.05 to 3.00 earlier. I missed the magic. Wanted to try 3.06, of course!

First install:
3.06 had more punch than 3.00, nice decay , flesh on the bone, soundstage excellent, broader soundstage than 3.00. Seems that I have to learn listening again, especially for finding the voices. Voices are struggling. So much is going on in the broad soundstage, that the brain has to work harder, as a multi-beam searchlight following the targets, sometimes discovering a new instrument in space or crown cap falling (liked that one from another post :grinning:). Hi-end is hard work! After some time vocals are little better, but still not very present. An example I did not like at all was ‘Let it be’ (24 bit). Too much bass, dominant soundstage, where is the voice?

Second install: noticed again that this time the file loading bar went all the way to the right. Did not do that the first time install.

With this second install, Let it be is really different. The soundstage does not take over, the voice is there, guitar and drumgear too present though, You can question this mix though, but that’s another story. Try Allison Kraus, Stay (dsd) and magic shows. To test the flesh on the bone, try Alicia Keys, Love is Blind. Loads of tight bass, but the voice survives. Or try Dawn by Babatunde Olatunji (dsd). This tests the tight bass, soundstage as well the fast cymbals. Absolutely fabulous! For the treble I used bwv 1041, Bach, Hilary Hahn (dsd). Yes it is strong presence in the treble, but very clean. 1042, part 1 is unforgiven, but the same track by Pinnock, rbcd, is very balanced, so maybe it is the dsd mix. Now Beethoven op. 59, part 3 stringQ by Tokyo SQ in dsd, wonderful strings, nice transients, soundstage.Next test, Bob Dylan. Never heard his voice better, more human. Acoustic guitar fantastic, and harmonica excellent. For a difficult balance in busy soundstage and voice take Lazarus heart by Sting. Balance is fine, you can enjoy the soundstage! The best for ending the evening: acoustic guitar by Bottleneck John, best sounding dsd I have! Buy it from Opus1.
Piano: Beethoven, Pollini: gorgeous, being there!
Violin: Bach, Fischer: excellent, present. Not very forgiven for lesser recordings, like Paganini, Accardo solo. Slight hesitation here.
Voice: Callas, Pure, casta diva: too much for my taste. Could be my speakers or ears though… Rebecca Pigeon, Spanish Harlem on dsd2: excellent, pure, soundstage. Loreena McKennitt, very pure. Bach, Kichschlager on dsd, excellent. Only Callas seems to be reaching the limits. Voice in soundstage: Fleetwood mac, gold dust women: excellent. Cash, wonderful.

3.06 will stay.

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236

Having the current firmware is only really a problem if it is a force load version so every time the DS boots it reloads the firmware. That said, I generally erase the card after firmware updates and then reinsert it in case something screwy happens and the firmware tries to reinstall (don’t know that that has ever happened in my case). If you want to keep your old firmware versions on the card, you can just put them in folders as the DS will only read files at the root level.

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There’s one other (rare, but possibly annoying) downside to not having a 2nd card for cover display. If the DS crashes, you turn the power off, and other such interruptions when the cover data is being written it can corrupt the SD card. If you then try to use that SD card for an update (or you accidentally update because you turned the power off and back on) you may get a failed update… The fix is to always format the SD card before you do an update, but that’s easy to forget.

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238

After reading the reviews about the Curious USB cable, I gather that this cable is powered, but the P S Audio Direct Stream DAC is not a powered DAC ! Is that a fair assumption ? I have the the P S Audio DAC with a $5.00 USB cable that needs to be upgraded !

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I believe the DSD Sr needs to ‘see’ the 5V initially but does not ‘use’ it.

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240

I’ve used a Curious USB cable with my DS DAC with no issues at all.

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There are many and bigger differences than a power conductor between the curious cable usb and your $5 cable.

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This does not apply to most of you, okay. I am just trying to help anyone with a new unit. The SD card goes in with the electrical traces facing up. Just so no one makes a mistake and breaks the socket. I just felt like pointing that out to anyone that might not know. since most electronics the card goes with the traces pointing down. Please do not say I am stupid. I was just trying to help anyone that did not know this. since you will likely break the socket. No, this did not happen to me! Although it can easily happen to someone that does not know. Today people rarely read manuals either sadly.

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