Quote:Glad that the new firmware has assuaged your preamp pondering Eric. You should be set. I don't feel I need a preamp with mine; I should have mine back soon, I was told Friday it was repaired, no shipping notice yet.
I didn't want to clutter up DeuceKazoo's classified ad for his nice pair of MG944 with our DS talk, so I cut and pasted this here.
So yeah, about the DirectStream and the latest firmware - I'm hesitant to say anything because I don't want to influence you in any way Lon - you're probably pretty immune to that, so I'm going to forge ahead.
So the latest firmware - no, lets back up a bit. The beta firmware I was first given I felt had a presence bump to it. Lon, you being a guitar player, you probably get what I mean - when you crank the presence, it's almost like a mid-boost. And that's what the beta firmware felt like to me. It was great because it had even more detail and accuracy, all without being harsh - and as you know I'm a detail freak. But then this presence bump....it wasn't off-putting, it wasn't unpleasant or fatiguing, it was just a bit too different, and not exactly in a way I wanted with my system. IMHO, super detail and presence bump were two pluses that were kind of "too much of a good thing" when you had them together. Thankfully the Paul and crew picked a slightly different version of the Firmware that kept the detail and accuracy, but dropped the presence bump - it's the better of the two pluses IMHO.
So with this detail and accuracy the DS has more *apparent* density and volume, especially when playing well recorded DSD files. Ted let me sample one of his files directly from the SACD, and it just smoked my FLAC rip of the same file. My recent Opus3 downloads sounded way more tape-like now. But I also feel PCM files now sound like they have a little sharper leading edge (if that makes sense) - further separating the sound (differences) quality between DSD and PCM in my mind.
I'm not saying the new firmware is a replacement for a preamp, but it's changed the system enough that I don't feel like I need to run out and get a preamp because I'm missing *something*. In fact, this new firmware is causing me to reevaluate my system and consider "tuning it" with warmer cables, different speakers or something. Either I've reached my limit of "anal levels of accuracy and detail" and I'm looking to soften it up a bit, or maybe it's like the OTL and I need to level-up my listening skills to take in what's going on.
Add to all this, the software changes on the Media PC with Server 2012 in core mode, and Audiophile Optimizer 1.30 tweaked to the gills, plus my Linear Power Supply for the PC - all of this has completely leveled up my playback system to a point that I feel better matches the quality of the DirectStream. And tonight I've added the Ram Disk component to Foobar2000 after reading how pleased Palomino is with using a Ram Disk on his Apple playback system, and I swear my systems been taken up a notch again!
All in all I'm very pleased with what I've got going on here. This merge of hardware and software, extreme accuracy without being harsh or fatiguing...it's pretty amazing where I'm at right now. I'm very pleased indeed. I still want a preamp, but I can wait now.