Cool music, thanks!
I have used mainly Black Shoes from Felix for testing. Great audiophile sound/demo music overall 
Easy to hear those differences between FW versions also.
Just to add some perspective - there are a number of OTHER things that - in my system - can add a “touch of brightness,” or so I’ve convinced myself due to reasonably repeatable results.
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dirty connections, especially on the interconnects (slowly increases over time, cleaning things up or simply unplugging and reattaching the cables removes the grit )
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power conditions on the mains (OK 90% of the time, but amps are directly into the wall sockets). The ability to “do something” and observe a result is not possible, of course, so a catch-all explanation when nothing else works.
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I have a theory that the high-voltage step-up transformers in the 'stat crossovers become saturated over time (running a cleansing frequency sweep thru the system removes the edge. Could be something else that’s being affected, but who knows?)
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my room has clearly audible and measurable comb filter peaks at 2 KHz and 4 KHz at the listening position. So the range of the lead instrument / vocalist/ key of the arrangement, can present more or less information in the “zone of irritation.” Thus far, been too lazy / unwilling to rig acoustic treatment on the ceiling which would probably help this.
So there are a number of factors that impact my perception of “a touch of brightness,” in addition to the output balance between the DAC and preamp. However, as Beef pointed out, the latter can be addressed on the fly by pushing the little buttons. Easy peasy.
The point being that there are multiple other factors potentially at work on my perceptions beyond a swap of firmware OS. YMMV. of course.
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After hours of listening to Windom i must say i will stay with Snowmass V.3.0.0.
For my ears, Windom lacks mids and air but has better bass and highs. With Windom all Les Pauls sound like Teles.
This is the first update for my DSD which i don’t like so much.
But anyway, it is great to have the opportunity to select the version i like the most.
May be the next time…
I agree with @dancingsea and @lonson .
Windom sounds great on good recordings but Snowmass is more musical - especially with jazz recordings of brass instruments which can be less than pristine in the treble, where Windom sounds too crispy in my setup. Miles on harmon mute is just too much of a (good/ bad?) thing.
Like @lonson, jazz is mostly what I play so I will give Windom another try and then most likely return to Snowmass 3.0.0 .
It is interesting you specifically mention trumpet with a Harmon mute. This sound has been studied for a good while and is the subject of a couple of papers
The harmonics of a trumpet played with a Harmon extend to 80 kHz and a cymbal crash is still strong at 100 kHz.
The proportion of energy above 20 kHz for the muted trumpet is however only two percent. Astoundingly, for the cymbal, 40 percent.
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I remember my DAC‘s/Players before the DS being nowhere close to its natural reproduction of cymbals.For a jazznut cymbal reproduction is essential. I couldn’t really live with what I heard before from digital.
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Thanks for the platform specific downloads. I had spent over a week going through all the load gyrations cited here ending up with Windom’s soundstage sounding like a “pitchfork”: either initiating from the center or directly from the speakers. After downloading the Windows version and borrowing my daughters school PC to extract the files and reform the card I finally have a load that gives me a proper soundstage. As for the tonal qualities, I’m still evaluating.
My current setup is an almost pure PS Audio chain: PerfectWave Transport to the DSD via an AudioQuest Mocha then directly to a BHK 250 (fitted with freshly burned-in Golden Lions) by Cardas XLR cables. The BHK feeds Zu Audio Druid Vs using ZU cables to match their ZuB3 speaker inputs.
So that’s where it gets interesting. The Druids have many great qualities but being neutral and transparent aren’t necessarily their forte. They have a 1” titanium compression tweeter that can quickly get too bright if not balanced by the rest of the system. And I’ve spent a lot of time tweeking the setup to get that balance.
This is where Windom comes in. As many have noted, they are hearing a brightness that can become fatiguing. With my setup, this is apparent at well.
I listen to a lot of different music but one of my favorites at the moment is Bob Brookmeyer’s later work. Playing the SACD of Get Well Soon is a revelation of composition and arrangement for large jazz ensemble and in my view the pinnacle of big band music. That said, he was quoted as saying he wrote “music to make your teeth hurt.” With Windom (on this system) it perhaps makes my teeth hurt too much. We’ll see…
But the fact is, I bought into the PS Audio system because of their “engineering” approach to components. I appreciate the ability to upgrade hardware and software and vary connection interfaces. Messing around with the equipment is one of the interesting aspects of the pastime for me. I’d much rather be doing this with PS Audio equipment than staring a some glossy piano black piece of furniture.
Thanks again to Paul, Ted, and the rest of the PS Audio team for giving us that option.
BTW. If you want to hear a piece that really shows off Windom’s top-end clarity, take a listen to Song, Sing, Sung off Get Well Soon; Cymbals and rim shots dance across the soundstage!!!
In my system, Windom’s highs are not as pristine as Snowmass. It sounds more muted but with more body. The instruments also has more body, but also more solidity, presence, and more real. I guess it has to do with system synergy because it seem to work better with some system than others. I also find changing different cables and cords help tune in the sound since the balance is different from Snowmass and I had my system tune in to Snowmass before. Also I have to mention adding the Matrix and using WW Platinum HDMI cable helped and yes, I did use it with Snowmass also. But I find in my system, after all the dust settles, Windom is much more musical than Snowmass.
I agree with you. I initially described the highs as softer. And that correlated with what you say as well
I think it may have to do with the vinyl set up one is used to. I always hear “Digital is better because there is no noise”
My vinyl set up very rarely had noise, maybe when playing a used record not cared for, but other then that…dead quiet.
To me Windom sounds like my old vinyl set up.
Like mojo I think my system and room tend to the brighter and I have spent a lot of time getting high frequencies to my taste and had found a great sound in that regard with Snowmass 3.06. There’s a brighter character to Windom and like way above I think that Snowmass may have had a better treble response in my system, and Windom more body and presence. In all other respects Windom exhibits wonderful dynamics and also a transparent window into the core of the recordings. Piano resonance is as wonderful as it ever has been, it’s as if your ears are connected to the microphone. Windom is a step forward, with the unfortunate side effect in my system of more brightness.
Which I’m not faulting Windom for. I think if anything that the increased bit of clarity Windom brought to the system is just revealing a bit more brightness that is present on a lot of the material I play. And maybe even just a bit more of the real nature of my amplification as well. I remember back when I first started becoming an audiophile a writer talking often about the “light within” the playback sound of single-ended amplification. That has become a good metaphor for me and my souped up three watt per channel mono blocks really do have what seems like a heart of brightness compared to a heart of darkness. I think Windom is the cat’s meow and I want to use it, so I’ve been tailoring the system with some success.
I don’t truly understand why this would be so, but one major shift towards a less fatiguing sound with Windom has been substituting/replacing a voltage regulation tube for my output tubes. My amps can accept either 0A3, 0B3, 0C3 or 0D3 tubes in this position, and 0A2, 0B2, or 0C2 voltage regulation tubes to regulate the input tube. (The tubes that regulate the input tubes are located under the chassis so less easy to roll, I have settled on an 0A2 type and hesitate to open the amps up a few times to experiment right now). The builder supplies an 0A3 for the output tube regulation and an 0C2 for the input tubes. I have found 0B3 to work best in my system in the past for the output tubes, and 0C3 has never sounded even close to right before. Now with Windom an 0D3 (which I have used before with earlier firmware) is establishing a good tonal balance. Attenuating my ribbon tweeters a bit more has also helped. I may yet add another pair of resistors to that end but am waiting for the newest additions to “season” a bit before making that move or not.
Like mojo I like to tinker, though when you keep hitting a wall, as I had for a while with Windom loads, it gets frustrating. I’m close enough to a non-fatiguing sound today that I have listened through for four hours, something rare for a Saturday and also a relief after the last few weeks.
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I really admired your efforts to get the best what Windom has to offer. I believe has more potential for getting your system or anybody’s system to sound more true or realistic than the previous downloads.
With Snowmass, the sound was fabulous, but I wish if anything, there were more fullness since digital no matter where I here it, leans toward the thinner side of reality. Windom really help in addressing that shortcoming.
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A thoughtful post.
I do not find Windom brighter, or with more bass, or greater midrange. Instead, I find it to be just “more.” That is, I hear more in every respect: more color, revealing micro-dynamics, greater bass texture, defined timbre, more air.
My guess is those who are particularly sensitive to a given frequency range will find these frequencies a bit “off” as they adjust to Windom’s new presentation.
When focusing on a particular range, such as bass, I hear Windom as having more. But it also has more high frequencies when I listen to the highs.
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Its good enough here that if you are in the next room it sounds like the band is playing live. Awesome stuff. This particular update brought this system together completely.
I know from own quite long ago experiments with resistors to modify chassis response and from other trials to get my tonality, that although it worked for that purpose, phase coherence and impulse response were quite off combined with strange reactions to changes within the setup. For speaker designers this is pure logic I guess. Just saying, that this might cause a similarly matched setup to react very sensible to changes.
Would always be interesting to once leave the setup pure as it was designed (even if then tonality is unpleasant) and observe if changes like firmware have a different effect.
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Windom continues to push all the right buttons in my system. Before updating from Snowmass I contemplated upgrading my speakers, those thoughts are off the table for now. Windom is so smooth, organic, and intoxicating, I can listen for hours. Add to that, the bass is more potent and digs deeper, and the soundstage has expanded in all directions along with better image specificity. Like Elk, I do not find Windom brighter, just more resolving across the entire frequency spectrum, including the upper frequencies. Listening to Chet Baker in New York right now and this jazz CD has never sounded better.
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I’ve been using speakers from this builder with this equipment for over 15 years. I know how these work, have consulted with the builder, etc. and am using this as designed.
Elk, I sure wish I didn’t hear brightness! I hear more of everything and that includes brightness. 
But I’m getting closer to a more level signature. And yes, I’m probably more sensitive to high frequencies than many.
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For me, the midrange is a larger issue than the brightness… Snowmass just sounds better in my system.