Nice "Review" of NOS1

[boleary]

Below is a write up of the NOS1 on the ComputerAudiofile forum by a guy who heard it at my house on Sunday. Not bad for an "entry level system:"

 Well, I finally had chance to hear a Phasure NOS1 DAC with XXHighEnd and a DIY built PC on Sunday.

First, A BIG THANK YOU TO BRIAN (boleary)!! What a fantastic host he and his wife are.

I made the trek to PA which took about two hours. Two of my Audiophile Peeps, Neal and Gary, took the trek with me, we are all part of The New Jersey Audiophile Society (Gangsters). Inside joke with Brian.

I brought along my exaSound, Mac Mini, and some tunes. I also brought along a Meitner MA1 DAC. Plus some accessories (more on that later.

Well Brian and his wife had plenty of food and drink upon our arrival. Also Brian's friend Rick (another audiophile addict) and his wife joined us.

Brian is building his system and the Phasure is the anchor (DAM GOOD ANCHOR). His speakers, though not expensive, are the HIGHLY regarded Golden Ear Triton ll (very nice sounding) and his amp is by BD-Design and is a gainclone by design and 30 watts per channel. His room, dedicated, has home made treatments and some vibration control for the DAC, Amp and PC. The speakers are spiked. The PC is a DIY that Brian built and is water cooled. Brian says he is not a PC whiz at all.

Brian played some tunes of his for us at first, a mix of 16/44 and hirez PCM. Neal, Gary and myself shared the sweet spot during all the demos. The three of us listened intently, ready to be totally disappointed for having to make such a long trek for naught.

AS the music played the first thing the three of all commented on was how DEEPLY we could hear INTO the music. At that point we asked Brian to play some tunes we each new very well. Some he had and the others we brought with us.

Again, we could hear deep into the music. But there was more. The sound of the instruments, Cymbal, Bass, Horn, etc, all had a lifelike, not just sound, but PRESENTS that you do not hear like this and to this extant. And this is on lowly RED BOOK and an entry level system!! I had to hear it to believe it. But all was not right. There was something not quite right. Could it be the Cabling? The Room? Did the room treatments need to be moved, added? The Amp? The three of us were POSITIVE it was not the Phasure. Well it was time for dinner so we set up the Meitner MA1 DAC. While we ate, the Meitner had music played through it on a loop for about an hour. As we left the room to go eat all three of us felt the Meitner MA1 would show up the Phasure in some form or another.

After dinner we played back the last song we heard on the Phasure through the Meitner. And then we played back some of the other tunes we heard through the Phasure back through the Meitner.

Well shut my mouth!! The Phasure showed up the Meitner MA1. The Meitner sounded too polite, the ability to see into the sound of the music was gone. All of what we heard and liked with the Phasure, GONE. And it was not by a small margin. All five us gave the win to the Phasure and not one of us thought it was close.

Do not misunderstand, the MA1 sounded fine. But now fine was not nearly good enough.

Unfortunately it was getting late at this point. As much as some of us wanted to also hear my exaSound I knew that after the MA1 poor showing it was not the way to go. So I asked Brian to put his Phasure back in. I wanted to see if we could pinpoint were the trouble in the sound was coming from when we were listening to the Phasure.

With the Phasure back in we all had our smiles back and our heads a bobbin to the music. I had an idea (hey, what can I say, it happens every once in a while). I just happened to have a bunch of my Stillpoints Ultra Mini's with me. So I asked Brian if we could put them under his Amp and DAC. As Brian proceeded to put the Stillpoints under the DAC and Amp, I asked him if he uses anything under has PC. He said he did. So I asked him if he could put some Stillpoints under his PC also. Gary thought I was crazy to put them under the PC. Most of us did not expect much, if any improvement.

Before I had Brian do that though, we all listened to one song again that we all heard that day. That would be our test song.


So now Brian put the Stillpoints under the Phasure, Amp and PC. Brian plays the song.

WTF!! Holy S**t!! NOW THAT IS F**K**G GREAT!! That SOUND, no make that MUSIC, because that is what music sounds like when you are right there. That SOUND OF MUSIC just BLEW us away.

This on an entry level system, no offense Brian. I can only imagine what the Phasure can do in a higher end system.

So now Brian and Gary hate my guts because the both want to get some Stillpoints.

By the way we put Brian's vibration footers back in and all the improvement was gone. Then we did the Stillpoints on just the DAC and then added the Amp. Each time made an improvement, and each was not subtle, but still not as much as when they were also under the PC. Once they were back under all three it all came back.

I must say I really did not expect to hear what I heard. I mean I expected to hear a great sounding DAC. I have heard MANY VERY EXPENSIVE DAC's in VERY expensive systems. Some considered the best in the world. No I have not heard all of the best, but most. But the Phasure may be in a class of its own.

One finale thought (what? more!!). A lot has been made of the interface/GUI. While it is not as easy and elegant as most SS, it is a hell of a lot easier then dealing with all the things you need to do with vinyl. And with the sound of music this great, it is worth the small inconvenience.


2013 Mac Mini i7 2.3GHz Quad-core-16GB RAM-128GB SSD-Boot Camped with W8 and Mountain Lion-J River MC-Pure Music-Audirvana Plus-Seagate HD>Thunderbolt>Mac Mini>USB 3>exaSound e20 MK III .082 clock>Merrill Audio Veritas Ncore NC1200 Mono Amps>B&W 802D>Cabling=High Fidelity CT1E interconnect with Cardas Clear balanced adapters - High Fidelity CT1E with custom CT1E Jumpers for bi-wire-Triode Wire Labs 10 Plus PC for Amps and Mac Mini>The Mac,HD,e20 are all on Synergistic Research Tranquility Base all supported by Stillpoints Ultra Mini-The B&W and Veritas are supported by Stillpoints Ultra SS.

[AlainGr]

Hi Brian,

That is fantastic It was refreshing to read, especially after some posts that were... Well, tinted with a touch of negativity (on CA)...

Anyway, I am happy that someone could discover what we have been discovering for a few years now (and are continuing to discover)

Regards,

Alain

[dsm]

Hi Brian,

That review started me to think about the possible improvements of someday adding the NOS1 to my system. I listen to music while I work in my art studio and can't afford most of the high end equipment I read about here. Right now I have a Marantz PM 8004 and use a Marantz NA7004 as a DAC.  A coaxial cable from a Xonar Essence ST soundcard feeds the NA7004. The speakers I have are B&W 603s.

My question, I guess to  anyone with a NOS1, is would it offer a great improvement to this system? or should I save the money to upgrade other components first?

Thanks,

David

[Nick]

David hi,

I know your question was to Brian but I though I would chip in.

I think many people have found that using a NOS1 makes it possible to get a really great sound from quite modest speakers and amplifiers. It seems to take things back to the system hierarchie of the 80s and 90s when it seemed every hifi shop would tell you to spend most of your budget on the best source you could (turntables back then). The NOS1 really works in this way. I have had really surprising and enjoyable sound driving a 5.1 computor audio system for instance with my NOS1 :-). I think there are a number of stories from NOS1 owners who have been very surprised by how good sound is from "modest" amps and speakers (usually this happens when "main" systems for some reason are not working)

I think provided your amp and speakers are reasonable (and the reviews I looked at seem to say they are) then putting a NOS1 on the front end is likey to give really good results. Long term, once it's in your system you can upgrade your amp and speakers (if you want) and you can be sure that the NOS1 front end will live with what ever you put in.

A couple of points to consider are that you can bypass your amps volume control (if you have a tape loop input on your amp) which can be good for sound. You may also want to take a look at your PC build just to check that it will drive the NOS1 effectively.

My vote would be go for it, I very much doubt you would be disappointed with the results.

Regards,

Nick.
 

[dsm]

Thanks Nick,

I was hoping anyone with experience with the NOS1 would chime in.  I have been incredibly impressed by the sound I get using XXHighend that I (unfortunately)   also started to consider the next steps to get better sound.  The NOS1 costs about the same amount as what I have spent on everything so far,  excluding  my computer,  but the concenses seems to be that it is worth the investment.

Thanks again,

David

[boleary]

Hey David, ditto to what Nick said, and thanks Nick, cause you said it far better than I could! 

[PeterSt]

Hi David,

I shouldn't interfere and I just know that several others can respond to explicitly your situation. But not everybody reads the forum each day, and very many don't do that at all.

And so one example came to my mind which very well resembles your situation and it is written out here : NOS1 DAC exceeds expectations.

Although the story is half about our own experience and how to get out a first batch of 20 before Christmas for everybody (later we learned that almost all got stuck in the snow somewhere), try to focus on the words "speakers" in there.
So, at some stage in our audio world we want to proceed and think about new speakers and all. Same for Eric and Michaela there; without new speakers nothing would progress.

Obtaining new speakers never happened because it appeared not necessary. Maybe today they have new ones (Eric ?) but at least back then it indeed appeared to be all about the source.

There are quite some more stories like this one, but this one I'll never forget (and tears got in my eyes at just rereading it).

Regards,
Peter

[manisandher]

NOS1 DAC exceeds expectations.

Hey Peter, it was nice to read this again. Everyone should have a mission in life that they pursue with full integrity and authenticity, and give it everything they have. Seems you and Ciska found yours - recreating the most beautiful music in the home. Yeah, not a bad one as far as missions go.

Mani.

[dsm]

Thanks Peter,

When I was first able to upgrade some of the components in my studio and started looking for a music player,  I went to Jriver  and believed that "bitperfect"  was the best sound you could get from your computer.  After about a month of using that program,  I found out about XXHighend and gave that a try.  Once I got  it up and running I could not believe how much better it sounded.  I would switch back and forth between the two programs to see if my ears were really hearing things correctly.

That experience of hearing the superiority of your work has led me to almost religiously follow this forum and now consider saving for the NOS1.  I  know I would not be so absorbed in this had I not heard first hand the difference your obsession with obtaining the best possible sound has made. 

Regards,

David

[Eric]

Yeah Peter,
We will never forget that winter!
Instead of buying new speakers, we sold our ML32 preamp, bought Bert's Gainclones and moved house
What I mean is: sometimes improvents can come from a totally unexpected direction. We can't wait to listen to your new speakers when they are ready.

Cheers
Eric (and love from Michaela)

[pedal]

High end audio components are often bought by heart. That’s why there is a market for ultra-expensive equipment, because love does blind and people fork out $$$ for products they desire in spite of astronomical prices not necessarily reflecting the performance.

You will certainly fall in love with the music making of NOS1, too, but the purchase decision is made easier when you know about its low pricing.

The NOS1 DAC is a bargain because you buy it “factory direct”. -Directly from the inventor and maker, without any dealer in between. Also, there is no mark up for fancy marketing or branding.
Actually there is not much mark up at all, since it is a labor of love by Peter and his wife Ciska. Even if you paid €20.000 or some ridicules amount for a fancy brand DAC, you would not get the same high music quality.

Also to be considered is the “timeless” nature of the technology inside NOS1. The weak link of traditionally DACs is the interface and the filter technology. Most DACs these days are made to work both with CD-drives and various kinds of computers. So, the manufacturers have to pick universal interfaces with a lot of compromises involved, sound quality wise. Also they apply conventional low pass filters as a kind of “one size fits all” solution.

With NOS1 you are free from such troubles because the interface is proprietary and light years ahead of the generic standards. And there are no filter issues because the NOS1 has no filters at all.

The NOS1 is like a pure engine with the “brain” placed inside the dedicated XX software.
So, the NOS1 is kind of future proof, because the technology updates mainly takes place within the software, not the hardware.

That’s why IMHO the NOS1 DAC is among the best “investments” in high end audio today. And the proof is in the second hand market, where you find all the famous stuff and yesterday’s models on offer for half price or less. But try searching for a 2nd hand NOS1 DAC and you will find none!