As this topic is about Windom in general, so applied to DS Sr. and Jr., I guess no one can tell if the bad load is a DS Sr., Jr. or both issue.
From what I read, I guess the bad loads only appears with Sr. (but I might be wrong).
Here, with a DSj, working with IT for almost 20 years, and always turn off/on DSj with the back switch after an upgrade, never had any issue with bad loads.
so if you had no problem with either you just don’t vote.
Not a well thought out poll.
Exactly!
The poll is just to identify if is there any DSj owner with bad load issues.
If not, it might indicate something related with the SD card / cover art Sr. issue.
I’m just trying to help figure this out.
I’m good.
EDIT: Ok, new poll, with both options for each DS
Sorry @Phil can you please vote again?
0 voters
After much downgrading/upgrading/listening I am thinking that Windom is starting to sound a bit “digital” on my speakers (Quad 2912’s). Windom does seem to have more detail and clarity but maybe a bit too much if that makes sense? I will give it a week or so and then go back to Snowmass to see if I am remembering things correctly.
Anyone else thinking along similar lines?
My 2 cents:
I find Windom a fantastic upgrade as a classical music listener. Brass now has body and power – that “jump” factor. Violins sound woody, not steely, even when playing on the high strings. And even on my Maggies, organ bass is much more satisfying than ever.
For jazz, the brass sound improvement is also a real plus. The grit and bass overtones of a saxaphone is more pronounced (real) than ever. Even trumpets no longer sound edgy, but whole.
Where Windom may fall short (perception) is with guitar rock. With the high frequency tilt of Snowmass gone, rock sounds a little less thrilling. But since rock (electric music) has no “reference” sound, If I were an exclusive rock listener, I might prefer Snowmass over Windom.
As I said – my 2 cents.
A very excellent observation, @jhnh.
Well… it seems that Jr also has bad loads…
I have exactly the same experience.
When i first installed Windom after using Snowmass-300 it sounded a bit analytical, but after two days of continuous play it sounded wonderfull.
Then after reading this forum thread, i tried installing Windom after first installing Redcloud, Yale respectively Snowmass-306, all of them made Windom sound too forward in the mids and treble.
Finally i came up with the following update scheme :
I began with installing Snowmass-300, then removed the SD card and rebooted twice with the switch on the back.
Thereafter installed Windom, removed the SD card and rebooted twice.
Now Windom sounds fantastic, better than Snowmass-300 on almost all parameters.
Albums that were sounding mediocre in the past, are now sounding well for the first time.
The sound of the DSD with Windom finally is reminiscent of the sound of vinyl, just as fluent and natural.
I use an Accuphase E-450 amplifier.
After i connected the DSD sr. directly to the power-in of the E-450 the sound got better.
I had not expected this, because the Accuphase has a real good integrated pre-amplifier.
Nevertheless …
P.S. The connection to the power-in needs some ‘burn-in’ time.
Further to my post 698 I’d like to ask Ted and Paul to comment on the following:
Ted - would it be possible for you to analyse the phase response of Snowmass versus Windom (preferably with and without going through a Bridge)?. [depending upon your findings I may decide to ask DEQX to dial in and recalibrate my crossover]
Paul - when you chose which compile to release did you attempt to chose a compile that sounded similar to Snowmass (without a bridge or preamp - e.g. via the coax input). A lot of people, as usual, praise the new release but there’s no way that their findings make sense in my system (which is ultra revealing). As tarnishedears has found, the ‘life’ seems to have gone AWOL - Windom is very precise but fails to excite me (I have spent three days continuously trying to get to like Windom but maybe one of the other compiles would have suited me). [maybe it’s time to give people a choice of compiles, especially if a compile might sound better without a Bridge compared to a different compile with a Bridge - and in no case via a preamp]
Luckily Snowmass sounds amazing but I’d rather keep up with the latest release.
One other thing - I’ve never had a problem with updates - I have several SD cards and most have lots of different Directstream releases in directories - some even have P10 release code in a directory. As Ted has mentioned in the past, one just needs to move the unzipped files into the root (ensuring no other files are in the root). I use Windows 7 still - maybe people aren’t using the operating system ‘eject’ function (IIRC by right clicking on the drive (e.g. ‘F’) and selecting ‘eject’ - the OS will then tell you that it’s safe to remove the hardware (i.e. the SD card, USB stick, USB drive or whatever).
Dan.
Contact PS Audio support. I don’t have any good ideas at the moment.
There are no changes that would affect phase or amplitude. There are no filter parameters that changed, no new algorithms, no changes in a heuristics, etc. The changes affect low level digital noise and jitter generated in the FPGA and low level linearity. Within the accuracy of my scope (not great on this account) the step and impulse responses are identical. The changes in sound reflect the work I designed and did (but I wasn’t expecting the magnitude of the changes.) Windom is better technically, not just different.
Ted
Would you define “low level” in your previous comment.
Thanks
Below, say, -110dBFS or -120dBFS. But jitter is convolved across the frequency band so it’s effects grow with louder material and with more harmonics, etc. The net effect is still pretty low, but you can easily hear the difference in the blackness of the background.
Thanks, Ted
Interesting, I just reloaded Windom again this morning after just a few minutes of listening to Snowmass 3.0.0. but the DAC has been playing continuously.
It sounds nice. This is the 3rd time I’ve loaded it so perhaps that’s trick
A few hours later, it’s still sounding nice. My wife concurs this load sounds better than it did over the weekend. Who knows but I’m going to leave it as is and not go back, risking a ‘bad’ load.
Nice suggestion - I will try it next week-end.
What volume setting do you have on the DSD Sr?
Update: By the way, I have XLR connections from DSD Sr. to E-370, which offers better sound than RCA connections.
However, when using power-in, you can only use RCA: correct?
If so, did you have the opportunity to compare XLR input to the E-450 (going through internal pre-amp section) versus RCA input to power in of E-450 before concluding that RCA power-in input from the DSD Sr was better?
Thanks Ted - I guess jitter could account for the livelier sound.
I have 91 dB sensitive speakers in a smallish room, the volume setting is between 60 and 80.
Yes, power-in is only RCA.
In the past i found xlr to be the best sounding option, but then i came upon Anticables.
After i bought the Level 6.2 ABSOLUTE Signature RCA Analog Interconnects i never had the urge to try another cable, that was 2 years ago. These interconnects sounded much better than the xlr’s i was using then. That was on the Accuphase dp-400 cd player, i never tried xlr cables on the DSD. So maybe xlr in general is better than RCA, but RCA interconnects can be extremely good.
All the time i used them via the CD-in until july this year when i suddenly thought of trying them on the power-in inputs. The difference was not small.
So maybe it’s worth a try, i am curious what your findings will be.