I get that…but there is usually a significant downside associated with upgrading a computer OS or the firmware of some device. That downside is the difficulty in going back to a previous release if problems are found.
With the DirectStream DACs, there are no downsides when trying a new release. If you don’t like it, or if there are bugs, you simply go back to the previous release. No harm and no foul.
But hey, it is your DAC and you do what you think is best for you.
What Speed racer said above is exactly right. I also dislike being on the bleeding edge for anything which I must rely-upon. I generally never move to a new OS until after there has been at least one Service pack released.
But since you can downgrade a DS just as easily as upgrade it, there’s really very little downside to being on the bleeding edge when it comes to DS releases.
Yes, all of that is likely true. But based on past experience with PS Audio updates, I prefer to wait. The Bridge update has been a pain. And I’ve experienced various monkey business with mountain top updates, quirks with reverting back to previous versions, etc. So I’m simply going to wait a bit. But I understand if others want to dive right in.
It is one of the nice things about non-pushed updates. You can update or not as one prefers.
I can understand waiting a bit, especially if you previously ran into quirks. It can also makes sense to wait and see what others think.
FWIW, I take the same approach – give a new release a week or so to see what, if any, bugs the troops uncover. Then, I (always) order the new firmware on a SD card from PS Audio.
I have never had any issues using the cards and files supplied by PS Audio directly, so I am going to stay with the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach.
Looking forward to the release and everyone’s comments though…
Cheers.
I was told there was not any beta testing and that there will not be any.
I think he means there was an in house beta before the final upcoming release…
Yes, Paul said, beta testing was done in house.
That is disappointing.
I disagree. I trust PS Audio implicitly.
The more people you have involved in a beta test the more likely you will pick up issues. I have spotted issues with past software loads that Ted corrected. I have worked with Barry on DMP issues too!
I’m not speaking for PS Audio here, but this release of the FPGA doesn’t have any new features that might have needed wide testing, there’s no fiddling with any heuristics that might need testing, etc. There isn’t any work that affects any input differently than another which could require wider testing. The changes were pretty targeted and we’ve been listening for a while. I don’t know anything about non-FPGA changes.
I too think that an external beta test could be very helpful for uncovering bugs which the internal team might miss.
But I do understand why PS audio stopped doing this: because it became hard to know which version of a particular firmware people were running when they had problems when some customers decided that they liked some of the beta builds better than the production releases.
This created a bit of a support nightmare for the company when customers complained about bugs when they were actually still running beta code.
I think Ted’s response is, in his usual understated way telling us that we should stop worrying about this issue of beta testing. The changes made were (as far as he is aware) to the FPGA processing only. I assume that means that operational bugs won’t (can’t?) be introduced with an FPGA only change. And not meaning to put words in Ted’s mouth, I think this release is centered around sound improvements rather than general bug fixes (Snowmass contained improvements to the sound and the operational part).
When TED Talks, we need to be still and listen 
No, I meant that I have no idea if there are any other changes - could be, may not be. The FPGA didn’t need to be changed because something else was changing. I don’t try to keep track of anything that doesn’t affect the FPGA.
So I got that 100% wrong then 
??
I do like the sound of the next release. You could take a poll on how understated that might be 
What the?? 
That was purely meant as a joke. I hope it didn’t come across any other way…
It is all good if we get the release so soon. Thanks to Ted and everyone at PS Audio!