New beta firmware 7.1.3 released

[ozthepoz]

Hehe, I can't resist to give my comments on the new firmware as well.

I did extensive listening with 7.1.1 right before the upgrade and right after. Then I thought it is clearly identical, maybe just adding some beta-functionality to be controlled by dialog. Now, after a week, I also tend to believe that the sound has gotten better. For example clearer sound while listening with high volume. I can confirm the temperature drop of about 4° while seeing the status with tone controls. However, if I touch it by hand, I do not notice any difference.

Concerning sound quality, I am fully aware, that it is probably just our minds playing tricks on us. Like the expectation bias or the group bias etc... 

The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational:
http://io9.com/5974468/the-most-common-c...g-rational

Lets face it, we are always on the look for something we can improve, otherwise we wouldn't be in this forum, and therefore we are somewhat biased. Even tough I only listen to FLAC, it was an eye-opener for me doing a real double-blind ABX- MP3 vs FLAC-comparison with Foobar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt7GyFW4hOI) (http://www.mpex.net/info/abx.html). I was convinced before that FLAC was clearly better than Mp3, but I failed the test even with 160kb Mp3's converted for the first time.

Maybe someone with two Devialets would be able to do a double-blind test, with fast switching between the two units. That would give a clearer picture.
But lets have some fun tuning our equipment none the less... 

The way round this is to ask the wife; mine is pretty much immune to all of this stuff and is able to just describe what she hears. 

Her view is that the latest version of firmware is significantly "better". She's not able to articulate "better", but she is very clear that it just is. That's good enough for me.