Snowmass V1sounds better than Snowmass V2

oh yeah. I remember that. I ignored it because I have no bridge.

[I know this has been talked about, but if the display & bridge cause noise, canā€™t they just be covered with EMI/RFI shielding tape?

SM V1 is absolutely better then V2 or V3.
Mp3 from Spotify on V1 sound much better - V2/V3 Qobuz FLAC from Audirvana with special settings.
I listening V2 about 2 weeks, then set V3 for 1 day, then set V1 and fly to heaven at first track after instalation.

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They cause RF noise and conducted noise. But the amounts of noise arenā€™t that great, its just that people are now noticing very minute things. Also not all of the effect is via the DACā€™s electronics, e.g. the screen needs to be seen, but the RFI comes out of the screen in the front tooā€¦ Instead of tape, an (insulated) metal box with small of holes for air convection and wire, entry and egress as feasible would be both safer and more effective.

Iā€™m gonnaā€™ stick with Red Cloud until version anomalies are resolved. Merry Christmas to all :smiley:

With so many people saying V1 sounding better than V2, I thought I would try going back to V1 just for the hell of it since V2 has been fine in my system. In my system, I thought V2 was just a little clearer sounding although I would be happy with either. V1 or V2 outperformed all earlier versions I used going back to Pikes Peak. Maybe my system is not revealing enough, but I probably could not tell for sure in a blind test in my system between V1 and V2.

FWIW, I am not aware of any work being done to fix outstanding ā€œanomalies.ā€ Cheers.

Guys. I think we all need to stop worrying and just listen to the music.

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I have a bit of a more specific question about V1 and V2 for the masses:

Does anyone that has listened to both extensively, prefer the ā€œsoundā€ of V2 over that of V1?

I purchased the SD card for V1 from PS Audio originally (and installed it after I had updated Bridge II to the latest software) and my free-follow up replacement SD card bearing V2 arrived today. I am satisfied with V1 and hesitant to load V2 since I had some software update gremlins toy with my V1 installation [it took three ā€œupgradeā€ and two ā€œdowngradeā€ (to Red Cloud) cycles to get Snowmass to ā€œtakeā€ with my DS Sr.].

So, are there any V2 sound fans out thereā€¦?

Regards.

In the poll earlier in this thread, 2 of the 34 voters preferred V2.
24 preferred V1.
8 did not notice a difference.
You are probably safe sticking with V1 but your opinion of the 2 versions would be interesting if you do choose to install V2.

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Thanks. I overlooked/forgot about the poll. Only two ā€œtakersā€, so far - interesting.

Regards.

Thank you Seegs! I will try v1.

Been following the discussions on various software updates, just out of interest. Until last December i thought it wise to take the plunge and liked to update from Torreyā€™s to Snowmass. Then in came my new BHK250 !!, forgot about updating. Will do. The BHK250 is indeed an amp that lifts up SQ impressively, added some new cabling. Hesitating now to update. Not to obscure whatā€™s actually reason for improved SQ I am just getting more an more impressed with what I hear now. I do have Bridge I which I donā€™t use; play Cdā€™s and vinyl only. This is John Scofleld day today: going through his catalogue :wink:

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I noticed a strange thing after loading SM V1 coming from V2.
V1 sounded worst to me comparing to the first time i installed V1.
After installing V2 the sound was still not right!?
After installing V2 for the second time the magic returned :smile:
After each install i restarted the DS by switching the main switch on the back (and wait 10 seconds).

@Ted
Is there a method to verify if the new FPGA code is loaded correctly?
If installed correctly V1 and V2 sounded identical too me.

The FPGA code is identical in all Snowmass releases. The differences are in the control processor (and perhaps also which version of the bridge software you have running.) The fact that the Bridge software isnā€™t part of the Snowmass release can really confuse things. Anyway, check your version number screen to see whatā€™s loaded, you can compare that to the file names to see if itā€™s what you want, or simply write them down and see if thatā€™s what you get when you reload that softwareā€¦ Having the screen off will lessen the differences between releases.

Hi Ted, presumably if you remove the Bridge then the bridge sw version that was installed before it was removed is not relevant?

Re the issue Iā€™ve repeatedly had with each new Dac sw update where it sound bright and bassless for a period of time (say 2-3 weeks) then suddenly improves. It reminds me of previous pieces of hifi kit Iā€™ve had that need breaking in / warming up. Regarding this you previously mentioned (unless Iā€™ve misunderstood) where you have some kind of control over how warm the Dac is by passing current though resister networks or something like that to control temperature. I was wondering if on some peopleā€™s dacs this is not working properly after an update and the circuits stay cold too long?

Curious too. I have a Bridge one in - unused. SM update doesnā€™t load.

Thatā€™s correct.

Thatā€™s on the upcoming TSS DAC. The digital and analog cards in the DS stay pretty cool all of the time, Iā€™m very sure the changes in sound we are talking about have nothing to do with temperature in the DS. (The Jr runs hotter, but thereā€™s still no obvious correlation between temp and sound quality.)

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Thanks Ted, I was just trying to ā€œthink outside the boxā€