Yes Caniebfrank,
Lets looks at some companies using FPGA as part of their designs.
It seems that almost every model of product that uses FPGA at some point comes out with new hardware to suppliant the older models.
A FPGA means you can easily alter code which usualy affects the filtering process of the dac, it does not compensate or negate the fact that faster processing chips which run the code the FPGA is supplying, advances in analog boards or other improvements don’t come into play.
If you notice we mentioned Esoteric, DCS, Chord, and if you notice most of these companies do not come up with constant Firmware upgrades every six months, most of these companies products are stable and don’t require a complete revisiting of the operational software and processes.
In the case of Chord their models have all used FPGA and they keep on improving the hardware that runs the FPGA stored code which still requires a new hardware platform to implement that firmware.
Look at Aqua Hifi’s dacs which use FPGA to provie the code to the R2R ladder dacs, stable, stable, stable, until they come up with a new platform and the model is able to morph 100% into the new model.
The Lavoice started with the s1, then s2 and then s3 you could have purchased an original model and that can be completely upgraded 100% into the latest version how many companies provide a 100% true upgrade path?
We aren’t saying the PS audio dacs aren’t good, it is just a fallacy to think that an FPGA based design doesn’t go obsolete and won't require a future hardware change to evolve into the next level.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
