My Ares II had the occasional skipping issue. Also an early production unit, Ares II circuitry in an plain Ares box. Confirmed by Alvin. Update went smoothly. No more skipping.
Prior to the update there was a definite sound difference between positive and negative phase selection. After the update unable to detect a difference.
Listened to a couple reference tracks prior to update. Same tracks after the update were much cleaner. Individual notes had more separation, impact and decay. Overall, a major improvement.