Denafrips FPGA Firmware Update

Yes, same here, 10-11 days with the fast filter on and didn't know! I'm not sure I find the sound awful necessarily but it's not where I think needs to be either. I've already moved some power cords around and rolled some tubes to help for now. Just missing the fullness and rich, smooth quality.

My Pontus II has the EP4CE22F chip and this is welcome news. I too feel that while the new firmware has added some clarity and details that the treble does sound a little more prominent and there is a loss of some overall weight to the sound. As someone else said, I swear I sense a bit less soundstage depth now as well. I still sense layering but seems like the stage overall is less deep? Also, I’m now getting a pop/skip via coaxial from my Zen Stream a few seconds into every track and I let Denafrips know this. Really looking forward to this potential new update for Pontus II EP4CE22F chip owners. 

Yeah, I would occasionally get a pop/skip before the update but now it's a few seconds into each and every single track without fail.

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I'm following the discussions at other forums as well. Denafrips is great. To the point mentioned earlier, I have also started taking some measures to voice my system due to the change and for now have simply moved some power cords around. Most notably I had a power cord with Rhodium plated copper plugs on the Pontus II and decided to use a cord (same design) with pure copper plugs to offset some of the high frequencies and bring back a bit more warmth. If there is a way for them to bring back the tonality with a bit more warmth/fullness/natural high end, but with the clarity and detail of the new update, that would be great.

I just noticed something. Right after I installed the update a while back the Phase button was off which I always had on. Today, it hit me, I wondered if the update sort of put all settings back into a default state so I double checked to see that the OS filter was set to Slow, as Fast sounds too bright to me, and sure enough the Fast filter was on! Now I need to listen some more. That has to be part of why I feel the new update has increased the treble more than I like. You all might want to double check your filter setting.

I also like the new firmware as well and had installed for two weeks but I decided to roll back today to the original 1.0 firmware to compare. Wow. I definitely now prefer 1.0. I’m starting to think that they updated firmware 1.0 with the fixes and improvements but used the original DSP. Back is the fullness, sweet extended highs, more immersive and harmonically rich, and less dryness I hear in the 1.3. I’m hearing the details of 1.3 and tghter bass. You should go back and try 1.0 again, it only takes a few minutes!!