DENAFRIPS FPGA Firmware Update (12TH Anniv.)

[Sun Table]

Do you have any issues with high freq. sounding glassy or edgy with some recordings. Do vocals, especially female vocals sound full with body or are they a bit thin? Do some recordings sound thin in the midrange? Do you get listening fatigue?
Of course I have no idea what your system is..which matters. My system is on the warm side. I have DynAudio Contour 20 Speakers which have smooth silk-dome tweeters….and with the new firmware I was getting all of the above. Loading version 1.0 back in this morning, has me grinning from ear to ear, again. I have lots of detail, but with smoothness…not brittle.. Vocals sound fuller and more natural. I can play a wide range of recordings again. Too much detail (for me) is just too aggressive and less musical.

I have been rebuilding my system so admittedly the sound has not stabilized, I am working to get the signature I desire. I hoped the Pontus II 12th may be part of the solution but at least with the 12th FPGA firmware it is not meeting the expectations set by the positive reviews of the pre-12th Pontus II. I have a Belles Aria Dual Mono Integrated, with the Pontus II 12th mostly fed by an Audiolab 6000CDT. I also have both Margules ADE-24 and ADE-24.1 "black boxes" to add warmth, if needed. My speakers are the last piece of my system still needing updated, right now I am living with some (vintage?) DCM-Timeframe 1000s. I mostly have been looking at Spendor or Graham speakers in the next couple years which would be a significant change, but I really need to properly audition them or whatever are my next speakers first.

The biggest challenge for me is that I listen to a lot of music from the 1960s and 70s from around the world, much of which was poorly recorded but still fantastic music. So I want a system which is warm, reasonably detailed, but extremely forgiving. The Pontus II 12th is not providing my desired midrange and combined with the poorly recorded music (not its fault), it is fatiguing on the highs. Your description of the Pontus II with the v1.0 firmware sounds lovely. If I only listened to music recorded in the last 20 years then maybe the current 12th sound would be a great match, but that is not now nor will ever be my situation. Of course, once I have the firmware v1.0 installed on my 12th, I may find my system has other imbalances which still need resolved, and cable/interconnect matching can help with some of the final refinements.

I am happy to hear about your very positive musical experience rolling back to the v1.0 firmware this morning. It gives me hope the Pontus II 12th DAC hardware is not the bottleneck to my musical goals, maybe a different firmware - v1.0 or something in the future - will be a better match for me.

 

[naka9]

The biggest challenge for me is that I listen to a lot of music from the 1960s and 70s from around the world, much of which was poorly recorded but still fantastic music. So I want a system which is warm, reasonably detailed, but extremely forgiving.
.

I also listen to would music, that like you said sometimes it is not well recorded. Because of that beautiful music I have the Duevel Planets omni-directional speakers, that are very forgiving and fun to listen to. The gentle side of the Pontus II (with original firmware) makes everything even better.
With the latest firmware (the one some of us didn’t like) even great natural recordings didn’t sound good in my system. Too compressed and treble oriented. In a word, fatiguing.
You can try the FW 1.0 in your Pontus 12th, but rest assure that Denafrips will deliver a great FW developments in a very near future.

 

[PoMarantz]

I have been rebuilding my system so admittedly the sound has not stabilized, I am working to get the signature I desire. I hoped the Pontus II 12th may be part of the solution but at least with the 12th FPGA firmware it is not meeting the expectations set by the positive reviews of the pre-12th Pontus II. I have a Belles Aria Dual Mono Integrated, with the Pontus II 12th mostly fed by an Audiolab 6000CDT. I also have both Margules ADE-24 and ADE-24.1 "black boxes" to add warmth, if needed. My speakers are the last piece of my system still needing updated, right now I am living with some (vintage?) DCM-Timeframe 1000s. I mostly have been looking at Spendor or Graham speakers in the next couple years which would be a significant change, but I really need to properly audition them or whatever are my next speakers first.

The biggest challenge for me is that I listen to a lot of music from the 1960s and 70s from around the world, much of which was poorly recorded but still fantastic music. So I want a system which is warm, reasonably detailed, but extremely forgiving. The Pontus II 12th is not providing my desired midrange and combined with the poorly recorded music (not its fault), it is fatiguing on the highs. Your description of the Pontus II with the v1.0 firmware sounds lovely. If I only listened to music recorded in the last 20 years then maybe the current 12th sound would be a great match, but that is not now nor will ever be my situation. Of course, once I have the firmware v1.0 installed on my 12th, I may find my system has other imbalances which still need resolved, and cable/interconnect matching can help with some of the final refinements.

I am happy to hear about your very positive musical experience rolling back to the v1.0 firmware this morning. It gives me hope the Pontus II 12th DAC hardware is not the bottleneck to my musical goals, maybe a different firmware - v1.0 or something in the future - will be a better match for me.

My system is as follows: Qobuz via Ethernet =>Pi2 Design Mercury Streamer=> I²S =>Pontus II =>XLRs =>Schiit Loki Max Equalizer => XLRs => Schiit Freya+ Preamp => McIntosh MC152 Power Amp => DynAudio Contour 20s, w/Stereo REL T/5x Subs using REL's proprietary hi output lines directly off the speaker outputs from the power amp..subs are tuned way back to be "invisible" to blend-in the lower freq. when the recording calls for it. (I also have a Marantz SACD 30n for discs..it has a streamer too..but let’s ignore that here)
I only really use the tube stage on my preamp with NOS tubes (It has switchable SS and tube stages). So I have tubes driving my 150wpc solid state amp. I even got a little crazy and bought $600 of oil/film caps and Audio Note resistors and replaced all those cheap components in the tube stage of my preamp. (That was an adventure! ). Nice sonic improvement. Love my system…it’s powerful, warm, but with detail. "Most" poorly recorded material sounds fine and if not I can take the edge off with my Loki Max Equalizer. (I rarely need that, but nice to have on-call). Good/great recordings sound FANTASTIC. Deep 3D , wide soundstage with tonal body and detail. No harshness. That all changed when I updated the firmware on my Pontus.
Soooo happy to have it back!
I am thinking that you will be a HUGE fan of version 1.0. You need to give it a try!
I have to look up some/most of your gear…as I am not familiar.

 

[Sean H]

Just rolled back to 1.0 and have been listening. Wow. I without a doubt prefer 1.0. I had originally thought that soundstage was a little larger with 1.3 but I have to say, to me there is equal stage width but way more air and depth with 1.0. My speakers disappear more with 1.0. Also, the treble, while smoother and sweeter, to me sounds more extended way up top lending to that height and air. 1.0 is just much more immersive in my system. I think Imaging with 1.3 is a little more focused but my speakers did not seem to disappear as well and with the more technical presentation it just sounds more dry and processed. 1.0 is a bit more ethereal and less precise to me but that's what I loved about the Pontus II. Warmth and body is back with 1.0, vocals are full and the mid and upper bass feels weightier. The midbass may be less precise with 1.0 compared to 1.3 but here again it sounds less dry and more natural. Anyway, really glad and appreciate that Denafrips has made both versions available and am looking forward to the next update they are working on.

 

[inzite]

EP4CE6F has only 1 firmware file

EP4CE22F has 2 different firmware files
Download this FUT for DAC shipped before 7th Oct 2020
EP4CE22F (OA) PONTUS II FUT

Download this FUT for DAC shipped on & after 7th Oct 2020
EP4CE22F PONTUS II FUT

Not really "important" the firmware files etc... But as you say country of origin doesn't matter at all

I believe the before oct 7 2020 and after oct 7 2020 is because it was pontus "one" (with 22F) for the before which ppl can order a dsp card to update to "two" (the "two" has some hardware upgrades as well). For all after Oct 7 it is technically "two" until the "12th" version for those with 22F. It sounds like all with 6F may have been shipped after Oct 7 also, hence only 1 firmware ver.

 

[Majors]

Just rolled back to 1.0 and have been listening. Wow. I without a doubt prefer 1.0. I had originally thought that soundstage was a little larger with 1.3 but I have to say, to me there is equal stage width but way more air and depth with 1.0. My speakers disappear more with 1.0. Also, the treble, while smoother and sweeter, to me sounds more extended way up top lending to that height and air. 1.0 is just much more immersive in my system. I think Imaging with 1.3 is a little more focused but my speakers did not seem to disappear as well and with the more technical presentation it just sounds more dry and processed. 1.0 is a bit more ethereal and less precise to me but that's what I loved about the Pontus II. Warmth and body is back with 1.0, vocals are full and the mid and upper bass feels weightier. The midbass may be less precise with 1.0 compared to 1.3 but here again it sounds less dry and more natural. Anyway, really glad and appreciate that Denafrips has made both versions available and am looking forward to the next update they are working on.

I just went back to 1.0 on my Ares 2 F22 and I could not describe my experience any better than you here. Great observations.

 

[Riccioli30]

I have a P2/12 on the way, which I requested from Alvin with the sw update. more congruous also in the light of the discussion here on the forum. Let's see what sw it comes with. Then calmly (I'm an old-fashioned analogist), I post my impressions

 

[PoMarantz]

I have a P2/12 on the way, which I requested from Alvin with the sw update. more congruous also in the light of the discussion here on the forum. Let's see what sw it comes with. Then calmly (I'm an old-fashioned analogist), I post my impressions

If you are "old-fashioned" you may prefer Firmware Version 1.0.
I DO!

 

[szore]

Just got an email saying both old and new versions are avalaible for download.

 

[shafat777]

Just got an email saying both old and new versions are avalaible for download

How can we download the old firmware? Can you please post a link?

 

[naka9]

Just plugged my Pontus II with the 1.0 FW and I am so glad to hear that everything is ok again.
Oh how I missed this sound

 

[PoMarantz]

How can we download the old firmware? Can you please post a link?

Did you get a link from Vinshine with a password to download the new firmware? If so…go back there and you will find a download for the old firmware.

 

[shafat777]

Did you get a link from Vinshine with a password to download the new firmware? If so…go back there and you will find a download for the old firmware.

Thank you. I figured it out after some quick searching through my emails. Thanks for the help.

 

[PoMarantz]

Thank you. I figured it out after some quick searching through my emails. Thanks for the help.

Yeah…I had to ask, too. It was not intuitive for me. I am soooooo happy to have v1.0 back!!!

 

[mikelas76]

Oh my God, how better I'm doing. I am calmer, content, relaxed and smiling. You know why, right?