XXHighEnd

Hi Peter,

Tonight, I planned to continue my listening sessions and enjoy the glorious sound (especially since the Lush^2). Yesterday, after listening I just left the Audio PC and Musicserver PC as they were (I didn’t shut them off).

When trying to continue with the album I left yesterday, I got the message that the audio device could not be found.

The USB Audio Control Panel indicates that the driver is not available. Turning OFF the NOS1 and a few minutes later ON again doesn’t help. Also the DC-offset displays show “-1mV”, instead of the usual values. And I recall that there should be a LED visible in the left leg of the NOS1 and now it isn't.

Furthermore I now recall that during the past 2 weeks or so, when turning ON the AudioPC, the speakers produced a soft, distant and distorted sound, and only when shutting the NOS1 OFF and ON again, the normal sound returned.

What to make of this? Broken NOS1? :cry:

Regards,
Stanley

Hi Stanley,


Maybe ...
Does the same happen when you use the U USB input ? (this skips the Phisolator)

For further analysis it's easiest if you take of the cover and observe the green led you refer to in the left hand leg (on that PCB which is the USB board) when you plug out/in the USB cable (better is off/on the NOS1 but it's a bit chicken-egg when you don't know whether the cable socket(s) may not be right). Start the NOS Driver Control Panel. You can see various options, like
a. stays all dark;
b. turns solid green without flashing;
c. starts flashing but stops after 1-2 seconds.
d. flashes as normal.

If you never see anything good happen (which would be d.) then it's good to verify with an other USB cable.

Regards,
Peter

Hi Peter,

This is what I found:

- Connecting the Lush^2 with the U USB input: no LED.
- Connecting another USB cable to the i USB input: no LED.
- Connecting another USB cable to the U USB input: solid green LED.

Does this make sense to you?

Regards,
Stanley

Stanley,

Sorry for a late response ...

No, does not make sense really. I assume you can not get music out of it either way, am I right ?

Did you try another USB port on the PC ?

Peter

I rebooted the Audio PC and did the following tests:

1. €1 USB cable in i: driver shows, but “playback stopped because the data did not arrive in time”.
2. €1 USB cable in U: driver shows, but “playback stopped because the data did not arrive in time”.

3. Old Lush USB cable in i: Driver shows, Sound OK.
4. Old Lush USB cable in U: Driver shows, Sound OK.

5. Lush^2 USB cable in i: No driver.
6. Lush^2 USB cable in U: Driver shows, Sound OK.

Other USB ports on the PC make no difference.

 :scratching:

Regards,
Stanley

Stanley - this is too strange;
Did you change anything else in the music room or even the house ?

and/or


What happend, you reckon, that this suddenly works ? (earlier on you told that that did not work as well)

Regards,
Peter

No, there were no changes in the house or the room.


I think it worked  after switching the NOS1 OFF and ON again (see below).

Today I repeated the tests with the (old) Lush and the Lush^2 connected to USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 PC ports. The USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports showed the same results:

1. Lush in i: driver shows, but “playback stopped because the data did not arrive in time”.
Then switched OFF and ON the NOS1 and music plays, but very distant.
Then switched OFF and ON the NOS1 again and music plays OK.
2. Lush in U: driver shows,“playback stopped because the data did not arrive in time”.
Then switched OFF and ON the NOS1 and music plays, but very distant.
Then switched OFF and ON the NOS1 again and music plays OK.

So with Lush all works, but not stable and rebooting the Audio PC gives the same "uncertain" results and asks for turning the NOS1 OFF and ON until it's stable and the music plays.

3. Lush^2 in i: no driver shows.
2. Lush^2 in U: driver shows, but again changing situations: “playback stopped because the data did not arrive in time”.
Then switched OFF and ON the NOS1 and music plays, but very distant.
Then switched OFF and ON the NOS1 again and music plays OK.

With Lush^2 i doesn't work at all and U only after turning NOS1 OFF and ON until it starts working.

 :scratching:

 :unsure:

Regards,
Stanley

This is the most suspicious of all because this is just software (setting). Not that it is intuitive, but it is. And I bet you that this is since people are telling (you) a different SFS than 140.19. For example, 70.19 gives exactly your problem, while 80.19 works. And someone (Robert) suggested the 70.19 ...


If possible this is even more suspicious because it tells (to me) that you did not check the DC Offset, which, mind you, is quite consistently at the "1/-1" position after switching off/on the G3 version of the NOS1a (or reboot the PC or replug the cable). So earlier on you told about this all right, but this time you omitted the checking for this ? And switch off/on a next time and it is fine (also quite consistently).

Nothing is broken (I think) but you broke in to a relatively long time of "it works at this setting" and now suddenly all is "unknown" at changing something.
I had the same this week, up to rebooting by Audio PC which did not help ...

:)

I can't guarantee it, but ...
Let me know how you fare.
Peter

Hi Stanley,

It has been my experience, if your SFS is high, like 60.19 (as per your signature), you need to bring down xQ otherwise you get the problem of data not arriving in time.

Maybe you could try this out.

Best regards,

Arvind

Thank you Arvind, I indeed eperienced the same.
Btw, I ended up with 80.19, leaving all else the same.

The cause indeed is the actually way large implied buffer by Q1 x xQ1. This is actually illegal. You will notice when you, for fun, switch on the Running Time. A message will tell you that the time can't be updated each second, already when Q1 is 30 and xQ1 is larger than 3. If you continue you will see that the Time is not properly updated at all (this is solved for the next version).
This stuff is aldo the cause of tracks ending abrubtly (per album).

In the very end these are all anomalies of the strange combination we apply lately (like last 6 months or so) and which strangely never was tried before in all these years. Slowly we start to "find out" the real anomalies under the hood. But working on them (or some) ...

Peter

 :blush1:   :blush2:

Thank you Peter and Arvind,

Now things are starting to become a lot more clear. I have been fiddling with the SFS settings (of course), but forgot about it because of other things happening around me at the same time. A mental overload followed by amnesia.

I went back from SFS=140.19 to my old settings SFS=20.19 and SFS=60.19, but, indeed, with the high xQ setting.

Changing to SFS=80.19 now shows normal behavior. With both Lushes  :veryhappy:, the green LED blinks and the DC-offset shows the target values after following the procedure.

Now the weekend can commence.

Thanks again.

Regards Stanley 

Stanley, believe me. For me it happens just the same. I recall with this very situation that I have up because there was 10 minutes of "play time" left anyway, and rebooting the PC as a kind of solution was of no further use. I left that to the next day. Then, with more calmth and less annoyance I could recall what I all did the previous day ... an I set all back. Only later I learned that 80.19 does work. I suppose all above that works too. 60 and lower I think all works. 70 coincidentally does not.
Believe me, you are not "special" regarding this. :)

Broken NOS1 count is still at zero. Haha.
(apart from two or three I think who blew the USB interface by means of doing something which should not have been done)

Enjoy the weekend !
Peter

Hi Peter,

My audioPC has been switched off for a few days and today I wanted to activate the system.

However, when switching on the AudioPC it doesn’t see the NOS1. This is with the Lush^2. My settings were not changed (see signature).

Plugging the Lush^2 in "U" (omitting Phisolator) also makes no connection. The green LED stays dark.
When I replace the Lush^2 with a cheap USB cable, all works fine (green LED blinks), both in "i" and "U".

I had difficulties with the Lush^2 before, but after changing settings it worked in the end (see above).

But this time the Lush^2 fails to make connection, while the settings were not changed.

It looks like it's related to the Lush or it's settings (A:B-W-Y-R, B:B-W-R).

Can you make something of this?

Regards,
Stanley

Update: Lush ^1 also works perfectly, so it seems it's the problem is in Lush^2.

I now also recall Lush^2 didm't want to connect from the start and only after many attempts it did.

Regards,
Stanley

Hi Stanley,

The normal procedure with NOS1a/G3 is :

- Boot PC (if that was necessary for some reason);
- NOS1a/G3 does not connect;
- Switch Off NOS1a/G3 and switch On - connects now;
- DC Offset is now wrong, so witch Off/On with Switch#2.

This is 100% standard. Leave out the switch Off of the NOS1a/G3 and nothing works.

And then still something can be with your Lush^2 ...

Peter

Hi Peter,

Yes, this is the procedure I followed many times and all cables I have will connect, but not my Lush^2.  :sad:

Stanley

Stanley, does it help if you connect all the wire at both sides ?
(I expect not)

And otherwise it is time to send it over. I suppose it can happen something is wrong, never mind we test them all (happened one time before).

Best regards,
Peter

No that did't help, BUT when I DISconnected all the wires at both ends, the connection was made.

And when I REconnected the wires, while leaving the cable attached at both sides, the connection remains.

However, for me this an awkward procedure to make the connection, because the B-connector at the NOS side is very hard to reach and see in my setup.

Regards,
Stanley

Stanley, then I am afraid you have an other kind of issue. Some groundloop thing somehow. Try whether Switch#3 on your NOS1a/G3 matters. But generally, wheter a different Protective Earthing helps.
We could also send you an other Lush^2 to see whether that helps, but ...

Regards,
Peter

Hi Peter,

Once the connection is established, I can reboot as many times as I like and the connection remains. Only after a longer period (say several days) it becomes harder to make the connection.

Something to do with grounding, potential differences, static electricity?

For now I'm fine, if the problem persists I can always try another Lush^2.

Thank you!

Regards,
Stanley

I am thinking of the build-up of capacitance. It could be similar to "us" needing to reboot the PC once in a while in order to sustain a good SQ. I don't know ...
Does your DC-Offset remain the same throughout the days ? you could check each day before a first play session.

Regards,
Peter

Gents,

Your issue is proberbly nothing to do with this but I mention it as was unexpected and therefore a difficult intermittent problem to find.

Some time ago I had periods were it was difficult to connect my PC to the NOS1, also periodically the connection would drop or I would get a high number of usb transmission errors whilst playing music, usually when bass notes were struck. Finally SQ was just not consistent session to session.

It drove me mad. I was doing some very complex stuff in my PC at the time with countless iterations and listening sessions. I just could understand the variability in SQ I was encountering.

Won't bother you with how the issue was isolated, but it turned out to be the short USB cable on my NOS1. Once it was pinpointed I put a meter on the short USB d+ and d- pins. The resistance was all over the place anything from 100 ohms to a few K ohms ! The culprit was the moulded connector at the small end of the cable. Move the cable near the connector and the resistance went anywhere.

The attached pic shows the cheap replacement cable I made up. The new cable stopped all sorts of SQ and connection vairiability problems including some PC to NOS1 USB cables being better at connecting than others.

Stanley

A as mentioned above your problem most proberbly not the same but it might be worth replacing your short cable with a spare just to rule this out.

Kind Regards,
Nick.

I will check the DC-offset in the coming period.

Thanks Peter!

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your reaction, and I will try your suggestion and try another short cable.

I'll keep you informed.

Regards,

Stanley