Everybody’s experience is their own - but for me, Snowmass sounded fantastic straight from the get-go and now after 114 hours it still sounds fantastic and pulling me into the music… This O/S is truly special.
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Agreed - Put on the CD of Van The Man, “Hymns To the Silence”. The title tune going into “On Hyndford Street”…chills. Religion. One of those things there aren’t really words for.
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I am totally protesting my own comment: Snowmass got better after a few hours. Why? Look, I just don’t believe something changed… it had to be me settling down and being more receptive. My system is good but it is not that good.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
I was not immediately bowled-over with the new OS. My ears are old and my system is decent but hardly state-of-the-art. That having been said, there are moments now when my system sings in a way it didn’t before.
System, input method such as Bridge versus the feed from my Oppo 105D, the quality of the source files/discs/set top box/external hard drive, etc. all play a role.
But one thing I continue to believe is that Snowmass is the best iteration of the operating system yet.
Kudos to PS Audio.
[I started typing this an hour ago, but got interrupted, it’s a little redundant with other intervening posts.]
The FPGA does a checksum of the bits coming in and won’t boot if they don’t match. The FPGA code that gets loaded into the FPGA comes from a flash and is checksummed there as well. Completely random subtle changes in sound are unlikely to come from bit error problems, etc.
It does take a little time for the DS to settle after a load and that time further depends on how long the DS was off before the load, etc. There is a known but not understood anomaly that a software load can sound “wrong” on the FPGA boot that’s part of the upgrade process, perhaps always turning the DS off and then back on after an upgrade would lessen the differences you are hearing. Also waiting for, say, 10 minutes after an upgrade before listening might minimize the differences. (I know that it will also lessen the audio memory as well…)
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I’m somewhat obsessed with Miles Davis. I have well over 100 discreet works of his in LP and Digital formats, and his image tattooed on my shoulder. Besides reinventing Jazz multiple times in completely revolutionary ways, and being the magical player that he was, Miles arguably made the most contribution by recognizing and nurturing new/largely unknown musicians. He then would combine them and give loose parameter in the music and arrangements. Thus the Magic happened. I’m so happy, as the story goes, that Paul made a hurried stop to Ted’s place to check out the one-off DAC (DirectStream prototype )Ted had built for himself (because he could). The rest is history. #MilesMcGowan. #TedsGenius.
I was one of those that a few years back preferred the old version over the upgrade. I think it was Yale and Huron, but I don’t recall. In any case, Snowmass is on a different planet from everything that’s come before. I await what others have to say critically, if anything, once past initial reactions, but overall Snowmass is like buying a new more expensive dac, if not system.
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Thanks Ted!!
Try Mr. Scumbag
Glad your enjoying it Gene, I am too. 
So I was at Disneyland last Thursday and enjoying the live jazz band in New Orleans Square, and the only thing that seemed missing between the live and Redcloud (Snowmass hadn’t been released yet, nor was In a position to actually download it as I was in Anaheim) was the dynamics of the brass. It just wasn’t the same in Redcloud as it was live. But soundstage, tonality, and everything else was pretty much spot on.
Don’t know if Snowmass will fix that (I’ve got MartinLogan ESL speakers, so that may be the problem, there). So with the BHK 250, BHK preamp, fuses, Iconoclast speaker & MkII interconnects, things are sounding pretty darn good!
And, oh, that’s with my P10, BTW, not even a P15. (I think the Iconoclast speaker cable did the same or better improvement than just the P15 by itself, so I’ll save P15 to after I get the AN2’s. When I retire, that is, just in time for my hearing to go south . . . .)
–SSW
Here is my (brief) take on it after some listening yesterday;
More meat on the bone/impact.
Better defined midbass.
Blacker background.
Enhanced immediacy due to lowered noisefloor/better s/n.
Instruments have got itˋs own sphere wrt. definition (sounds more airy and distinct in it´s weightless imaginary/illusive position.
Better texture.
Somewhat prolonged decay.
Even better channel separation.
Format fade-in is noticable, but acceptable in most situations in my case.
One more observation;
I believed the soundstage was placed slightly backwards compared with RC, but after listening for a couple of hours I am not so sure anymore…
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What did you tweak in your speaker position. Less toe in. May be?
Isn’t it crazy to very now and then switch from the optimal speaker position (in terms of soundstage) just because of tonality issues? The upcoming PSAudio speakers would avoid this by adjustability.
Actually I moved them forward away from the rear wall by 6 inches, but did not change how they were angled so, yes, effectively a bit less toe-in relative to the listening position, which did not change.
It’s an issue I’m having apart from the DSD operating system. I recently re-arranged the room and put the speakers on the long wall in an attempt to solve some thorny bass node issues. It smoothed the response and improved the soundstage, but made the speaker and listening position more sensitive to room nulls and peaks. Moving the speakers or listening chair a matter of inches makes much more dramatic differences, but at least I can fine-tune the response at the listening position by sliding the chain back and forth.
Snowmass was sort of dropped into the mix shortly after I rearranged things. FWIW, I noticed a flabbier bass after the update settled in, which is why I continued shoving the speakers around. Maybe it was due to Snowmass, but I can’t say for sure.
Wow, very nice Ted!
After the update, after the DS is closed, After a while，the ds will be automatically opened. How can I solve this problem?
Ted, I’ve got the same behavior, any idea what the problem is ?
I was a beta tester and I have Snowmass and 3.6.2 for Bridge firmware and my DSD turns itself back on after I’ve put it into standby after some time.
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I don’t know what all changed in the control/display processor code, perhaps @mattc has an idea what is causing the DS to come out of standby “at random”.