I guess I'm a little late to the party, but today was the first time since the release of the new firmware that I have had enough time to try the beta firmware and 8.0. An interesting day!
The good news is that as someone who has had much trouble with the Configurator since going dual mono, this aspect was trouble free. One point to note, I also noticed that two files are deleted from the SD card when loading new firmware. Now I know some folk have suggested locking the SD card, however, I note that the Devialet instructions specifically state that the SD card should not be locked. Being cautious, I reloaded all the files onto the SD card after loading on the master and prior to loading on the slave.
Anyway, I think I have joined the ranks of those who like the 7.1.3 beta firmware. To me I thought it sounded very accurate and detailed, guitar string sounds and similar sounded more detailed and realistic than I can ever recall, bass drum sounds and similar sounded more realistic. This was only after a relatively short listen to a few tracks, so perhaps more time is needed to form the full picture, but initial impressions are positive. One slight caveat, there was one track where I thought the vocals were a little too prominent and maybe a little difficult to listen to, but this may have been track specific. Overall I thought this was as good as I can recall the my system sounding, I shall certainly run 7.1.3 beta for a few weeks, when differences are fairly subtle I think final opinions take time to form.
Then on to 8.0. Now I would have left things in 7.1.3 beta mode for a while, however, I was keen to do a quick comparison to 8.0, and also to try the new RAM settings for vinyl playback.
New configurations loaded without issue, after a quick listen I felt that I did prefer 8.0 to 7.1.1, but I have a feeling that the 7.1.3 beta remains the best. Referring back to the vocal issue I had with 7.1.3 beta, this was less of an issue with 8.0 for me, but overall 7.1.3 gets the crown. Maybe a case of 7.1.3 is the detail king, so not so forgiving with lesser recordings? I'm not sure yet but form today's quick listen I'm prepared to give 7.1.3 more listening time.
This of course gives me a dilemma, if I do want to run 7.1.3 permanently, I will need to sacrifice the option to use RAM. So I figured I'd run 8.0 for a while to see if RAM is something I would actually use or if it's just a gimmick.
Then I hit the big problem of the day, with 8.0 and running AIR Ethernet, I noticed a strange low frequency rumbling when music was paused, this was quite a disturbing sound, something that is not right and I certainly could not put up with. The sound was at very low frequency, not much above sub bass. Please note that this sound was audible with the volume control untouched, not the bass clicking sound some have reported previously with SAM when adjusting the volume. This rumbling was only apparent with SAM enabled, very strange and certainly something I had never experience with SAM and 7.1.1. I will report this to Devilaet and run with 7.1.3 for a while. So playing with RAM will have to wait!
The good news is that as someone who has had much trouble with the Configurator since going dual mono, this aspect was trouble free. One point to note, I also noticed that two files are deleted from the SD card when loading new firmware. Now I know some folk have suggested locking the SD card, however, I note that the Devialet instructions specifically state that the SD card should not be locked. Being cautious, I reloaded all the files onto the SD card after loading on the master and prior to loading on the slave.
Anyway, I think I have joined the ranks of those who like the 7.1.3 beta firmware. To me I thought it sounded very accurate and detailed, guitar string sounds and similar sounded more detailed and realistic than I can ever recall, bass drum sounds and similar sounded more realistic. This was only after a relatively short listen to a few tracks, so perhaps more time is needed to form the full picture, but initial impressions are positive. One slight caveat, there was one track where I thought the vocals were a little too prominent and maybe a little difficult to listen to, but this may have been track specific. Overall I thought this was as good as I can recall the my system sounding, I shall certainly run 7.1.3 beta for a few weeks, when differences are fairly subtle I think final opinions take time to form.
Then on to 8.0. Now I would have left things in 7.1.3 beta mode for a while, however, I was keen to do a quick comparison to 8.0, and also to try the new RAM settings for vinyl playback.
New configurations loaded without issue, after a quick listen I felt that I did prefer 8.0 to 7.1.1, but I have a feeling that the 7.1.3 beta remains the best. Referring back to the vocal issue I had with 7.1.3 beta, this was less of an issue with 8.0 for me, but overall 7.1.3 gets the crown. Maybe a case of 7.1.3 is the detail king, so not so forgiving with lesser recordings? I'm not sure yet but form today's quick listen I'm prepared to give 7.1.3 more listening time.
This of course gives me a dilemma, if I do want to run 7.1.3 permanently, I will need to sacrifice the option to use RAM. So I figured I'd run 8.0 for a while to see if RAM is something I would actually use or if it's just a gimmick.
Then I hit the big problem of the day, with 8.0 and running AIR Ethernet, I noticed a strange low frequency rumbling when music was paused, this was quite a disturbing sound, something that is not right and I certainly could not put up with. The sound was at very low frequency, not much above sub bass. Please note that this sound was audible with the volume control untouched, not the bass clicking sound some have reported previously with SAM when adjusting the volume. This rumbling was only apparent with SAM enabled, very strange and certainly something I had never experience with SAM and 7.1.1. I will report this to Devilaet and run with 7.1.3 for a while. So playing with RAM will have to wait!