My SD card is scheduled to arrive Wednesday. I expect to hear significant changes, and like Windom I expect I’ll be moving my speakers, rolling some tubes, adjusting gain between components. . . not that that is unusual for me! (Well, I only move the speakers occasionally.) Like Ron I think that there will be about a week of “new areas of the chip” settling in. That seemed to be the case with Windom, longer than a week because I got inconsistent loads.
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“Expect to hear…” hmmm… careful.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Umm. . . every firmware change has brought significant changes. . . some that I didn’t perceive as being for the better, at least at first. I have learned to have fairly accurate expectations and to trust my instincts. It’s a good way to get through life.
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3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Sunlight: Installation and Technical Issues
What I found is this firmware is so clean and good it will reveal weakness in downstream equipment and show weakness in speakers…
I loaded it on a new card and into the DS SR IN 5 min. It was immediately apparent that highs and mid detail was much cleaner. The bass at first I felt a little taciturn … I did my initial demo songs well known and then loaded WINDOM back in… The bass on WINDOM was more full yet lacked that tight punch and slam …( sad as that is to say as I LOVED WINDOM )
I re re loaded Sunlight and was taken aback at how good the detail was. The bass which I thought was laid back was there just not bloated and heavy… {sorry WINDOM my dear}
The sunlight came in and stole my heart…
Yes I moved my chair a tad back and any bass that I missed was back with much better detail control and punch. Don’t be afraid to adjust to the new piece.
Kettle drum skins are heard, not the reverb room shake from microphone pickup, but the strike of the mallet …
Overall huge step up and thanks Ted and the Ps Audio team …
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When i first listened to the fresh installed Sunlight FW, i was somewhat disappointed.
Compared to Windom the sound was definitely clearer and seemingly louder, but it was also somewhat strident and much more analytical, clinical, digital.
Then i remembered that the FPGA needs time to burn in, my DSD is relatively young, i bought it with Snowmass and later updated to the fantastic Windom. So chances are that not every corner of the FPGA has been used till now.
After 24 hours of continuous play, to an amp that was off most of the time, the sound was already much more to my liking, but still not good enough.
After 48 hours of burn-in, the sound of Sunlight is just like all the positive reviews in this thread have stated, absolutely gorgeous ! I think the step from Windom to Sunlight is at least as great as the step from Snowmass to Windom was, once again like a new much better DAC.
Thank you very, very much @tedsmith, @Paul, @DarrenMyers and all of PS Audio.
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Listening to Jazz at the Pawnshop 3 DSD 256 right now any what amazes me about Sunlight is it’s ability to reproduce live recordings particularly in small venues. It perfectly renders the you are there experience and a soundstage that is gives you the illusion of the scale and scope of the production that was magnificently recorded!
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Question:
For those with "forward sounding systems", do feel Sunlight is bright or something amped in the highest registers? I wonder if there is a correlation here.
You know who your are. I have Focal speakers with berylium tweeters… not blaming the tweeter right now, but Focal speakers in general have a forward presentation… in my experience.
I have found every new firmware version to be an improvement… this one is giving me pause. Focal Clear headphones sound really nice with Sunlight but the Clear 'phones have a laid back presentation.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
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Yesterday I waited for Amazon to deliver an SD card reader. As soon as that sucker came in, I loaded Sunlight and proceeded to A-B my “old” system to Sunlight. Holy crap!! I could not believe the transformation. Everything sounded more shapely. I could feel and sense the roundness of bass strings and the materiality of vibe keys. I’d say it was almost hallucinogenic in nature…no, I wasn’t stoned. Kudos to Paul and Ted and Darren and the P.S. Audio team. My system sounds like never before.
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Welcome to the community!
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Focals can be terrors on highs … I build all of my designs in the last five years with focal tweets … I’ve owned a few Wilson with them too … placement and toe as well as rake… in my experience most focal inverted dome speakers play best a tiny bit off access … try playing with positions . Get them out in the room … BE will be fast to show it’s warts as it’s so revealing and willing to show them to you.
Move them around
Tiny bit is all you need sometimes… 1/4 on the toe , 1 inch is 6 inches 12 feet down field.
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Welcome @pg62 ! Thanks for sharing.
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Focal Be speakers don’t have to have a forward presentation. In the past I’ve had the Micro Utopia Be and the Mezzo Utopia Be. I’m running the Nova Utopia Be for fronts and Alto’s for the rears. (I’ve always liked the accuracy of the Be tweeters.) My wife is pretty sensitive to harshness, I’m not a fan of a forward presentation.
Some have reported Sunlight settling down with a day or two of burn-in, that might help. FWIW I always point them exactly at the sweet spot. (I don’t know if you’d call that 0 toe or 30 degrees toe. 
)
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Hi Bruce, try to give it some more burn-in time, playing music to it, it will end up being just as smooth as Windom was, but better in all aspects. See post 370.
Interesting your experience… I know you have the big ones… maybe I feel this way because I came from Magnepan 20 speakers… interesting.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
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Returning to home after business travel.
Sunlight such a welcome home trip. I am totally amazed how much deeper I hear into the symphonic pieces. The depth gained another 40 feet. How sweet the highs. I am loving every instrument and voice. Most notable is the transformation of any type percussion. So much more live and musical. Not overdriven spikes but palpable so you see and hear the skins.
I had stated I wished to hear something off Eagles Hell Freezes Over as the wait for the firmware was as bad as the analogy. The live version was an OMG moment. I was surrounded by the crowd and felt as though every other time I heard that recording was Boombox Quality compared to the textures and sonic delights lost in that recording prior to Sunlight. I have heard that piece on some incredible revealing systems. Totally this Sunlight put me in the MTV studio the day it was recorded. Other renderings I had heard were impressive but felt false.
I played a piece for my Asian wife she loves from her native country. So much Symphonic Bliss and huge deep soundstage places you about row 10 with whole orchestra perfectly positioned and every chair you see the performance in you minds eye.
I continued for about two hours last night before I noted some burn in harshness. Not unlike other firmware updates so I know it will disappear. I can’t wait to get beyond that. It is such a treat and well done. Thanks to the master Ted and this latest masterpiece and the PS Audio crew that selected and polished the presentation that made it ever more priceless.
My system is DS with Edcor transformer upgrade. Plus huge line array speakers and monoblocks that can deliver any power level called for. I found it so smooth and clear that it never felt obsessively loud or over driven. It just brought out those buried details.
I say shelve the Mark II and accelerate the TSS delivery. Though I am sure my bank account get’s thoroughly milked for both purchases. Money Moovin on over … 
to PS Audio.
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Hey @tedsmith, I hope you didn’t shoot yourself in the foot with this release. It’s so good, why would anyone switch to the TSS when it becomes available? 
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Even so you’ll like the TSS
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Need to save up or work on the Missus’s life insurance clauses!
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I have a pretty neutral system that might lean toward slightly laid back.
I am finding Sunlight as having increased definition and resolution, but is definitely a bit brighter, more forward, and louder. Overall, a nice change, but I can see if one has a forward system already, it might be too much of a good thing.
As Ted has noted- may be a product of the noise floor reduction.
It’s a slightly different emphasis for sure.
Both Windom and this are very good. Windom a little more on lush side.