I hear Snowmass is comparable to Snowbird and Targhee, which I know both well.
Check out the trade in programs offered by PS Audio. Very good trade in offers on pre-owned equipment.
Been to Targhee - many moons ago. Are they all western slopes?
Mostly USB for this one and then before we release check all inputs. In the past weāve used I2S a lot, but more recently itās been easier using Qobuz material on USB.
We do in the form of a press release and personal phone calls, but that doesnāt always result in enough change. Reviewers have a lot of fish to fry.
1 Like
Tonality has changed quite a lot as well as the upper reaches of the frequency range. This release definitely sounds as if it is going higher in bandwidth, and tonally, itās fuller and instruments more rounded with greater body. The blackness levels are dramatically better too.
8 Likes
Thanks! We are just like you guys wanting the best we can squeeze out of our systems and to the extent we can continue providing them for free we will. Of course, at some point, weāll need to have a hardware change in order to keep up with technology, but so far thatās not been needed as Ted keeps wringing more and more out of that chip. Someday heāll run out and want to move to the next FPGA family, which will then open up a whole new playground for him. But, for now, weāre in good shape and in good hands.
5 Likes
That all sounds excellent. Canāt wait to take the upcoming firmware update for a spin.
Thanks to all involved in making these updates available.
2 Likes
I donāt remember, it was many moons for me tooā¦1986 for Targhee and 1986-1990 for Snowbird.
Great!
Not too long ago (~2-3 firmware updates) when in discussions extended top end performance and richer instrument timbre were declared as inaccurate vinyl artifacts compared to the āby thenā status of the DAC by several, I then mentioned, that as soon as something in the same direction will be delivered by digital, acceptance will change and it will be strongly welcomed and declared as the now improved digital āaccuracyā 
I am always positively amused and happy that it really always turns out, that the better BOTH get, also the the more similar they get and I really look forward to the update!
Ted rules, I love it!
1 Like
Paul what is the story with Qobuz?
I thought we could not get that in the USA, has something changed?
magicknow
Qobuz promoted availability in the USA in October, but that has apparently slipped. It could involve artist rights in the US market (my understanding is that this can vary between geographies) or securing sufficient bandwidth and CDN (content delivery network) capacityā¦or āotherā. I havenāt seen anything recently regarding the delay, nor have I received email contact from Qobuz which I registered for months ago. We wait.
One can also set up a Qobuz account from a UK VPN (hint: get a trial VPN account or pay a few $ for a months worth) and then you can listen from a device anywhere on the Internet without the VPN (uninstall it).
I wouldnāt suggest this for anyone in the U.S. unless they go monthly. Reason being, I used the VPN method to get access to Qobuz and paid for the requisite yearly fee to get the Sublime+ service. I have recently reached out to Qobuz (Intl) about switching my plan to the U.S. plan once live, or getting a prorated refund to then apply toward the U.S.-based subscription. After about 8 emails trying to get a straight answer, I am not convinced either is possible which means if you do the year subscription, and the U.S. comes online in 3 months, you are likely stuck with the remaining 9 months of the U.K. subscription. Month-to-Month is fine, but donāt prepay for the year.
And for whatever it is worth, Qobuzās customer support is just about at āJokeā status based on my dealings with the UK-based team. The U.S. customer support system may be different but Iām not holding my breath.
I donāt view that as being āstuckā, as the UK service will continue to be perfectly functional for the remaining months, and the US version may well offer less content due to licensing.
Thank you Jeff, eldrick, Chris,ā¦ I have been waiting to try Qobuz, your comments are greatly appreciated.
Question for your insights, My listening is 95% focused on flac level files; would I be overreaching by moving from ROON/Tidal to Qobuz?
Agreed, but it is a crap shoot still as there could be some content on the U.S. side that is not on Qobuz UK. For example is I have Tidal as well. There have been occasions where Qobuz did not have what I was looking for, but Tidal did.
I mention this just as something to be aware of. There is definitely a disconnect between the UK support team and their knowledge of the U.S.-based service particulars. Plus, I believe the U.S. service will be cheaper due to currency value differences. The pricing figures are the same between the two, but the UK service is in pounds, so more expensive overall.
Based on your listening habits, I think Qobuz would be a fantastic move. They are all about Hi-Res Flacās and if you get their top-tier service, you get a hefty discount on any files you may be interested in purchasing and downloading.
1 Like
Hi, I have Qobuz in the UK after moving from Tidal after 2 years. I feel that the sound quality is superior and been advised by Entreq that they ground their servers which produces this improvement. I originally has Tidal Hifi with MQA but prefer Qubuz hir-res files although it is more expensive. Has anyone done any comparisons?