Based on what Tommy has been discussing with me privately, my understanding is that he is referring to a VANOS noise.
Bare with me, this will be a longer post.
Tommy has software revision 7839-211 from BMW, which is one of the newest versions. The fact that he has v24 software from BMW is not a relevant factor. I believe this refers primarially to the iDrive operating system.
Just for reference:
My car has 7837-113
kenny has 7838-711
Darrick has 7838-113
r tuned (Ali) - 7839-211 (Same ECU version as you, should be getting DME back momentarially. He will report if he has this noise)
Tommy had expressed to me that the car was driving much better with the software: Instant gains on the v-box, smoother, much more low end torque, cleaner shifts, etc... But he said that he is hearing a noise from his VANOS unit or pump.
The software itself can not cause a vanos rattle. The vanos unit has mechanical limits internally, and the software does not change the maximum advancement and retardation position of the vanos, because this is mechanically limited. It is not possible for software to cause this issue. You also mentioned that the car does not throw any fault codes, which is a sign that the software is working properly.
It is however, possible that a preexisting condition has been brought to light. This could be due to a few reasons.
1) Repeatedly redlining/beating the car. (Don't get me wrong here, I beat my car and it runs perfectly. See #2)
2) Driving the car hard before it is 100% fully warmed up. ALWAYS let the car warm up all the way before driving hard.
3) Your DME was damaged in shipping to us. (It was not packed properly and I have attached pictures of the DME as received - broken plastic and bent pins). We are currently sourcing another DME for your car for you to test out as a good will gesture to show that the software is not related.
4) Check your oil level, it may be low.
We have many cars (including mine - I have the exact same tune as you) running this software without any issues whatsoever. I myself have been running this software for about half a year (10000 miles with it so far), and have never had one glitch. You are the first problem I have ever heard in my career with ESS to have an issue.
On top of that, M engines are notorious for having loud valvetrains and vanos problems. The E39 M5, and the E46 M3 both had these issues, which were substantiated by driving the car very hard at higher RPM's for sustained periods.
Regardless, we would like you to send your DME back to our facility, and we will reflash it back to stock and send it back to you (unless were able to source this second DME) to verify this is in the vanos unit and not in the software. Then you can take it to the dealer and have them fix the issue under warranty, and we will flash it back for you if you want.
Were here to help and serve you, and I can assure you that our software has been track and street tested for thousands of miles before its release. Again, this is the first issue I have ever heard with regard to the software (and we've sold this to more than 100 people), and it is related to your vanos system and not to the software itself.
So as of now, you have a few options:
1) Reflash back to stock, see if the noise is there, and take it to the dealer to have them fix your tempermental vanos unit under warranty.
2) Reflash back to stock and we will refund you.
3) We can also reflash it with a less agressive tune that does not change any VANOS settings.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me. We've been in business for over a decade, and are dedicated to high quality products and high quality service. Thanks for taking the time to read this everyone, and I'm sure once Tommy takes his car to the dealer they will fix his preexisting vanos issue.