Alright then. My Stellar GCD is in for repair. I guess I’ll test how the DSD sounds through it vs straight to my M700s. I’m really curious.
@stereJo - here is the black version… all black!
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Thanks Ted and scumbag (really, man, I can’t call you that!). I’m listening to more tunes and it does seem to vary. More listening required. Oh, the agony! 
Just the opposite. Vocals seem to be projected slightly in front of the speakers compared to Redcloud.
I think you are going to enjoy them. MA is a high value manufacturer, not sexy but good value products. (Somewhat like PS Audio)
I recently got offered Monitor Audio Platinum PL500 II for a good price and then they threw in the matching PLW215 II sub and PLC350 II centre in for nothing. Much to my wife’s regret, I succumbed.
Having had standmounts all my life, I am only now hearing bass for the first time in my audio system.
Cheers,
Chris
Finally had a little more time to spend with Snowmass tonight. The increased sense of texture, liquidity and dimensionality is really something. Really nice…
Agree with Gary M on the vocals. I thought the same.
That’s not what I am hearing. The soundstage is deeper and is more defined so I am getting more of a 3D effect. The voices aren’t necessarily any farther away but the sure are not forward of where they were.
I changed an output capacitor in my preamp recently which had improved the instrument and voice separation and combining that Snowmass has made a significant improvement overall.
Maybe it is a speak placement deal…
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Can’t wait to checkout Snowmass but I’m confused. My FGPA is version 0.1.131 Should I update that before installing Snowmass?
The Snowmass upgrade will upgrade all of that.
Thank you. I’m diving in.
I have a pair of Bowers & Wilkins PV1D subwoofers (one for each channel) that will be used where the PL100 II’s roll off. I should have a fairly good full frequency setup once these new speakers arrive. Not that the Monitor Audio Gold 50 speakers weren’t already wonderful sounding in their own right, but I’m hoping these are a nice step up overall.
I’m going to do a lot more listening of course. Maybe a tweak here or there with speaker placement. But I think what I can say is I like Snowmass very much. I agree with Paul that it launches the DS way up into the megabuck processor territory. Not that it wasn’t good before, but as I emailed my listening buddy, to my memory I’m not sure I’ve heard digital done better at any audio show, short of one or two sources I’ve heard. My impression is the DS is now playing in $40K plus territory. Not bad.
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I considered stovepipe hats for my speakers, but ended up going with berets. Berlioz, Bizet and Debussy have so much more je ne sais quoi.
[ goofiness is what it’s come to for us DSJr owners, waiting…(patiently)…]
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Might be a good occasion to exercise the polarity invert function. See if that changes it.
I love Snowmass. Before installing it, I ocassionally notice some etching or harshness on the trailing edge of vocals. Minor, but I thought about upgrading my speakers. The issue now is resolved. Also, much better sound stage: more precise and deeper.
Left my DS in sleep mode last night, this AM it was turned on. Several days ago just the opposite, wouldn’t go in sleep mode. Believe someone else has posted similar.
My 2cents on Snowmass:
I’ve spent the better part of 4 months wringing noise of various types out of my system. My vinyl sounds incredible, but I was becoming dissatisfied with Redcloud – Redcloud sounded dull and not dynamic compared to vinyl. Before the noise reduction effort, everything sounded a bit bright, and Redcloud’s increased detail satisfied. It sounded better than my vinyl.
I was just about to start a round of tweaking on my digital setup, when… BOOM, Snowmass.
What was starting to bother me about Redcloud was that I was loving the detail, but stuff like orchestral brass just didn’t have the startling impact that I would expect (something that was previously masked by noise), and the overall quality of the sound was not involving anymore – noticeably squashed dynamics.
Snowmass seems to solve all that. No tweaking necessary! Brass is distinct and dynamic (as well every other part of the orchestra). If I have a complaint, it’s bass, but I think I have a headcold coming on. So, I will withhold comment.
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My slight feeling from some experience this time with some back and forth between Redcloud and Snowmass and also of one other person I know is, that the sound of the same fimware changes more or less and to a smaller or bigger degree with each update process to the DAC.
This sounds weird and I’m willing to accept that it’s wrong, but sometimes something happens during the update process.
If Ted could integrate a kind of check method if the current update process lead to what was intended, that would be great.
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This was my first impression, as well. However, after 24 - 48 hours, I though the effect was less so. Maybe the effect of the FGPA re-settling and transformer degaussing as described elsewhere by Ted?
After several days, I’ve tweaked speaker position slightly, so I can’t accurately comment on any further “burn-in” phenomenon.