[Bighappy]

I just plugged in the Apple USB 3 adapter into my iPhone 6S and there was an update. I definitely don't want to be a guinea pig

 


Me too...Wonder what they updated?

 

[musicisthekey]

I did the update. To my ears, it sounds maybe a touch less bright and fuller. Most likely, it's just all in my head.

 

[smellyoldgoat]

  i got a prompt to update the apple camera adaptor usb 3.0, anybody updated already? i did not do it at first since it might bring back the pops/crack i heard using the 2.0 version, the 3.0 version has been great so far using with an iphone 7+

 
No cracks, pops, or any discernible difference in sound quality on mine compared to the previous firmware.

 

[Duncan]

Just updated also, now waiting for the DFR to have the same treatment

 

[waflet]

Just updated also, now waiting for the DFR to have the same treatment

hideeho
LOL

 

[Slaphead]

Just updated also, now waiting for the DFR to have the same treatment

At this stage of the game I'm convinced that the DFR update will come in the form of DFR 2.0.

I suspect AQ are having trouble implementing MQA on the existing hardware, possibly because the DFR was never originally designed with MQA in mind, and I have a feeling that the available space for the firmware on the DFR is not enough to implement it, or at least implement it well.

 

[Wiencon]

I still don't get why MQA is such a big deal but what do I know :d
Does anybody know if the older CCK was also updated? Maybe it brings some improvement to cracks with DFR?

 

[DancingBlue]

  I did the update. To my ears, it sounds maybe a touch less bright and fuller. Most likely, it's just all in my head.

 
Same here, but to me it actually sounds A LOT less bright and full. In fact, going through the CCK, Jitterbug, and Red now sounds almost exactly the same as just plugging directly into the headphone jack.
 
Completely disheartening.
 
Luckily I have a second adapter which I will NOT update. A/Bing the two shows that there is indeed a difference to the sound, so no, it's not in your head Something changed, and definitely for the worse.

 

[Wiencon]

   
Same here, but to me it actually sounds A LOT less bright and full. In fact, going through the CCK, Jitterbug, and Red now sounds almost exactly the same as just plugging directly into the headphone jack.
 
Completely disheartening.
 
Luckily I have a second adapter which I will NOT update. A/Bing the two shows that there is indeed a difference to the sound, so no, it's not in your head Something changed, and definitely for the worse.

Welcome to Apple's world, when every update is for the worse

 

[JakiChan]

Same here, but to me it actually sounds A LOT less bright and full. In fact, going through the CCK, Jitterbug, and Red now sounds almost exactly the same as just plugging directly into the headphone jack.

Completely disheartening.

Luckily I have a second adapter which I will NOT update. A/Bing the two shows that there is indeed a difference to the sound, so no, it's not in your head Something changed, and definitely for the worse.

How do you think they could update a USB adapter that would impact the performance of a USB dac? That seems unlikely.

 

[west0ne]

How do you think they could update a USB adapter that would impact the performance of a USB dac? That seems unlikely.

Could it be that audio data is now being passed straight to the DAC without going through the iOS CoreAudio Service or the other way around if it never went through CoreAudio before?
 
It does seem odd that a firmware update to a USB connector would impact on  the sound signature because one would assume that data being fed to the DAC is data and that once in the DAC the DAC does its thing.
 
The fact that the firmware in the adapter can be updated suggests that it does something more than just pass data straight through so it is perfectly conceivable that a firmware change could have other changes.
 
For now I've told my wife and son not to update their adapters when prompted.

 

[DancingBlue]

  Could it be that audio data is now being passed straight to the DAC without going through the iOS CoreAudio Service or the other way around if it never went through CoreAudio before?
 

 
This is very much what it seems like -- that the iphone DAC is now being used and then...I don't know what. That, as you say, analog audio data is being passed to the Dragonfly? But can the Dragonfly even accept analog audio? Or is the CCK RE-digitizing the data for the DragonFly to decode all over again, but now only at the quality level of what the iPhone DAC decoded to begin with? It's DACs all the way down.
 
If I have time I'll trawl the Apple forums and see if anyone there has some insight.

 

[west0ne]

   
This is very much what it seems like -- that the iphone DAC is now being used and then...I don't know what. That, as you say, analog audio data is being passed to the Dragonfly? But can the Dragonfly even accept analog audio? Or is the CCK RE-digitizing the data for the DragonFly to decode all over again, but now only at the quality level of what the iPhone DAC decoded to begin with? It's DACs all the way down.
 
If I have time I'll trawl the Apple forums and see if anyone there has some insight.

I wasn't suggesting that analogue audio was being passed the the Dragonfly as that isn't how these things work. I was thinking more that CoreAudio was perhaps doing some sort of DSP and that this may have somehow changed with the firmware update. It would be the difference between bitperfect and not bitperfect. What I am not sure about is how CoreAudio works with USB DACs, looking at a technical flowchart it looked very similar to the way in which Android media services work.
 
In any case it was conjecture as I don't have any insider technical knowledge.

 

[DancingBlue]

  I wasn't suggesting that analogue audio was being passed the the Dragonfly as that isn't how these things work. I was thinking more that CoreAudio was perhaps doing some sort of DSP and that this may have somehow changed with the firmware update. It would be the difference between bitperfect and not bitperfect. What I am not sure about is how CoreAudio works with USB DACs, looking at a technical flowchart it looked very similar to the way in which Android media services work.
 
In any case it was conjecture as I don't have any insider technical knowledge.

 
Well yes, I realize that's not how these things work (programmer here, including audio software) which is why I presented the absurd scenario I did; I have no idea what they did to the CCK, but they definitely did something. It is indeed possible that they changed something in the handshake from the CCK which is causing the OS to pass manipulated data. Might even be a bug.

 

[abinhk]

I've updated my CCK 3.0 and I don't hear any discernible difference with my DFR. I intentionally listened to a few of my favourite songs before and after to ensure I would notice any change to the sound.