[OdonMaco]

Just got mine in the mail today from Germany. Time to burn it in with some headphones and see how it runs.

 

[winged creature]

I just upgraded my Original E1 with the DSD upgrade.  Wow do those Muses02 op amps make a difference.  Im getting more detail and dynamics.  Im seriously contemplating upgrading the other 4 opamps, the question is muses01 or muses02.

 

[tomsag]

  I just upgraded my Original E1 with the DSD upgrade.  Wow do those Muses02 op amps make a difference.  Im getting more detail and dynamics.  Im seriously contemplating upgrading the other 4 opamps, the question is muses01 or muses02.

 
Where have you put them? In the low pass (#2) or somewhere else?

 

[winged creature]

   
Where have you put them? In the low pass (#2) or somewhere else?

Yep put them in the low pass 

 

[DMax99]

  I just upgraded my Original E1 with the DSD upgrade.  Wow do those Muses02 op amps make a difference.  Im getting more detail and dynamics.  Im seriously contemplating upgrading the other 4 opamps, the question is muses01 or muses02.

 
I have received my DSD kit this week too, the extra 2X muses02 definitely improved the sound over just 6X muses01.
 
I need HELP though....I want to update my firmware to the DSD one but I am having trouble putting my E1 into update mode. Tried pressing MUTE+UPSAMPLING+POWER but the 3 LED lights don't flash nor turned red. 
 
 
HELP HELP HELP

 

[tomsag]

Where did you put the two MUSES02?
I've put them in low pass...

 

[DMax99]

Where did you put the two MUSES02?
I've put them in low pass...

In the headphone output buffer

Btw, do you have any ideas regarding to my question above? Have you tried to upgrade the firmware? Because mine won't boot into the upgrade mode ;(

 

[Mach3]

   
I have received my DSD kit this week too, the extra 2X muses02 definitely improved the sound over just 6X muses01.
 
I need HELP though....I want to update my firmware to the DSD one but I am having trouble putting my E1 into update mode. Tried pressing MUTE+UPSAMPLING+POWER but the 3 LED lights don't flash nor turned red. 
 
 
HELP HELP HELP

 
After turning the unit on, hold down the input and oversampling buttons. This puts the unit into firmware update mode.

 

[DMax99]

After turning the unit on, hold down the input and oversampling buttons. This puts the unit into firmware update mode.

Thanks for the advice. But I've done exactly what you've said. Turn the device on and then hold the upsampling and input button together. It still didn't work! ;(

 

[Mach3]

Thanks for the advice. But I've done exactly what you've said. Turn the device on and then hold the upsampling and input button together. It still didn't work! ;(

 
Sorry my bad, here is the correct instruction if you haven't already worked it out (For other head fier who's having trouble).
 
1. You must have it connected to a USB 2.0 port. You must get the firmware update for the DSD upgrade. Seem I can only get the correct DSD firmware from this link 
http://www.asus.com/de/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Essence_One_DSD_Upgrade_Kit/HelpDesk_Download/
2. Turn the unit off, have it connected to a USB 2.0 port on your PC. hold upsampling and mute together. then power on the unit without letting go of both the upsampling and mute button. The COA, TOS, USB led will flash 3 times then stay on full red. You can release both button.
3. Run the firmware software from the compressed firmware tool downloaded from the above link.
4. Click connected wait 6-9 second
5. Click update, wait for it to show pass in green writing. Then you're done.
6. Uninstall your current drivers and grab the drivers from the link above. If you done everything correct it should show EONE MKII

 

[raoultrifan]

Hi guys,
 
Buying the DSD upgrade kit doesn't means that this will unlock DSD playback on your Essence One device immediately. Not at all actually. On E1 there are 2 EEPROMs: one is soldered onto motherboard, let's call it "main firmware" and another one swappable, let's call it "audio firmware". Just to be sure that everyone is correctly setup the DSD upgrade process, I'm creating a small wiki below.
 
I) ASUS MKi to MKii or DSD upgrade process
 
- 1) Open up your E1 device and replace the original green-marked EEPROM with the one containing the DSD audio firmware (if you own it), by following the exact steps from: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Essence_One_DSD_Upgrade_Kit/arb9927_dsd_kit_qsg_v2_print_vendor_only.zip. It should be a DIP8 chip, like a regular OPAMP, but having a white mark around PIN1, like the one here:

​

 
- 2) Have the DSD firmware downloaded from: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Xonar_Essence_One/EOne_MCU_FW_update.zip (hope you do have Windows 7/8, if not check out ASUS DSD upgrade main webpage https://www.asus.com/Sound/Essence_One_DSD_Upgrade_Kit/HelpDesk_Download/.
 
-3) Firmware upgrade process:
 
Firware upgrade process is described on ASUS website in the same location with the DSD firmware: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Xonar_Essence_One/EOne_MCU_FW_update.zip. Just look for the PDF file and read everything from there. I'll try to provide some details from that PDF file below:
- a) Ensure Xonar Essence One is (Power Off), with 2 fingers press front panel’s ”UPSAMPLING” &  ”MUTE” together and with 3'rd finger (another hand) press ”POWER” to power on the device (you may release the power button only).
- b) The front panel COA/TOS/USB LED light will flash 3 times, when all LEDs will become red, let go of pressing "UPSAMPLING" & "MUTE" buttons. Now the machine is ready for firmware update.
- c) Run/Execute MK2_V064.exe firmware software downloaded recently and press CONNECT. It may not recognize your ASUS device from the first time, but 2'nd time it should see it properly. If CONNECTED then you can press UPDATE button.
- d) Once the firmware has been updated successfully, it will display “PASS".
- e) Now you can close the MK2_V064.exe software and power cycle your Essence One device and see if lights are not RED (everything should be looking like it used to be, most likely POWER, USB and 44K or 48K lights BLUE, but nothing RED).
 
-4) Upgrade software & drivers from MKi to MKii:
- a) Uninstall existing ASUS MKi software and drivers from Add/Remove programs.
- b) Reboot your computer.
- c) Install latest available drivers for your operating system from here: https://www.asus.com/Sound/Essence_One_DSD_Upgrade_Kit/HelpDesk_Download/ (right now, for Win7 there is ver. 7.0.12.13 available).
 
-5) Find out what version of Essence One you do have now, after the firmware & software upgrade process:
You can check this from CONTROL PANEL -> ASUS EONE MKII USB DAC: if you see EONE MKII USB DAC F/W ver. 0.64, then you have just upgraded from MKi ver. 1.27 to MKii ver. 0.64 with DSD playback capabilities enabled. Yes, actually ver. 0.64 is newer than 1.27...don't ask me why.
 
- II) Setup Foobar and jRiver for DSD playback
-1) Details for enabling DSD playback for Foobar:http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Essence_One_DSD_Upgrade_Kit/Windows7_DSD_Setup_Guide_for_foobar_2000_V2.pdf.
-2) Details for enabling DSD playback for jRiver:http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Audio_Card/Essence_One_DSD_Upgrade_Kit/Windows7_DSD_Setup_Guide_for_JRiver_MC19_V2.pdf.
 
- III) How do I know if everything was correctly done and I'm really listening DSD and not DSD converted to PCM?
If while listening to DSD files the UPSAMPLING light gets RED, then you're actually playing correctly bitperfect DSD music!
Some DSD64 files to download here http://www.2l.no/hires/index.html (user/pass: 2L/2L) and here http://dsdmaster.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html (get the original DSF files).
 
WARNING! Be aware of any possible power outage or computer issues, because this might brick your device! In case it happens, get back to step 3) and try connecting again to your E1 device with MK2_V064.exe firmware software and retry upgrading firmware. If it fails again, then POWER OFF your E1, put back the original EEPROM (the one with green marking) and retry upgrading the firmware with EOne_127.exe software (press CONNECT until it will work, hopefully...). 
 
Good luck!

 

[raoultrifan]

PROS & CONS of upgrading to MKii.
 
PRO:
- DSD playback enabled
- Upsampling feature works fine now, without rolling-off high frequencies; actually, some 44.1KHz files really sounds great. With MKi I couldn't listen even for 5 seconds if upsampling button was pressed.
 
CONS:
- DSD playback generates a bit of background noise while doing DSD playback (mostly on the beginning of tracks), while listening to PCM music there's no background noise at all.
- DSD playback is about 2dB lower than PCM playback (I compared the same original studio recording tracks in PCM and DSD formats and DSD has a lower volume than PCM)
- After upgrading to MKii the Upsampling & Input & Mute features have a small delay of a couple of seconds, but nothing to worry about.
 
Note:
- Upgrading E1 from MKi to MKii will only get benefits, besides the small latency added for the Upsampling/Input/Mute functions I don't see any real downsize.

 

[Mach3]

Thanks Raoul for your awesome guide. Great for all new owners of E1 MKII.
I was using JRiver software up until now to play all my DSD files.
I prefer foobar as my main music player, thanks to your guide I've successfully got it working on Windows 8.1.
 
Still confused why Asus is like non existence when it comes to support and anything related to the Essence One and Essence III.
It's not like they are bad products, sucks they screw their loyal customers.

 

[raoultrifan]

Thanks Mach3!
 
I did wrote a message/complain to ASUS recently, regarding the background noise while natively playing DSD tracks with E1 MKii and they didn't denied this as being a problem, but also didn't let me know that is a well known problem too. Instead, they asked me nicely to wait for a new firmware version. Anyway, I've realized EIII has the same noise issue with DSD playback because ASUS did fixed it with firmware & drivers recently.
 
Off-topic: Speaking about EIII, from ASUS website: Essence III is using 2xMUSES02 and 4xOPA2227P for DC-servo. Actually, these OPAMPs are exactly like LM49720 for Essence 1: half of OPAMP is used to preamp the signal for LME49600 buffer and the other half it's indeed used for DC-servo, but looking at the specs someone might ask the following question: why would you use MUSES02 for DC-servo anyway, while TL072 could do the job as well?

 

[raoultrifan]

Unfortunately, the background noise while natively playing DSD files it's confirmed on both motherboards from E1 DACs, having the DSD firmware ver. 0.64.
It's not much background noise I'm talking about here, but it is some noise and I'm waiting for ASUS to release a new firmware to resolve this, like they did recently for Essence III DAC (https://www.asus.com/Sound/Essence_III/HelpDesk_Download/).
 
Personally, I have the Muses motherboard (the one with gain jumpers) and a friend from work has the regular motherboard (without the gain jumpers) and on both E1s there is definitely audible noise on the first 20 seconds of "Mahler 1st - IV - finale" from  http://dsdmaster.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html.