Terminator Plus FPGA firmware upgrade review

[Dasign]

I’ve just completed the FPGA firmware upgrade on my Terminator Plus DAC. The provided instructions by Denafrips are detailed and if followed correctly, the upgrade should occur without any problem. The only caveat I encountered was the last step of the upgrade, where Denafrips indicates the firmware can take up to five minutes to be downloaded. On my first try, I‘ve waited about ten minutes before I stopped the process. It looked like the download process had an issue (no progress). Tried a second time with same issue. Contacted Vinshine Audio support team (Vincent) and he indicated that everything I’ve done was correct. Vincent indicated that I should be patient and wait for the process to complete itself. So I used my IPhone timer set at 15 minutes and checked the firmware download at each 15 minute intervals. At around 24 minutes of download, the process was completed.

In my audio setup, I am also using a Denafrips Hermes DDC. Once the DAC firmware upgrade is completed, the DAC returns to its original manufacturer configuration. So you need to take note of your DAC configuration prior to the upgrade and reconfigure the DAC settings, once the firmware upgrade is completed. You will also need to perform the clock synchronization procedure for the DAC and DDC to operate correctly (see Vinshine Audio YouTube video on this subject).

Was this worth all of these efforts? Absolutely!

The upgraded T+ provides a blacker musical background. It seems like the noise level was brought down and I’ve been cranking up the volume level by 3-4 db. There is an increase in musical instrument delineation, bloom and ‘thereness’. I’ve listened to to ‘Superstar’ on Diana Krall’s ‘Wallflower’ album. It was like her singing to me in a private concert. Her voice was luscious, natural and very present, scary present…

The firmware upgrade will not change the audio qualities of the T+ DAC. I did not perceive any tonal changes in the sound of the DAC. It’s like having a series of audio bonuses being added to the DAC. I’ve listened to multiple albums for a few hours in a row, without any listening fatigue. Denafrips offers the T+ owners the option to return to the original FPGA firmware, in a situation where the user would prefer the original sound of the T+. In my case, I will never return to the original firmware, since the upgraded firmware is such a winner! This upgrade is a no-brainer.

 

[ScottK]

I’ve just completed the FPGA firmware upgrade on my Terminator Plus DAC. The provided instructions by Denafrips are detailed and if followed correctly, the upgrade should occur without any problem. The only caveat I encountered was the last step of the upgrade, where Denafrips indicates the firmware can take up to five minutes to be downloaded. On my first try, I‘ve waited about ten minutes before I stopped the process. It looked like the download process had an issue (no progress). Tried a second time with same issue. Contacted Vinshine Audio support team (Vincent) and he indicated that everything I’ve done was correct. Vincent indicated that I should be patient and wait for the process to complete itself. So I used my IPhone timer set at 15 minutes and checked the firmware download at each 15 minute intervals. At around 24 minutes of download, the process was completed.

In my audio setup, I am also using a Denafrips Hermes DDC. Once the DAC firmware upgrade is completed, the DAC returns to its original manufacturer configuration. So you need to take note of your DAC configuration prior to the upgrade and reconfigure the DAC settings, once the firmware upgrade is completed. You will also need to perform the clock synchronization procedure for the DAC and DDC to operate correctly (see Vinshine Audio YouTube video on this subject).

Was this worth all of these efforts? Absolutely!

The upgraded T+ provides a blacker musical background. It seems like the noise level was brought down and I’ve been cranking up the volume level by 3-4 db. There is an increase in musical instrument delineation, bloom and ‘thereness’. I’ve listened to to ‘Superstar’ on Diana Krall’s ‘Wallflower’ album. It was like her singing to me in a private concert. Her voice was luscious, natural and very present, scary present…

The firmware upgrade will not change the audio qualities of the T+ DAC. I did not perceive any tonal changes in the sound of the DAC. It’s like having a series of audio bonuses being added to the DAC. I’ve listened to multiple albums for a few hours in a row, without any listening fatigue. Denafrips offers the T+ owners the option to return to the original FPGA firmware, in a situation where the user would prefer the original sound of the T+. In my case, I will never return to the original firmware, since the upgraded firmware is such a winner! This upgrade is a no-brainer.

Thanks for this review. I have a TP and will be upgrading the FPGA soon. Just bought new speakers and wanted to acclimate to their sound before installing.

 

[RikkiPoo]

I agree the firmware upgrade is an improvement. It takes a few hundred hours of burn in to optimize.

 

[ScottK]

I just completed the FPGA firmware process and it work flawlessly. I think I heard an immediate improvement in SQ. Time will tell. Happy that it was subtle and not a major change from the original. I run a PSAudio transport to the DAC via i2S. I was prepared to have to change PIN settings but it worked flawlessly right out of the gate. SACD in native mode sound wonderful.

 

[NZS]

Hello Design,
Wondering if your thoughts are still the same since the original posting?

I'm still un-decided on whether to risk the firmware download or not.
Most of the negative comments I come across is, the update has a more revealing/bright sound leading to fatigue.
Possibly the system may have a bigger effect on this as I see both equally positive and negative comments for the Terminator II update.

 

[Dasign]

NZS, same thinking here. The tonality of the Terminator Plus remains the same after the firmware upgrade. No listening fatigue here.

 

[ScottK]

Hello Design,
Wondering if your thoughts are still the same since the original posting?

I'm still un-decided on whether to risk the firmware download or not.
Most of the negative comments I come across is, the update has a more revealing/bright sound leading to fatigue.
Possibly the system may have a bigger effect on this as I see both equally positive and negative comments for the Terminator II update.

No problem at all with those issues. I think those comments either come from people with very sensitive abnormal hearing or they’re the standard folks who complain to complain. I will also say the change is very minor. If asked to describe the differences now vs my memory of the older version would be very difficult. I knew right after the install I felt SQ was slightly better.

 

[NZS]

No problem at all with those issues. I think those comments either come from people with very sensitive abnormal hearing or they’re the standard folks who complain to complain. I will also say the change is very minor. If asked to describe the differences now vs my memory of the older version would be very difficult. I knew right after the install I felt SQ was slightly better.

NZS, same thinking here. The tonality of the Terminator Plus remains the same after the firmware upgrade. No listening fatigue here.

Thank you Dasign and Scott for your replies and confirming your positive experiences. A spit and polish update is more appealing than a bigger change to the essence of the DAC.
I am getting my Antipodes upgraded soon, so tossing up whether to do the update before or after.
Will update this thread once I have downloaded.
Thanks again.

 

[NZS]

A quick update.
I updated to the new Firmware, which for me not being computer technical savvy was stressful, but I was relieved when music started playing.

First up the upper mids/highs were very prominent, but the Denafrips bass I know and loved was not. Without the bass balance these were too revealing.

After approx.100 hours, the music was opening up with more detail and airiness but the bass was still lagging well behind in deepness or authority.

Questioning my self if I had made the right choice and contiplating of swapping back, I emailed Vinshine to enquire if the bass would ever come back to where it was before.They said give it at least 150+ hours.

After 200 hours, the sound was opening up a lot more.Increasing details and the bass that was present was detailed but again without much authority.
It took approx, 300+ hours for the sound from top to bottom to cohere as one.
The overall sound improved vastly with a lot more detail, a clearer bass with all the authority of prior.
Instruments sound more realistic, the bass drum slam , snare taps, vocals more coherent.

All in all for me, I would sum this up as a huge improvement as if an upgrade to a higher model.
It's well beyond me how an update downloaded over the Internet can have the rollercoaster effect I experienced.
I would say Patience is the key here.

 

[ScottK]

A quick update.
I updated to the new Firmware, which for me not being computer technical savvy was stressful, but I was relieved when music started playing.

First up the upper mids/highs were very prominent, but the Denafrips bass I know and loved was not. Without the bass balance these were too revealing.

After approx.100 hours, the music was opening up with more detail and airiness but the bass was still lagging well behind in deepness or authority.

Questioning my self if I had made the right choice and contiplating of swapping back, I emailed Vinshine to enquire if the bass would ever come back to where it was before.They said give it at least 150+ hours.

After 200 hours, the sound was opening up a lot more.Increasing details and the bass that was present was detailed but again without much authority.
It took approx, 300+ hours for the sound from top to bottom to cohere as one.
The overall sound improved vastly with a lot more detail, a clearer bass with all the authority of prior.
Instruments sound more realistic, the bass drum slam , snare taps, vocals more coherent.

All in all for me, I would sum this up as a huge improvement as if an upgrade to a higher model.
It's well beyond me how an update downloaded over the Internet can have the rollercoaster effect I experienced.
I would say Patience is the key here.

That's great to hear. Since my last post here I have upgraded my TP to a MSB Reference. I still have a T2 in my second system. And yes the improvement was significant. The SQ is now very similar to a vinyl sound signature. Richer and more open mids.

 

[NZS]

That's great to hear. Since my last post here I have upgraded my TP to a MSB Reference. I still have a T2 in my second system. And yes the improvement was significant. The SQ is now very similar to a vinyl sound signature. Richer and more open mids.

That's quite an upgrade, and glad to hear it has made a significant improvement for you.

 

[richard_crl032]

A quick update.
I updated to the new Firmware, which for me not being computer technical savvy was stressful, but I was relieved when music started playing.

First up the upper mids/highs were very prominent, but the Denafrips bass I know and loved was not. Without the bass balance these were too revealing.

After approx.100 hours, the music was opening up with more detail and airiness but the bass was still lagging well behind in deepness or authority.

Questioning my self if I had made the right choice and contiplating of swapping back, I emailed Vinshine to enquire if the bass would ever come back to where it was before.They said give it at least 150+ hours.

After 200 hours, the sound was opening up a lot more.Increasing details and the bass that was present was detailed but again without much authority.
It took approx, 300+ hours for the sound from top to bottom to cohere as one.
The overall sound improved vastly with a lot more detail, a clearer bass with all the authority of prior.
Instruments sound more realistic, the bass drum slam , snare taps, vocals more coherent.

All in all for me, I would sum this up as a huge improvement as if an upgrade to a higher model.
It's well beyond me how an update downloaded over the Internet can have the rollercoaster effect I experienced.
I would say Patience is the key here.

Hmmmh .. firmware/software update need burn in of already well burnt in hardware ? Cannot think of reason why except time erodes initial impression and ears+brain gotten use to the new aound ?

I need to read up what this new firmware is about amd not sure if I can find out such details ..

Cheers.

 

[NZS]

Hmmmh .. firmware/software update need burn in of already well burnt in hardware ? Cannot think of reason why except time erodes initial impression and ears+brain gotten use to the new aound ?

I need to read up what this new firmware is about amd not sure if I can find out such details ..

Cheers.

Hello Richard-crl032,

After searching the internet and not finding too much comprehensive material to fully answer my queries, the final stop was this forum post recommendations and the firmware upload is reversible that took me over the line.

It's well out of my audio realms as to how a firmware upload can have such an unmistakeable impact within the space of 15-30 mins of listening to a sound I was familiar with.
Not being a phyiscal material change and lack of electronics knowledge plays here.

Yes agree that Ears and brain can adjust to a sound over time, but a system change can make your ears prick up and pay attention to a sound or detail in well known tracks you haven't heard before. Applies equally to the opposite in something missing.

In this case the opposite happened at first when certain aspects like receded bass or missing details made this not a subtle effect.
Remember this happened all with in say a 1 hour time frame.

As time rolled on things improved very slowly and my lack of understanding why is when I emailed Vinshine for their advice;

Vinshine Reply;
"The FPGA firmware update essentially 'rewired' the logic gates in the FPGA chip. (Ref: link here). Please allow some time for the FPGA to burn in for optimum sound reproduction.

The FPGA firmware update project is an initiative of Vinshine Audio to improve the DAC sound quality (overall, all inputs) for our existing customers."

Going back to your original statement "Hmmmh .. firmware/software update need burn in of already well burnt in hardware?"
I had thought the same but can't answer why this is not the case as I don't know how it's possible.
What I hear through my room, system and ears is a big improvement over the original sound but it took time.
Maybe Ignorance is bliss?

 

[richard_crl032]

Hello Richard-crl032,

After searching the internet and not finding too much comprehensive material to fully answer my queries, the final stop was this forum post recommendations and the firmware upload is reversible that took me over the line.

It's well out of my audio realms as to how a firmware upload can have such an unmistakeable impact within the space of 15-30 mins of listening to a sound I was familiar with.
Not being a phyiscal material change and lack of electronics knowledge plays here.

Yes agree that Ears and brain can adjust to a sound over time, but a system change can make your ears prick up and pay attention to a sound or detail in well known tracks you haven't heard before. Applies equally to the opposite in something missing.

In this case the opposite happened at first when certain aspects like receded bass or missing details made this not a subtle effect.
Remember this happened all with in say a 1 hour time frame.

As time rolled on things improved very slowly and my lack of understanding why is when I emailed Vinshine for their advice;

Vinshine Reply;
"The FPGA firmware update essentially 'rewired' the logic gates in the FPGA chip. (Ref: link here). Please allow some time for the FPGA to burn in for optimum sound reproduction.

The FPGA firmware update project is an initiative of Vinshine Audio to improve the DAC sound quality (overall, all inputs) for our existing customers."

Going back to your original statement "Hmmmh .. firmware/software update need burn in of already well burnt in hardware?"
I had thought the same but can't answer why this is not the case as I don't know how it's possible.
What I hear through my room, system and ears is a big improvement over the original sound but it took time.
Maybe Ignorance is bliss?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and logical move on your part imho.

I decided not to proceed for my T+ after watching the very nicely informed utube by Alvin even though I am local in Singapore and no concern in bricking my unit for the following reasons:

1. I never had clicks, pops or similar abnormalities .. avatar cpd is synced to singular clock of T+ and all other sources are via Hermes also similarly synced.

2. I do not use video source and hence also never experienced lip sync issue.

3. Fix would have established for latest and greatest 12th anniversary T+ of different hardware components that may or may not be optimised for non 12th anniversary devices .. I cannot imagine Denafrips testing and auditioning on all devices especially for all non 12th anniversary ones.

4. Vineshine/Denafrips does not proactively or having this as mandatory upgrade .. the utube clip watched did not specifically mentioned on sound quality improvement being the motivation of this fpga firmware updated project but to fix reported field issues of 1. and 2. etc. but I may have somehow missed it.

5. Varied field feedback and positives primarily only after prolonged "burn in" for such software/firmware upgrade which is a red flag to me as already mentioned .. read on the risk on loss of body and excessive treble is too big a gamble for me with already satisfactory sound quality and no issue to be resolved as mentioned.

Last but not least, I had frankly gotten out out of those days of tedious sleepless days of fidgeting with my setup and reported revert to stock with needed resync with singular clock of T+ is not an attractive venture of me. I am not prepared to risk the complication of daisy chained sync in my setup to 2 devices of Avatar and Hermes which I am already glad to be working in the 1st place.

I had asked Alvin if this firmware fixes the long outstanding unresolved issue on promised dual BNC that I am frankly quite unhappy about and will only proceed only if it does.

Nevertheless, when I get bored and having nothing else to do in my 3 year old retirement days, I may just do so ..

Hope this clarifies.

Cheers.

 

[richard_crl032]

My Avatar cdp nicely and proactively updated with blue led and my Denafrip T+ de dac without latest firmware update are back .. Alvin and team are the best