Sir,
DO you have any explanation or theories on these downloads needing to come from certain other versions before they load properly.
I am no computer scientist but would like to try and understand what causes this.
Thanks.
Great update BTW. To you and whomever worked on it.
T
Weird.
Yes. Windom sounded better after coming from Redcloud. And now has replaced Snowmass 300.
Listening with LCD-4, King MkII. This version is definitely a winner over Snowmass. Instrument separation, wider and further back sound stage, vocal separation and focus. Headphone just disappears. Thanks Ted and Paul for an incredible job and service to your customers.
There are a few things going on, if we knew the full details we’d fix them 
(Historically) the first boot just after an update doesn’t clear memory before the reboot, that means various things may not get reinitialized correctly. So it used to be good to power off after an update before you start listening. (I don’t know if this is still a problem or not.)
In early releases after running for a length of time the FPGA would “slip a gear”, one state machine would get out of sync with another and some signals might be clocked too early or too late, almost always working but not quite. I’ve carefully tried to find any bugs like this and fix them, the last releases that I knew they still existed were Pike’s Peak and Yale. You needed to do a reboot to fix that.
The update process doesn’t do a reliable job of translating settings from the old release to the new release, some times the result is simply that the volume comes up wrong or one channel is silent because the balance was cleared on one side, etc. Some of the stored configuration data is more critical, but the effects when wrong are harder to analyze. Just as an example that many here can relate to from the Snowmass versions: these bad configurations can, say, refresh the screen too often or at a wrong rate and cause audible interference. These bad configurations in flash persist when rebooting. Changing to another release (not always the same one) can clear the affected memory and then when reloading the new software you’ll be like everyone else.
That worked for me. Snowmass to Huron to Windom on my DSjr.
Windom does a lot of very good things, and is a clear improvement over Snowmass 3.0.0 and certainly from the lower midrange on down vs. 3.0.6. And the bit of increase in warmth is welcome. Had I not been listening to a Lampi Atlantic TRP dac (approx. equivalent price) before and after playing Windom, which I let run in for 24 hours, I would be largely satisfied with it. But I wonder if the degree of its richness doesn’t work against it. It’s not nearly as clear and delicate as what I’m hearing with the Lampi (or what 3.0.6 had on its upper half). And it feels slow. A really good example of this came in comparing the two dacs with Cecile McLorin Salvant’s “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” (WomanChild), a song which I find really good for evaluating gear. The Windom DSD slogs through it, while the TRP captures much more of the stoccato like crispness and drive of Salvant’s arrangement, as well has the air and depth of her voice and of other musicians. In posing this comparison, I don’t want to suggest that Windom won’t lead to many hours of happy listening. It has a lot going for it.
Man, you and I have way different hearing. The Lampi Atlantic TRP is a mushy sounding mess compared to the DirectStream. The DirectStream offers much better clarity and the soundstage is much better too in that voice and instrument separation is better.
Heck, I’d take a Schiit Yggdrasil over the Lampi…
I’d agree - at least initially. I thought the jump from Red Cloud to Snowmass was huge. Never thought it had the short cummings some have mentioned here. I always found it to be lush, transparent with plenty of air up top. Could be my ears (and brain) are a little fried as I’ve been auditioning power cables for my new p20 but it seemed like I lost some of this magic with the first couple of listens of Windom. Stage collapsed a bit and things seemed to thin out a little. I’ve gone back to Snowmass for now. Could just be my ears and a case change fatigue. I’ll give Windom a longer listen after I settle in with the p20 - which is outstanding. Thanks to Ted and Paul for providing this great service.
System synergy at play perhaps?
Worked a treat, thank you Ted. Yesterday’s install, the cymbals were thin and hard to listen to. Bass was boomy. Redcloud back to Windom sorted it out. Would highly recommend it. Sounding excellent.
Hearing, other gear or a matter of tubes? I’ve got great GEC KT66’s and lately a U50 recti that’s extraordinary in most respects. I also have the TRP’s passive preamp (volume control), which allows me to run direct to ATC actives. If anything, I find the TRP slightly thin, which has me thinking of finding a (more tube like) Golden Gate eventually. That’s one respect Windom is the opposite of the TRP.
Should have replied to you @tonydennison - but yeah, going from redcloud to windom made 0 difference to the sound, which tells me that going from snowmass 3.0.6 to Windom is probably just fine. So the upgrade for ds senior had 0 issues.
For my system which is warm, @waymanchen11 you are very right - Snowmass is the most definitely what I prefer.
Maybe. I have yet to hear a setup where I prefer a tube-based DAC over the DirectStream. Then again, I have never tried either one is a setup using Class D amps and passive preamps…
Thanx
I personally felt that Windom had too much grit, so much so, that I was initially dizzy from the sound coming out of my speakers - it is as if I did not recognize my music anymore.
I guess after having been accustomed to the sound of Snowmass 3.0.6, the step to Windom was a bit too much.
Bear in mind I have pretty good shielded cables (Audience USB, XLR, and speaker cables) and an Innuos Zenith MK3 player: so, whatever enters the DAC is pretty noise free and whatever comes out of the DAC reaches the speakers pretty much noise free as well.
Anyway, I am not giving up on Windom just yet.
After experiencing some listening fatigue with what I perceived too much emphasis overall (as if the singers in the Choral were no longer signing but rather shouting), I decided to try and lower the output volume of the DAC (80 instead of 100).
Well … it seems it did tone down a bit the shouting energy.
Even though I adjusted back my integrated amplifier (Accuphase E-370) volume to match previous music level, the sound appeared smoother.
So, I am going to go like this for a while and see - may be I will stick with Windom - to be continued …
I installed Windom about 2:30 pm today CDT after spending about 30 minutes listening to Snowmass on my DS Sr. My amplification is a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium integrated with Gold Lion KT88’s, and I play my music files through JRiver Media Player into the DS Network Bridge. After installing Windom, I could not get audio through the bridge even though JRiver showed the file playing. The USB connection worked fine, but I could not enjoy or focus on the music as I tried to solve the Bridge issue. When I used MConnect on my Android phone, it also did not recognize the Bridge as a playback device. After trying all the usual tricks, I suddenly noticed that the DS menu screen indicated that the Bridge needed a firmware update. Really? That’s the first time I’ve ever noticed that, and I initiated the download, which took about 5 minutes. But still no luck getting the Bridge to play.
I have found the Bridge to sound clearly better than USB to my ears, but I decided to sit back and begin listening via USB. I was immediately struck by a big change in the sound - that’s an understatement. It was stunning, jaw dropping.
As I was about to select some more music, I checked MConnect on my Android and noticed that the Bridge was now showing up, and I was now able to play music from it to the DS. I then tried using JRiver, and Ureka - it was now working there too! I don’t have any explanation for that.
Through the Bridge II, I became so drawn in and so overwhelmed by the music that I spent the next 6 hours listening to one album entirely after another. I normally don’t do that, but each track was so involving that I had no desire to jump to something else.
I briefly read some of the others comments in this thread, and they don’t seem to jive with my impressions. I am blown away.
I congratulate Paul, and Ted, and anyone else involved with this upgrade and for providing it at no cost. That’s awesome!
Oh, the “fear of missing out” is kicking in a bit…
May backwards install Redcloud, THEN install Windom over that…just in case… lol
Any need to go further back, say, to Huron?
Doesn’t sound like it, but hey…
I first updated straight from Snowmass 3.06 to Windom and listened for a 8 hours. Then I backdated to Yale and then updated to Windom and listened for several hours. In the end, I could not tell any difference between the two ways of updating. What I did notice was about an hours worth of what I will call slight “grittiness” after the second update.
My install of Windom was smooth–for the first time! Already having a nice black background, I noticed even more quiet allowing a few very minute details to come through. Bass was noticeably tighter and instruments shimmered. Both male and female voices felt as if they were singing directly to me–not at me. Overall resolution was cleaner allowing for the music to be very emotionally involving. (I can understand the commentary about the tears). The nicest change in my system was the dynamics-- not just slam & bam but all instruments rang true with utmost refinement & clarity and of course oomph! Last, no slow down in the presentation. Speed is wonderful! THANK YOU TED & PS AUDIO for keeping me sane!!!
Updating DSJr took only three minutes. I always use under 1GB stick and use the Windows in my Mac to empty the stick and put in the files, instead of OSX.
This is a treat, dare I say especially for us classical fans. The texture of voices and strings are just more beautiful, real and you get more of everything. Added low level detail is absolutely there, thank you very much Ted and all!