OK, two days into this now - I've played the DAC 4 hours on, 4 hours off almost 24/7 for this first two plus days.
Sound wise, it's smoothed out a bit. Bass is huge and punchy - maybe too much bass. I'm still trying to put my finger on what's wrong as "too much" doesn't sound correct. Every album I put on sounds "different", be it a CD rip or DSD - it's like I bought a collection of remasters. It's good, but in some ways disconcerting. You know, like you've listened to and loved an album for 30 years, and they go and remaster and re-release it...it sounds good, better even, but the differences throw you off. My audio-memory is hiccuping due to the changes.
The latest (6115) Firmware is amazing. Due to the fact that this DAC uses an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), whenever Ted comes up with some revelation in programming, you can simply put the latest changes on SD card, pop it in, reboot the DAC and boom, you just got a DAC upgrade via Email! Seriously, the first Firmware was good, but a couple albums I listen to sounded a bit edgy, good albums too like Blue Man Group - Audio (note: this could also be new hardware burn in, but I'm 98% sure it's the firmware). After the firmware update, it's like I bought a
new-*new* DAC. This Blue Man Group album is now punchy, tight, smooth, and had D-E-P-T-H. The depth I feel was the biggest improvement in this firmware. And these improvements can simply be sent to you via E-mail! So lets say they come up with a DSD-super-duper format. No problem, Ted just rewrote the code that runs the DAC, you can download it and boom! you have a new format. In fact he did this recently to add DXD support.
With Ted's help I got JRiver working on a micro-PC I built. The JRiver Software is still flaky, and I'm not sure it's running correctly, but I don't exactly have the money (nor inclination) to run out and "Buy a Mac" as the saying goes. In fact, right now I can't even afford the PS Audio Bridge to add network capability to the DS DAC (I'll wait for the Bridge II - whatever/whenever that is). Long story short, I have *everything* encoded as DSD128 and playing back via DoP, even if it's a Redbook rip (which is what I'm listening to as I type this). This setup wasn't exactly intentional, as I'm having many issues with JRiver, but it's working, and working well - so I'll leave it for now.
As many of you know, I jumped on the Reel to Reel bandwagon after being blown away by Steve's Otari setup and a couple "master tapes". I love the sound of 1/4" tape, it just has a density that I've not heard anywhere, short of live performances. I was honestly hoping the DS DAC would present me with that same *density* and wake up my music collection so I could stop trying to be such a tape hound, hunting down good deals on great tapes...truth be told, the DS is great, but it's no tape unfortunately. Yes, it has huge depth, clarity, and dynamic range, just not that density.
Volume and "Push" - previously I mentioned that the DAC didn't seem to be pushing the ZMA as hard as my reel to reel or Oppo. I had the volume pretty much cranked between the ZMA and DS DAC, and it wasn't quite as loud as the Otari or the Oppo. I'm not sure exactly what's changed, but the DS DAC *seems* louder today, but oddly I think the Oppo seems to "ride the gain" better still. If I wasn't able to get the DS DAC with the great deal I did, I could honestly say I'd be quite happy with the Oppo to ZMA via XLR.
Feel free to hit me up with any questions - I kinda rambled as usual, but I think I touched on all the points I wanted to, and hopefully with some clarity. :)