MPD-8 User Manual
14
UPGRADING THE FIRMWARE IN YOUR MPD-8
Playback Designs is constantly innovating new algorithms and methods for audio processing and from time to
time may release new firmware for the MPD-8 that may further enhance the sonic performance or add new
features. New releases will be distributed as audio wave files. They can be played into the MPD-8 via its USB
input just like any other audio file. The MPD-8 processor will automatically detect this file and update the
firmware. No audio will be audible as the processor will automatically set the volume to 0.
The MPD-8 contains 2 processors and hence there may be 2 separate files available, one for each processor.
It is possible to display the version of the currently installed software (see Setup Menu).
Upgrade Procedure:
1. Power on MPD-8.
2. Connect your computer with the included USB cable to the USB AUDIO input on the rear panel.
3. Load the wave file with the update firmware into your player software on your computer. As
iTunes on Mac computers is not a bit perfect player you cannot use iTunes for this procedure, but
we have confirmed that Audirvana works perfectly on Mac computers. On the Windows platform
we have verified Foobar and Roon, but JRiver won't play this file.
4. Play the file.
5. The front panel will indicate WRITING FLASH. It is important that at this point you no longer touch
the system, nor your PC, nor the remote, don't change the input, don't turn the power off. Go
have a glass of Playback Designs wine, because it will take about 2 minutes for this to finish.
6. Once playback has finished the front panel will return to either normal display or it will say
WRITING FAILURE. A failure can happen when you didn't follow the instructions in the previous
steps or your PC had a dropout during playback. If this failure happens, don't panic, but follow the
next steps precisely:
a. DO NOT POWER OFF the MPD-8.
b. Disconnect your computer from the MPD-8.
c. Push the RESET button on the back panel.
d. Re-connect the USB cable.
e. play a normal audio file to make sure everything is still working normally.
f. Stop playback and go to step 3.
7. If playback of the update file has finished and the front panel does not display any error message,
but indicates normal operation then stop playback and disconnect the USB cable.
8. power off the MPD-8.
9. power on the MPD-8 and check the software version in the setup menu to confirm everything
worked okay.
