Playback Designs Firmware Update


Have any of the PD MPS-5 owners installed this update yet? Jonathan Tinn told me that it'll further improve the MPS-5's redbood CD playback. (I considered this a strength already, so I'm amazed that I might gain more in this area). I'm travelling now and plan to install it when I get home this weekend, but I'm interested to read what my compardres heard when they installed this firmware.

Dave
dcstep
Speaking of jtinn, he is such a great dealer because among other things he is incredibly accessible and helpful with any questions or concerns!

My former lamm dealer was almost impossible to reach (on the lam from his customers so so speak?)
02-28-09: Rtn1 asked:
"Would someone explain exactly what is firmware, and why does it change the sound? Thanks."

T_bone explained what firmware is. In this it changes the sound because the Playback Designs upaamples redbook CDs to DSDs and applies alogrythms before doing a digital to analog conversion. All that's done in the software that controls the DAC and is actually part of the DAC's functioning.

The PD designer, Andreas Koch has been involved with pro-level digital audio equipment design since its inception and has been recently applying his knowledge to consumer units, first at Emm and now at his own company.

Dave
I always wondered why high-end DACs did not actually put everything into FPGAs when the software was there. With the right 'gatekeeper' (pun only partially :^), the IP can be protected, and it could be updated on a regular basis. With even a simple OS and some RAM, users could keep all the older algos and directly compare. Eventually, I suppose this goes down the road of loading the data into RAM and processing it realtime, which I would have imagined FPGAs do quite well.
Thanks. I understand the concept of the firmware, but still unclear as to why it would result in such a big improvement in sound. The resources of a digital source are fixed based upon the hardware and processing capabilities. Software can either (1) apply different filters to the sound or (2) reallocate resources to achieve that sound.

For example, updating your BIOS or a computer driver could result in increased compatibilities, but it doesn't make your computer run faster or have a larger memory.

So I'm curious to know from a design standpoint, how firmware can be used to improve a machine without altering the power supply, the transport, or the processing chips.

Thanks.
The BIOS analogy is interesting - updating the BIOS "could" also raise the speed of the CPU (overclocking) in which case the computer WILL run faster.

Regards,