Hi, I am here turning to James Tanner my email I just sent to Mike, as the autoresponder says he's out of the office and the alternative address given is bouncing emails back due to spam issues.
Just to let you know of my experience, hoping to come to a possible solution:
Dear Mike,
I followed closely the latest firmware update process and release, with the web interface disappearance Gerald experienced and all.
I’ve been exchanging with him messages extensively on the subject in the past days.
I bought my BDA-3 brand new a month ago (May 2020), but the unit still had firmware version 2016.05a.
So it would have been better if Bryston would specify in the firmware update instructions a manuf. date (mine is 2018), instead of a sold date (2020) in order to choose which firmware to flash (ending in capital or lower case letter).
My unit was performing great, all inputs were similar in level, making for a very pleasing user experience.
I remind you I am running ROON ROCK on a fanless NUC i7, USB connected to BDA-3, then Bryston BP20 as preamp, then poweramp.
The only problem, as in my past emails I pointed out and which set me on the road of firmware update, hoping for a solution, was that wanting to stream DSD from ROCK and having BDA-3 set to Device Volume will work only if Volume is set to 100.
Any less than 100, and you’ll be hit by a LOUD white noise (if BDA is set to Native DSD in Roon’s Device Setup) or a very high-frequency hiss (if BDA is set to DoP) from speakers.
As you can imagine, this prevents to play a selection of PCM music (where volume usually is never at 100) mixed with tracks in DSD (where vol needs to be set at 100), without having to change settings in the middle of playing. In any case, a very bad user experience even when playing DSD only or an entire album in DSD, as any casual and unwanted touch to the volume bar (particularly on a touch screen iPad or similar) would cause a blast of noise from the speakers, with the risk of damaging them.
So, when yesterday they came out, I finally managed to two-step update to the latest 2020_06C.
But I’m having a series of issues since. I’ll try to list them here.
- I never managed to reach my BDA-3 via LAN when it’s in Standby mode, contrarily to what is in the instructions. I tried all I could think of: different browsers in my main computer, iMac 27" running Catalina, but also a PC running Windows 7. I can only reach my unit only when it’s ON. I don’t know if this is a problem, even for a fully successful update or not
- SPDIF level (I have a CD Player attached there) is way too high compared to what it used to be with the previous firmware. I need to keep the Volume knob of BP20 preamp at 8-9 hrs for an already high listening volume.
I hoped the volume bar on the web page could be set for each input and tried to adjust it there, but it’s not the case, as it affects all inputs and doesn’t allow for individual levels for each input.
Furthermore, the volume set in the web interface is overrun by pressing UPSAMPLE, which returns the volume to 100, again blasting (this time music) from the speakers.
- if I play a CD (44,1 KHz) from SPDIF, and press UPSAMPLE button, at the first press the LED lights up in RED with no sound; at the second press, yellow LED lights and sound. The manual speaks of green and amber LED.
- Quirk behavior of input selection buttons: at times (particularly with the unit just turned on) with USB is selected, and I press SPDIF, no sound gets out, although LEDs of sample rate and LOCK are lit, showing a signal is present. I manage to get sound from SPDIF ONLY if I press any of the HDMI first (which I don’t have anything attached to).
- With this new firmware, switching ON the unit, and changing inputs, now makes a POP sound from speakers, wherewith the previous firmware the unit was dead silent.
NOT at changing from PCM to DSD or in between sample rates, as I read was the case with some firmware releases, only when switching inputs.
Basically the whole operation and user experience are not as smooth and solid as I would expect from a machine like the BDA-3.
So, I am now undecided on the route to take and I need BRYSTON's opinion on this:
- going forward by staying with this updated firmware, trying to fix the odd behaviors and waiting for a future one if needed,
or
- revert back to my previous release, 2016.05a , which didn’t present any of the above issues? If this is possible and this up and down-grading is safe to do, and the unit can always be restored to a working state in case it gets stuck. I really don’t want to brick it!
One last thing: if DSD definitely cannot have adjustable volume because of the nature of the format and (like I’m starting to believe) there’s no workaround possible within the BDA-3, I think the choice in ROON's Device Setup for the BDA-3 to have Device Volume as a selectable option when choosing Native DSD should be greyed out or prevented to be used.
What do you think?
Looking forward to your reply
thanks
Marco
