A very NON-audiophile mate of mine had an afternoon of music with me today (mostly blues, his favourite genre). Not known for appreciating hifi systems, he stated unprompted the music sounds more “real and in-the-room”. He’s right.
Thanks Ted and Paul.
My new Cardas speaker cables are Parsec in a 25-foot pair. They are very smooth and easy to listen to, but they have been a bit less transparent than I would have preferred - until I installed Sunlight and upped the transparency of the DSD. The cables have improved with break-in, but I’m not sure how much more they are going to open up now that they have several hundred hours on them. For interconnects, I use Clear Reflection XLRs and really like them. I would like to have tried Clear Reflection speaker cables, but it gets really expensive when you need an 8-meter pair.
A nice upgrade, thank you @tedsmith and the PSA crew.
I don’t hear a huge, component level, difference versus Windom. It’s more of a small incremental improvement so far. Windom was already very good, anyway. Maybe some more burn is needed to fully appreciate Sunlight.
Out of interest, did any of you beta testers use sunlight directly into their amps?
It seems to me the vast majority of comments on this forum are from people with preamps.
Also, I find it very strange that some respondents don’t hear a major difference between Sunlight and previous firmware releases.
After many hours of listening I am convinced that Sunlight is superior to earlier versions. Clean, very clear voices, more attack and more joy! I am also convinced that there is no harshness in Sunlight at all. All my painful voices like Adele in chasing pavements or Mumford and Sons are better and may be the cable experts could be capable of tuning the last bit away, or maybe just some bad recordings. My main experience with Sunlight however, just like some other sw versions, is the need for tweaking speaker positioning. I really would like to advise to start there, before tweaking the hw in your system or even worse, to go back to an earlier version of the sw. I ended up with a full toe in of my speakers, just as was advised in the speaker manual by the way, but I ignored that for too long. Why? Maybe because indeed toeing out can reduce harshness in voices or strings with the big bonus of an impressive soundstage. But is that really ‘the acoustic truth’? I began to seriously doubt that with Sunlight. The right recordings could still have a fantastic soundstage with full toe in and Sunlight. The loss of some soundstage in some recordings compared to more toe out could be called a kind of false soundstage, like voices in a church: they sound fantastic but you are really hearing the church. So: do play with speaker position, accept the loss of soundstage in some recordings, which do not have that by design and enjoy Sunlight! Maybe, maybe I will get the itches again to start tweaking again (waiting for the xs4400) or indeed buy new cables.
Two questions:
As I posted above, I went back to Windom and, for me, the upper register is more… um… balanced.
Issue: On Chesky CD Beethoven no 9 Rene Leibowitz, Track 04 Presto 9:00 starts a triangle. That triangle stands out… my attention is drawn to it. It is not bright I don’t think, but quite defined. Sunlight is making things clearer and more defined, but results in an unnatural tonal balance. Not like turning up the treble knob, but elevating the volume of the higher frequencies… not tipped up but shelved up. I know this does not read correctly, but after a gazillion years in the hobby, it is an anomaly that I don’t recognize. It is as if a veil was lifted on the higher frequencies but not anything else resulting in them calling attention to themselves. A real contradiction… I should like this but I really don’t.
Question 1: What is the science here? What is going on?
Question 2 : There is another file that is different in the load between Windom and Sunlight. Could this file affect the sound? DSDD0401 to DSD00500. What is this file for? Difference in versions?
I am not done yet… will go back and forth… BTW, that Chesky disk was an all analog recording… I am using EL34s in my PrimaLuna… should not be a high-frequency issue here. I am holding all variables constant.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Again I find this interesting. This perception of high frequency response is what I encountered with Windom until I finally got a good load and made some adjustments to the system–after which I definitely preferred Windom to Snowmass. I did NOT encounter this same perception of the high frequencies with Sunlight–more clarity, yes, but not “highlighting” the highs or finding them louder. Better “delineated” perhaps is a way I would describe it as far as instrumental imaging–a fuller picture of the sonic signature of a trumpet or clarinet for example, within a more precise recorded location. Similar improvement in definition has occurred throughout the frequencies. Not an extreme change by any means, but noticable and influential to the listening experience in a positive way.
I got a card from PS Audio, and from the first load I heard improvements that I am still enjoying with Sunlight. I hope for you a better experience!
I heard nothing but improvements right from the start, and it keeps getting better. It’s to be expected that a few will prefer the older operating system. Can’t imagine using the supplied HDMI with a product at this level - it kind of worried me a few years ago when someone at PS told me that everyone there thought the PS supplied cable was excellent…
Playing mix and match isn’t going to help much. The change in the display code is to put up DSD256 when playing quad rate, that’s all.
Tho many of us have left our systems alone after Sunlight, for others, some system changes are required to get the best out of Sunlight. This is normal and doesn’t say anything negative about a given system, just that, perhaps some have their systems more tuned to compensate for Windom’s idiosyncrasies (on purpose or by accident) . Trying more speaker position movement and or toe in (or out) or perhaps varying some interconnects, etc. could make a difference that could guide you to other changes that might help. All of these will be more productive than fine tuning a system with possible small changes in software configurations.
I do not find odd some do not hear a major difference between Sunlight and previous firmware releases. We have seen this with every firmware release.
Listeners hear different things and have varying preferences, systems differ, source material is different, etc.
We see the same with components. Some conclude a new preamp is world changing; others, express disappointment it all sounds the same.
Thanx Ted.
I am floored… yes floored… that such software changes can make such an audible difference. I have been in this hobby and love of music since I was an early teenager. I get it. But even so, still amazed by it all.
Part of my amazement is the cognitive dissonances that I can’t shake. I am an old IT guy and tend to see the universe as deterministic… I am not so extreme that bits is bits… but still… amazing.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
I share this precise amazement and fascination.
As an old tube user who grew up with my Dad’s tricked out Dynaco system I’ve been so accustomed to amazing differences between tube brands and types that it’s easy for me, sixty plus years deeper into listening to (and creating) music, mostly on tubed playback systems, to accept this sort of change and be as fascinated while being less “amazed.”
My entire system fascinates me. I just changed the “feet” under my speakers from Herbie’s Audio Lab “Iso Cups” with “Deep Moss Quartz” “balls” to Aurios. And this made what I’ve heard as a component level change in the past, simllar to the change level of Snowmass to Windom. This hobby can take over your life if you let it, so much to explore and enjoy. Not a bad way to waste your time.
I am in awe when I see a huge cargo jet landing at Joint Base Andrews (formerly Andrews AFB). Even though I thoroughly understand how it’s done, to see such a huge craft flying so effortlessly… WOW!!! But then again, hearing music that gets it right, equally WOW!
If I had a huge income, I’m be spending it all on audio equipment and accessories, and of course music. I don’t think I could become rich no matter how large the income.
I had to spend £200k on the house before I could then spend money on better hifi (that’s the problem in the UK, tiny houses).
To your question, “did any of you beta testers use sunlight directly into their preamps?”:
I was not a beta tester, but installed Sunlight yesterday with direct rca interconnects to my amplifier and, after only an hour of so of listening can report the most amazing improvement of any FPGA upgrade for my Directstream, ever. Really hard to believe.
I was very close to purchasing a preamp but with Sunlight, that may not happen now.
But, if you had a huge income, you’d have a larger house with a dedicated 4.877m wide x 7.92m deep x 3.05m high listening room. Would that be gig enough for you??
I bought the tiny house over 30 years ago. Back in 2012 I extended it with a 6m * 9m *2.4m room (I’d have loved a higher ceiling but there are two more bedrooms above the new room).
I think sunlight is amazing but I do need to sort the bass out (it’s also a shame that there’s now so much more noise coming out of the dacs, hence my question about beta testers and preamps).
With my Audeze LCD-X+Rupert Neve RNHP (RIP Rupert…) Headphone system (though, not quite in my Speaker system), It’s quite noticeable compared with the previous releases, which I commented a way back. I hope some day, this DSD click noise will be solved…
From a SACD player playback standpoint, this is quite annoying indeed…, Sorry, nothing to do with the Sunlight sound impression, but since PSA is dedicated to DSD playback (and so am I), I had to address this issue a multiple times… 