Great job to team on the fix - turnaround. No real issues with existing code for me
Paul - thanks for your continued communication - and I happen to enjoy your enthusiasm. I also prefer the ‘get it out fast ‘ agile approach to releases vs them getting slogged down in the qc dept. what I think is most important is the sound - not necessarily the features. If I have something in my greedy little hands earlier - all the better. I’ll deal w a pop or a fade in or whatever. To me - this is minor …but that’s me.
Is it just me or is album art now staying on when a song changes (on the same album)? Not sure if this was an intentional fix but I will take it either way.
I like the choice for the volume level, too. This way everyone should be happy.
Snowmass V2 upgrade went almost OK, with the following results:
after 1st bootup DS did not recognized bridge - had to do another power-cycle to get bridge back (this is hapening to me quite frequently when doing DS upgrade)
volume was set to 25% after reboot (not sure if this is desired, not an issue for me as i listen with DS set to 100% volume most of the time
@bruce-in-philly actually in my case manual powercycle after upgrade got bridge input back.
have you been upgrading DS with SNOWMASS, or BRIDGE firmware ?
i assume you have tried power cycle with at least 10+ seconds in power-off state?
can you see bridge on the network?
OK, more information. After the update, the bridge was “not there”… then I power cycled. When I power cycle any digital equipement, computers et al, I power down, pull out the power cord, and flip the power switch on… wait a few seconds, flip it off, then put the cord back in, then power up. Some old IT guy from DEC told me to do that with computers a long long time ago… something about “draining” it. A good practice? heck, I dunno.
When it came up, it saw the bridge but I could not select it as an input. I started to dick with it, power cycled… blah blah… no point … I gave up… buggy. I don’t have patience with this stuff anymore… even if I could get it to work, it still is buggy and I want the bugs fixed… bugs tend to have a legacy… a gift that keeps giving.
Others reported the exact same thing… PS Audio said to contact service.
have you been upgrading directstream snowmass firmware (procedure with SD card), or bridge firmware (procedure via mcontrol / DS touchscreen) ?
when you say you saw bridge - you mean in some UPnP client or Roon? What happens when you try to play some track ?
are you able to see bridge on DS display when cycling thru available inputs?
are you able to switch to bridge input via DS remote controller? Does then network icon render green or red?
can your DS show bridge firmware version in the settings page on DS touchscreen?
Like I said, I have no patience with this stuff anymore. Usually, the first thing I would do is ping the darn thing from my PC. Pinging, is at the lowest hardware level and is part of the old Ethernet standard. As long as the card is alive, regardless of what it is plugged into or if the box (DAC) is even functioning, it should respond to a ping… but again, I don;t really care to try. I assigned a static IP address to it… but honestly, I did not look to see if the address I saw was the one I assigned… I don;t care anymore… the bugs need to be fixed. I just gave up. I never tried to update the bridge… just Snowmass. I saw the bridge version, I didn;t even care if it was the latest… it doesn;t work, I am done.
PS Audio will come through.
I can find other things to waste my time with. Using USB. BTW, I am an old IT guy so I learned something … complexity = risk. Another way of saying KISS. If you need compexity, then the risk is mitigated through thoughtful upstream business processes… this catches the issues before release. This is not a technology issue, but a human process problem.
I’ve counseled many many organizations who want to choke or fire the guilty… some hapless guy or gal… but it is the process not the person.
Bruce. Completely agree with your thoughts on complexity = risk…KISS etc. we come from the same world. People never want to hear ‘simpler…easier’. What they respond to is ‘more cost effective with better quality’. Yet both - in my mind - mean the same.
FWIW, in my experience, the Bridge (MK I and MK II) has always been squirrelly once it loses its connection with the network. There is something wrong with the Bridge’s “protocols” (if that is the correct term) that makes it difficult to complete the handshake (connection) with my network. I leave my DS DAC Sr. powered up all of the time. When power is interrupted, it takes a series of reboots of all of my home network components to get the bridge connected to the internet. Through trial and error, I have learned that I am most successful if I am patient and let the network settle down for at least ten minutes after rebooting all of the parts and pieces. Most of the time, the little bridge symbol with turn from red to green after a reboot and ten minutes or so of impatiently sitting there with my arms crossed and toe tapping staring at that stupid symbol. I wonder if others can report similar experiences and offer a better solution for reestablishing a connection with the network.
iMac/ At&T U-verse Pace 5268ac Gateway Internet Wireless Modem Router
Both:
WiFi from iMac to Router/Modem
Router to TP-Link MC200CM Gigabit Media Converter via Wireworld Chroma Cat 8 Ethernet Cable
TP-Link MC200CM to TP-Link MC200CM via Tripp Lite Duplex Multimode 62.5/125 Fiber Patch Cable
TP-Link MC200CM to TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch (Passive) via generic Cat 7 Ethernet Cable
TP-Link Switch to PSA DirectStream Sr./Bridge II via Wireworld Starlight Cat 8 Ethernet Cable
Appreciate your interest and any insight you care to offer…
Not sure where you are going with your line of thinking…a few clarification points:
My iMac is downstairs in the kitchen. The router and DirectStream DAC are upstairs in the bonus (AV) room.
There is no issue with Wi’Fi connectivity to the router and everything else coming off of the switch (e.g., Apple TV, Direct TV box, Playstation and “Panny” Plasma TV ) connects up right away. My issue is with the bridge not connecting to the network/router via ethernet as readily as it should.
Once the connection is made (especially with Bridge II) the system is pretty stable and drop outs are rare.
Clear as mud? Or, does this help you a bit with a possible diagnosis?
Whenever there is a problem somewhere, I always try to minimize all connections trying to rule out conflicts. Your problem is your computer seeing the Bridge. So whatever is connected between those two should be looked at as a possible conflict including your music player software.
