New firmware 8.1.3

[Hifi_swlon]

Back on 7.1.1 with current naim speaker cables.

I instantly prefer this in terms of relaxation and bass 'punch', but I'm really missing that extra bass extension.  That said, it came at a price where for me I couldn't get the punchy bass back with 8.1.3, just more deep, low, bass. Of course I'd like both! The treble just seems a bit less punishing somehow but that ones hard to explain.

I've got a bit of tinnitus which is really upsetting. I think it might have been all the listening sessions where I cranked it up a bit at certain points. I really do think the silver speaker cable just wasn't a good match for the Facts, and that I've not only been making my life difficult (for the past 6 months) by not being able to get them to sound 'right', the extra treble has probably caused my heAring to suffer slightly. I just never even thought about the cable - I switched it over with my new amp a while back as it was from the same manufacturer so I figured a perfect match. I now hear PMCs are voiced with copper cables ('van damme' specifically which I've now ordered and thankfully they are studio heritage rather than hifi so sensibly priced) and so if that is true perhaps my problem all along has not been the speakers but the extra bit of treble emphasis from the silver cables - an emphasis that PMC didn't envision I imagine. I mean, I don't think the facts will ever be bass monsters of have that thicker sound perhaps I was used to, but at least they don't just sound wrong.

Anyway, none of that has anything to do with Devialet firmware, but all part of the journey. What's more interesting to me is despite the slight reduction in clarity and resolution of sound, I have a far better '3d' type soundstage than I had previously, and things just seem more naturally voiced and better balanced than before - on both firmwares. If that's the cables (and that's all I've changed) then I've no idea how these things work but I'd rather lose a little detail and have what I've got now.

I haven't listened to many of my well known tracks, so next report after a bit of time back with 7.1.1, and hopefully new speaker cables imminently.