Anyone regretting Pontus 2 firmware upgrade


I was notified of Pontus 2 upgrade for April 1st. I checked on Audiogon what people were saying of Pontus upgrade, not all reviews were positive. Most said they enjoyed improvement. More detail tighter bass. 

 

Some claim bright and glassy with loss of bass, also stating not as musical. Reading this stopped my plans of the upgrade for now. I’m not looking for a more high fi sound. My system is all tube and very detailed as it is and very happy with Pontus in second system. Is this upgrade reversible? Some brought up “brick” I have no idea what that is but understand it needs to be sent in for repair.

 

I would like to do the upgrade but until I understand what I’m in for I plan to hold off on update. Does anyone agree? 

 

 

paulcreed

You can’t roll back the update once it’s done.


I inserted my recently updated Pontus II into my primary sound system, which is highly modded with tweaks for noise reduction all throughout the signal chain and power distribution, and I didn’t find any new problems with the top end on the DAC. I think it’s very likely those people with new issues with more energy in the top end are hearing the effects of unmitigated noise in their system which they are unaware of. In other words, from my testing and best estimate, the criticisms are coming from people with digital based systems that aren't doing more energetic higher frequencies in a pleasing, harmonious, and natural way.

The update had been a very welcome change in my experience. The fact that the NOS mode is now legitimate and sounds great needs more attention, imo.

If you do the update and don’t like the higher frequencies, since you can’t revert the change, I’d suggest investing in some noise killing mods (like linear power supplies in place of switching, Ethernet filters, grounding tech, vibration isolation, Heartsound Holostages, etc) and/or swapping for warmer sounding power cable for the unit to balance out the tone.

 

Also, my take is that the bass frequency response curve is more pleasant than before. The sub-bass was too boosted before relative to other frequencies.

Others have reported that this update is reversible and at least one person reported that they went back to the old firmware successfully.

 

Edit - I should note that going back will require another firmware update similar to this update so will require support from Vinshine to roll back. 

Very happy with the update.   More detail, better imaging and bass is a little cleaner.  It’s still a Pontus 2, only better.

@jaytor Good news indeed. I'm happy to be totally wrong about the impression I got regarding update revertibility.