Mcondon, as you may know from reading through the PSA forums, the only difference between FW 2.0.2 and 2.0.3 was essentially enabling a flag so that pre-emphasized CDs could be properly decoded. If one tries to play a pre-emphasized CD with 2.0.2 it will not decode properly. Other than that they *supposed* to be identical. :-)
I personally have not noticed any significant differences between these two - unlike either of these and 2.1.0. Having said that, the whole issue of sonic differences between FW versions with the PWD is too tough to call. I would not contradict anyone who felt they heard a difference between 2.0.2 and 2.0.3. Paul McGowan and the PSA development team have been dissecting the sound difference problem for a while. I've tried all of them and actually prefer 2.2.0 (which is what is being shipped with the Mk.II upgrade right now), but my system has a detailed yet warm characteristic that may be a better balance for this version than 2.0.2 or .3.
The downside of the 2.0.2/2.0.3 verssions is they do not work completely correctly in NativeX mode. So there's a tradeoff there. IMO NativeX provides greater sonic benefit (in my system) than whatever those versions can add to the sound I'm already getting.
I personally have not noticed any significant differences between these two - unlike either of these and 2.1.0. Having said that, the whole issue of sonic differences between FW versions with the PWD is too tough to call. I would not contradict anyone who felt they heard a difference between 2.0.2 and 2.0.3. Paul McGowan and the PSA development team have been dissecting the sound difference problem for a while. I've tried all of them and actually prefer 2.2.0 (which is what is being shipped with the Mk.II upgrade right now), but my system has a detailed yet warm characteristic that may be a better balance for this version than 2.0.2 or .3.
The downside of the 2.0.2/2.0.3 verssions is they do not work completely correctly in NativeX mode. So there's a tradeoff there. IMO NativeX provides greater sonic benefit (in my system) than whatever those versions can add to the sound I'm already getting.