DENAFRIPS FPGA Firmware Update (12TH Anniv.)

[ms10]

A long time ago I read reviews that said Pontus is the odd one out within Denafrips dac family. While every one else are tuned for audiophilic characteristics, Pontus is tuned for being more analog (or musical?) sounding - darker, warmer, thicker. It's easy to get addicted to it. I think the new firmwares tries to bring it in line with the others but it looks like many of us (including me) prefer the old one.

I've actually just written to Vinshine stating something similar to this. I pointed out I bought a Pontus 12th based on the general consensus of reviews regarding its sound signature, and this was the reason I risked £2k on it. I also pointed out that it's impossible to audition and/or return Denafrips products. Concluding that it's not entirely fair to move to a brighter sound.

However, I can see why they've done it, and why they wouldn't want to officially support different sound signatures through FPGA firmware updates.

 

[medon]

....
However, I can see why they've done it, and why they wouldn't want to officially support different sound signatures through FPGA firmware updates.

I also wonder if "my" sound preference (lush / mid-range heft) is so far off the mainstream.
Considering review of other current brands like KTE, Gustard - it seems that most customers ask for a "clean" and articulate sound.

 

[ms10]

I also wonder if "my" sound preference (lush / mid-range heft) is so far off the mainstream.
Considering review of other current brands like KTE, Gustard - it seems that most customers ask for a "clean" and articulate sound.

From what I've read Lampizator, Bricasti and Aqua are considered similar to the Pontus. There's plenty of space out there for digital music listeners who don't want to vividly experience every nuance above 3kHz.

It also appears we both have ATC SCM40 speakers. They can be brutally revealing.

 

[medon]

...

It also appears we both have ATC SCM40 speakers. They can be brutally revealing.

Got my pair of SCM40 only recently.
Actually I find them to be quite relaxed sounding, with a glorious mid range.
Almost all other modern / current speakers I listen to at my dealer seem more sparkling - which is exactly what I don't want.

 

[Riccioli30]

I concur, I am enjoying 1.4 and it is like 1.0 but more detailed, focused, improved imaging, bass slams with the right tracks and it is not smoothed out in the edges (hard hits).

There's better sound quality that is for sure, 1.0 still king overall for long sessions of listening, mellow, delicate sound, the right amount of everything to please everyone

I'll repeat what I said in a few posts before, it is not about being better or worse, it's about being able to choose at anytime the type of sound you want and obtain it in a matter of seconds

I think Denafrips is next level and I can't recommend it enough

P2/12-1.3 from the factory. almost a month of listening. My impressions: Sound not tiring. Homogeneous medium and full female voices. Male voices ok. A little too much energy in the middle and i miss the micro-contrast. Sufficiently articulated and powerful low range. Here a slightly latent micro-contrast, too. Correct highs, a little forced, to improve the airiness: a general feeling of lack of harmonic development. Not very deep image. Is ( in my sistems) correct on the plane of the speakers - without a hole in the center - indeed dense. And image and “pitch point”change, partly,with volume. Ideal would be to have a little more transparency and micro nuances.
I listen mostly in NOS. phase On (led on) CD/DAT transport mechanism. But also various MacBooks (Intel/ M1/ processor), hi res files sent via usb/Xrl interface from the listening point. State of the art cables. ( AN, Trasparent, Mit, Swire among the others). In the studio system (where the P/2/12 is destined) it showed itself as an adequate dac. Worth its price. it lets itself be heard. In the high efficiency main system it showed more of the above characteristics (compared to my old Audio Note dac- which has a different and in some parameters uncomparable sound, more refined and with a SOTA scene- but no dsd, no hires file). I'd like to try the T+ in this system in the future. No possibility of comparison ( too different, too distant) with Analogic. But I'm biased here because I was born with analog and so read it as you like.
All IMHO. and just to share an experience. To try in the future the new Sw. 1.4 (as advised by Vinshine) but I don't like playing and I'll wait. I'm not a digital man and that's 1.3 is okay for now.
Studio system - Mirage M1/bw. Mark Levinson mono class A amp, Audio Research tube pre - Main system - Avantgarde trio horn - Audio Note Japan tube amp, Audio Note Japan tube pre. Audio Notes dac. - Cec TLO - Micromega trio cd trans. Dat Sony PCM R. 500 - analogical part omitted

 

[joseG86]

P2/12-1.3 from the factory. almost a month of listening. My impressions: Sound not tiring. Homogeneous medium and full female voices. Male voices ok. A little too much energy in the middle and i miss the micro-contrast. Sufficiently articulated and powerful low range. Here a slightly latent micro-contrast, too. Correct highs, a little forced, to improve the airiness: a general feeling of lack of harmonic development. Not very deep image. Is ( in my sistems) correct on the plane of the speakers - without a hole in the center - indeed dense. And image and “pitch point”change, partly,with volume. Ideal would be to have a little more transparency and micro nuances.
I listen mostly in NOS. phase On (led on) CD/DAT transport mechanism. But also various MacBooks (Intel/ M1/ processor), hi res files sent via usb/Xrl interface from the listening point. State of the art cables. ( AN, Trasparent, Mit, Swire among the others). In the studio system (where the P/2/12 is destined) it showed itself as an adequate dac. Worth its price. it lets itself be heard. In the high efficiency main system it showed more of the above characteristics (compared to my old Audio Note dac- which has a different and in some parameters uncomparable sound, more refined and with a SOTA scene- but no dsd, no hires file). I'd like to try the T+ in this system in the future. No possibility of comparison ( too different, too distant) with Analogic. But I'm biased here because I was born with analog and so read it as you like.
All IMHO. and just to share an experience. To try in the future the new Sw. 1.4 (as advised by Vinshine) but I don't like playing and I'll wait. I'm not a digital man and that's 1.3 is okay for now.
Studio system - Mirage M1/bw. Mark Levinson mono class A amp, Audio Research tube pre - Main system - Avantgarde trio horn - Audio Note Japan tube amp, Audio Note Japan tube pre. Audio Notes dac. - Cec TLO - Micromega trio cd trans. Dat Sony PCM R. 500 - analogical part omitted

Great impressions, very detailed and informative. It is so amazing that many people enjoys the different firmwares and share their experiences with the same DAC

I'm back to 1.4 this weekend and I really enjoy the extra resolution offered by this version, feels slighty more forwarded sounding compared to OG, more energetic, bass is tight and some magic from 1.0 is really there

I might go back to 1.0 again but I'm loving both versions for real

 

[alvin1118]

I'm excited to share some users' feedback about the latest firmware update.

Review of the new v1.4 firmware for my Pontus II

https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/review-of-the-new-v1-4-firmware-for-my-pontus-ii


Detailed and tone-balanced as I like

https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/pontus-dac-fpga-firmware-v1-4-feedback

Happy listening!

 

[ms10]

Has anyone who moved from v1.0 to v1.4 noticed any change in character in the v1.4 sound over the succeeding days?

 

[mikelas76]

I play a dozen or so hours FW 1.4 and I will honestly say that I am tempted to return to 1.0
Maybe this is due to the fact that my tube preamp plays up to 2-3 hours a day. Maybe he should play longer once? It's a bit too bright.
Damn, I think I like FW 1.0
I give myself another week of time and I will make a decision

 

[PoMarantz]

I play a dozen or so hours FW 1.4 and I will honestly say that I am tempted to return to 1.0
Maybe this is due to the fact that my tube preamp plays up to 2-3 hours a day. Maybe he should play longer once? It's a bit too bright.
Damn, I think I like FW 1.0
I give myself another week of time and I will make a decision

I have a tube/SS preamp, as well(I can switch the preamp back and forth),… v1.3 burned my ears…Yesterday I installed a Beatechnik LHY SW-8 Network Switch which has made some interesting sonic changes…so I am listening thru that right now and avidly paying attention to this forum. As time goes on, as I suspected…more & more listeners seem to be going back to v1.0 from v1.4 after extended listening. Not everyone, though. This forum is soooo helpful in my understanding of these firmwares…and thanks for sharing your impressions.

 

[mikelas76]

I will say more, it seems that I have quite an extensive digital track. Silent Angel M1t streamer, Denafrips Pontus, two switches and three linear power supplies. One powers the router. There are also not cheap ethernet cables, etc. For me, even on FW 1.0 is detailed and spatial. Maybe all these elements before Pontus work so well that I don't have to change FW. Maybe they clean the sound enough

 

[ms10]

I will say more, it seems that I have quite an extensive digital track. Silent Angel M1t streamer, Denafrips Pontus, two switches and three linear power supplies. One powers the router. There are also not cheap ethernet cables, etc. For me, even on FW 1.0 is detailed and spatial. Maybe all these elements before Pontus work so well that I don't have to change FW. Maybe they clean the sound enough

I think every system is different, but what appeared to me during my upgrade path, and I've seen others saying similar, is that cleaning the pre-streamer ethernet stage improved the ease of the sound. It moved it towards an un-digital sound. The biggest single upgrade to my system was the Uptone EtherRegen. Adding decent LPS's and an AfterDark clock took it further without introducing any digital glare.

Saying that, I lay responsibility for the tonal balance at the door of the DAC, mostly.

 

[PoMarantz]

I will say more, it seems that I have quite an extensive digital track. Silent Angel M1t streamer, Denafrips Pontus, two switches and three linear power supplies. One powers the router. There are also not cheap ethernet cables, etc. For me, even on FW 1.0 is detailed and spatial. Maybe all these elements before Pontus work so well that I don't have to change FW. Maybe they clean the sound enough

I am on that page. I do have a very good CD/SACD player..but when I recently got back into this hobby..after some EXPENSIVE growing/learning pains...I decided to go full-on digital streaming (i.e.no turntable). I have a Pi2 Designs Mercury Streamer with a Linear Power Supply. I do not (yet) have a linear power supply on my router...but I used the included, very good switching power supply that came with my Mercury Streamer and connected that to my router. Until yesterday I went from the router, to a $15 powered Netgear Ethernet switch, then into my Mercury, then I²S into my Pontus II. Yesterday I got rid of the Netgear Switch and installed the LHY SW-8.
I have to say...I was not expecting much...but damn...I am having trouble putting it into words...but everything just seems more solid. Instrument separation is more defined.... I sat up straight in my chair when I played familiar tracks. No brightness or anything like that....just more definition and realism....sort of. Hard do describe. There is more presence of the performers, especially in smaller, intimate, well recorded performances. I am glad that I made the investment.
So...YES....I was thinking the same thing as you....Perhaps we are getting very clean data and v1.0 is just letting what we have coming in just being itself. We do not need a software enhancement to pull something out....we already have it. All I can say is that I am very happy with the sound from my system and I can play all genres of music and it sounds good, and unless the recording is really bad...(I have a equalizer for them, which I rarely use).
I can turn up the volume and I am not wincing. Bass sounds great (I think that got tighter too with that network switch). I doubt that I will even try v1.4. My system is in a custom cabinet and it is just a hassle for me to load these new firmwares.
I will continue reading here and enjoying music and see what I think...but for now I am very pleased with where my journey has taken me....

 

[DKUSA]

As previously reported, I got micro glitch issue with with v1.4 on my Pontus II. With the v1.3, I was experiencing micro skips. No micro skips with v1.4. Depending on the day I get zero failure playing all day. It is like a D to A failure with less than 0.1 second duration, and if you are not listening to the music carefully, you don't notice it.
I like the better refined sound on the v1.4, but v1.0 is not bad at all, with smooth and rounded sound. I've just switched to v1.0, and I will check the result.

 

[Majors]

As previously reported, I got micro glitch issue with with v1.4 on my Pontus II. With the v1.3, I was experiencing micro skips. No micro skips with v1.4. Depending on the day I get zero failure playing all day. It is like a D to A failure with less than 0.1 second duration, and if you are not listening to the music carefully, you don't notice it.
I like the better refined sound on the v1.4, but v1.0 is not bad at all, with smooth and rounded sound. I've just switched to v1.0, and I will check the result.

On my Ares2 I also have an occasional blip on the latest 1.6 firmware, which is one reason I went back to the original 1.0. This also happens with my 10mhz re-clocker in the chain and on different streamers as well. I think this is something Alvin and his team need to look into.