I recently installed the 3rd version (version 3.5) of the firmware update for the Venus II 12th anniversary. This one is supposed to flesh out the midrange and upper bass a bit. So far, I really like - I think the folks as Vinshine really nailed it.
I will say that it took a bit of emailing back and forth to Vinshine to make the update work on my mac - there was something wrong in the file name when I tried to run the install file. BUT - now that it's fixed, I can say really worth the effort.
Only a few hours in but my impressions are that the mid range does indeed feel a bit more warm and dense. The clarity and detail are still there, but the sound is a bit more rich, which is what I like.
One interesting takeaway from this is that the FPGA chip that drives a DAC does in fact do something akin to equalization. That is, it must be giving some kind of weight to different frequencies when decoding the digital file, and I bet that all DACs do this to some degree, but the companies don't want to publicize this much as they know many audiophiles view any kind of equalization as a mortal sin.
What do folks think??