Timely and subtle. Cracked me up.
. Not all Bozos on the same bus.
My preamp max is 33 clicks, if I exceed 22 clicks my ears are in pain, now with Windom, today I find myself listening at 27-28 clicks.
Perhaps, I should also share this, last week after installing Windom, I barely escaped with my life out of my listening room, re-load Snow -listen- reload Windom- power down overnite since my system has a very powerful memory effect.
Windom sounded better and I knew still a bad download. So I reload Windom one more time power down and unplugged all cables to my DAC overnite.
The next morning music is back in it’s place.
Windom is way more live and real sounding never heard before, the only thing I find missing in my system is the ‘’ grunt’’ in the bass guitar. I do happily accept this trade off.
Also, I now can clearly hear the different layers of bass notes and did lower the volume outputs of my JL Audio Fathoms F110 app 20%
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After the install earlier today with the original never zipped files there is no question night and day difference in my DS SR. Dynamic clean open and much sweeter more natural.
Once again (after how many updates since the very beginning of the DS?) mine only lines non zipped files. Don’t ask me why I don’t care. Just that they work and that’s all I need to know.
Thank you guys for helping me out once again.
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Is there anyone on this forum with a really good system that lives anywhere near Esher, Surrey, UK?. If so, please message me so we can get together.
In my system Snowmass sounds astonishing but Windom is lifeless. No amount of EQ adjustement has so far brought Windom to life. Ted has repeatedly said that the lowering of jitter has huge benefits - in my system the life has gone so the background is not black but muddy. Most people have complex systems - mine’s complex and I do everything possible to reduce jitter prior to the three Direcstream Seniors. Playing Windom louder helps (but I always play music loud at a specific volume level. Tracks that with Snowmass I play at 80 need to be played louder with Windom, however - 80 to 81 on Windom isn’t enough but 80 to 82 is too much.
Finally, I think this topic is should have been split ages ago between Sound Quality and Load issues and maybe even between people with preamps (that will alter what comes out of the dac) or bridges (which also alter dac behaviour).
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I am in the UK but in Fife, Scotland.
What you are describing sounds like a bad load. Have you tried Yale plus a reboot then Windom plus a reboot. Definitely sounds like you have a bad load!
I have suffered the same fate with previous O/S updates; dull, closed-in and lifeless.
Now as a matter of course I install Yale plus a reboot over (Snowmass) then I installed Windom - plus a reboot.
I have two DS dacs so I can compare in real time the very latest O/S against earlier iterations without faffing about swapping between different O/S.
One issue (my friend has a DS and he would agree), he feels the need to switch between them, but all it does is screws up the sound due to the time it takes, etc…
I load the new code, stick a thumb drive in my DMP and just play it 24/7 non-stop. I switch between both DS boxes and I can assess both O/S codes.
Windom, just like previous O/S, gets better and better the longer it plays. I have just loaded Windom to DS2 and it doesn’t sound nearly as good as Windom in DS1 that I loaded over one week ago. DS2 sounds more hi-fiish. But I will just keep playing until they merge. The difference between them is noticeable. Windom is sounding truly wonderful in my big system. I have still to report my findings with Windom which I will do.
What you are describing isn’t Windom. You have an issue. It has to be the O/S hasn’t loaded properly if, when you return to Snowmass, everything in the garden is rosy but just dung with Windom . Windom is wonderful.
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Thanks Dirk. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a bad load but I’ll try an older release. I suspect that each DS will sound marginally different regardless of OS. I suspect the reduced jitter in Windom is what’s killed it for me - the difference is certainly dramatic!
UPDATE - loaded an old FPGA to all three DSs then Windom again - no difference. Snowmass is, to me, lifelike, Windom is too sterile for my liking. Hopefully someone on this forum will live within reasonable distance of me and give their opinion. Two industry professionals have heard my system with Snowmass - one said ‘what a great system’, the other said that ‘I should be very proud of what I’ve achieved’. Snowmass does it for me (and them).
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We are lucky to have you, Ted. 
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Yes indeed.
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You have to unzip it before loading it! Once it’s unzipped, it’s unzipped!
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Hey Elk - anyway you can break this out into 2 threads - “troubleshooting load issues” and “Sound Impressions” or something along those lines?
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@cudfoo ““anyway you can break this out into 2 threads - “troubleshooting load issues” and “Sound Impressions” or something along those lines?””"
tried that 
my post was deleted and transferred to this thread…so I assume the answer will be no
While not quite as dramatic, my initial comparing led to a similar conclusion. For now, I’m going to live with Windom for a couple of weeks and see how either it, or me, evolve. And then do a comparison to Snowmass and make a final decision. I wonder if the element of Windom that Ted says allows for it to be played louder than Snowmass accounts for the initial impression of lacking a degree of life? And I find it very interesting that @Dirk has 2 DS and can compare various stages of Windom break in. I’m going to explore the patience path for awhile and then later return to comparing it to Snowmass. After all, the life filled Snowmass has been broken in for a long time. By around Halloween I’ll figure out if Windom is trick or treat for me.
Another angle is that we’ve seen from this thread what a profound effect Ted’s software can have on sound. For those of us using a computer as a music server, which music program we use on that computer can also greatly influence the sound. A theory that has worked for me, given all software will have influence, is to provide Ted’s DAC with the best possible signal from my Mac, not just on the hardware end, but software as well. After numerous experiments, I find HQPlayer’s upsampling does the best job of that. I have HQP3 license, but last night experimented with HQP4 and found it jibes even better with Windom.
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Thanks Ted!
Robert Hutchins
I live near Bournemouth and like the results of upgrading to Windom, if you fancy a drive let me know.
Mike
Doing some headphones comparisons, it seems like a lot of the high frequency presence in Snowmass comes from noise and distortion, and removing it as Windom does, as well as with better USB cables, etc. seems to result in a darker, smoother, and more dynamic sound. There is less artificial tonality to give it brightness or bite because the signal is more clean, and DSD as a format can err on the side of being dark. I find Windom to be superior, but I’m starting to consider adding more harmonics/brightness downstream in my system.
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Speed,
Can you share your current HQPlayer settings? Would like to try something different. Thx
Had Windom installed for a few days now.
Initially, installed over Snowmass and noticed an increase in a richness and bass weight.
After (probably not helpfully…} read on this thread about the some having better results going back to an earlier version like Redcloud THEN installing Windom.
Every firmware update…the guys as PS Audio must brace themselves lol.
I’d went back to Redcloud, then installed Windom…and never got that richness or sense of life back.
Oh dear.
Lived with it a few days, but KNEW it wasn’t as good (even “fresh out the packet”) as my first fresh install of THAT Snowmass > Windom upgrade with the rich bass and sense of life.
So, took a while, it perhaps it was worth trying a reinstall…bad load maybe?
Took my DS back to Yale, (initialising time and screen progress bar updating was much quicker than more modern firmwares) and rebooted.
THEN
I overwrote the firmware with Windom…rebooted, then rebooted again.
YES!!
That sound I initially heard Snowmass>Windom was back.
My take, “bad loads exist” and if your like me, with all the associated audiophillia nervosa…flash it back to Yale, (not Redcloud) then straight to Windom.
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Thx man- I’ll give these a try.