NOS USB Initial Impressions

[Scroobius]

Today my little blue "H" box arrived back after a short break with Peter in Holland. NOS1 is dead - long live NOS1 USB Asynchronous!!. My email to Peter says it all:

"WOW what an improvement, MAN I knew it was going to sound good but this really is superb. What can I say that Nick and Mani have not said? Relative to anything I have heard before this is the most relaxed BUT crystal clear & precise sound ever. With old recordings, red book anything it just sounds excellent. So where did the difference between Red Book and HiRes go?. Surely the holy grail of hi-fi everything sounds good. But then also there is the bass - or much more important the timing (most systems really don't do timing). Well I could go on but there is no point I have music to go and listen to. So now I think you really have got to the pinnacle - but whenever I say that you go and improve it again. XX was good when I first started using it but now - well what can I say? a different hi-fi planet - crazy good.

I cannot thank you enough for this - simply superb"

P

[PeterSt]

So nice to hear Paul. Wrong, Great to hear !

Regards,
Peter

[juanpmar]

Well, now is my turn. I only have a few hours with the new NOS1 USB but the first impression is that it makes the best sound I never ever heard in any of my systems. Clear, with a lot of detail, nothing agressive, if fact smooth but not in the way tubes make the sound smooth (sorry, tube lovers ;-)), this is a realistic sound, with presence, like if the music was recorded with a fantastic system. A very, very good sound, indeed!.
I know that I should wait to have much more hours on it, I don´t even know if the dac is already broken in, but I´m so excited that I need to share this feeling. Besides, the first impression is also very important because it allows you to compare it with the previous sound before your ear get used to the new sound.
Thank you Peter and congratulations to you and to all the people, me included  who are lucky enough to have one of this wonder.

Now a few technical issues:

The DC offset Peter sent me was -08.2mV/-06.3mV. I can get -08.8mV/-10.7mV. I´ve tried several times and always I get the same. I guess that´s correct.

I tried a shorter (1,5m.) USB cable (Peters´s is 2m.) with golden connectors and the sound seems a little darker, if it´s true or placebo I don´t know, Peter´s cable is just perfect, I can´t imagine better sound with another cable and I don´t feel eager to test it either.

I tried a few different settings, just with SFS at 350 and the Buffer size in the Control panel to 2ms but so far I like more the recommended 8ms in the Control panel and 15ms in XXHighEnd settings.

Now I´m going to try to stay for as much as I can with these settings and enjoying music. DON´T TOUCH ANYTHING JUAN !!

Hey, tomorrow I go to the Canary Islands for a week of winter sun, it's sad that it's too late to break the tickets and keep me locked in my dark cave listening to music.

Greetings!

Juan

[Flecko]

Your raving reviews sound really great. It makes me want to join the club as soon as possible

..., I can´t imagine better sound with another cable and I don´t feel eager to test it either.

If there is no itch to improve, it is a good sign.

Have fun with your Music Machines!

[BertD]

Your raving reviews sound really great. It makes me want to join the club as soon as possible

You should... ;-)

I exchanged my NOS1 for the NOS1 USB 2 weeks ago...

Bert

[juanpmar]

It makes me want to join the club as soon as possible

Hi Flecko, I'm sure you will not regret. For a moderate price, taking into account the crazy prices of high end electronics, you will have a world-class component.

Juan

[PeterSt]

Hi Juan, great to hear !

That different offset compared to what we measured here will be no problem. This is why the control is in there anyway - because it can work out differently everywhere. Usually when you theoretically should be able to find values more close to what we measured here, it will be off by 50-70mV. This, the 4mV difference is nothing to worry about.
Btw, we take the values after 5 minutes being "warm". And, the warmer, the more change towards the final value (you will see that after switching it on when back from your vacation - ehh, if you switch it off anyway).

I don´t even know if the dac is already broken in,

Of course the DAC itself is, but the USB section is not. This will imply changes for the better too (can really take a few weeks).

I tried a few different settings, just with SFS at 350 and the Buffer size in the Control panel to 2ms but so far I like more the recommended 8ms in the Control panel and 15ms in XXHighEnd settings

I am not sure yet, but I tend to like 2ms and an SFS of 220. At least I am listening to that combination for 2 weeks or so now, and at going back to SFS=430 just two days ago I was placeboed and didn't like that. So I set it back to 220. ClockRes is and remains 15 (max).

Well, enjoy it !
Peter

[juanpmar]

I am not sure yet, but I tend to like 2ms and an SFS of 220. At least I am listening to that combination for 2 weeks or so now, and at going back to SFS=430 just two days ago I was placeboed and didn't like that. So I set it back to 220. ClockRes is and remains 15 (max).

Well, enjoy it !
Peter

Thanks Peter,

Well, I´ll keep for a while enjoying the first recommended settings, maybe later...or maybe boleary gets a NOS1 USB and comes with one of his fantastic settings.

By the way, about switching on/off the dac, I really don´t know what to do at the end of a day/listening session because I´m afraid to those big bumps in the speakers when the PC is turned off. I don´t like to turn off the amps, nor the NOS1, they´re always on, but maybe I could turn off the PC if I could avoid the bumps.

Also, when could be necessary to restart the PC?. If I change settings like SFS or the buffer size in the control panel, do I need to restart?. Again how to avoid the big noise?, anyway is it so BIG?, I mean could it damage the speakers?.

Juan

[PeterSt]

I leave the PC on always ...

For other reasons (measuring) I take out the USB cable and interlinks and stuff, so *I* am used to switching off the amps, pull the interlinks, and switch the amps on again (so they stay hot). That may work for you too (sw off amps, sw off PC, sw on amps).

Peter

[BertD]

By the way, about switching on/off the dac, I really don´t know what to do at the end of a day/listening session because I´m afraid to those big bumps in the speakers when the PC is turned off. I don´t like to turn off the amps, nor the NOS1, they´re always on, but maybe I could turn off the PC if I could avoid the bumps.

Hello Juan,

I occasionally heard a sharp pulse (like a capacitor quickly discharging sound) when the upgrade was still fresh but the last weeks I have not heard it at all....

Depending on the total gain of your system this pulse is very strong or nothing to worry about.

If you do not use a pre-amplifier (volume regulated through XX) and your normal playback volume is higher than say -30dB then I think there should not be any problem (unless your main amp is unstable or DC-coupled).

Perhaps you have an old set of speakers/drivers laying around having the same sensitivity which you can give a try to see what happens?

Better be sure and happy (knowing what to do) than insecure all the time...

Bert

[juanpmar]

Hello Juan,

I occasionally heard a sharp pulse (like a capacitor quickly discharging sound) when the upgrade was still fresh but the last weeks I have not heard it at all....

Depending on the total gain of your system this pulse is very strong or nothing to worry about.

If you do not use a pre-amplifier (volume regulated through XX) and your normal playback volume is higher than say -30dB then I think there should not be any problem (unless your main amp is unstable or DC-coupled).

Better be sure and happy (knowing what to do) than insecure all the time...

Bert

Hi Bert, thanks for the information.

The gain in my Spectron monoblocks is 26db (20v/v). My normal playback volume is around -27db.

With the previous NOS1 I heard high bumps when I turned off the dac section but not high enough to damage the speakers. It would be a good thing if the risk decreases or disappears in a few weeks, sadly I don´t have old speakers around to test it.
This week that I´m going to be out of town I´ll leave the dac on with a burning track playing continuously but with the amps off, just in case.

Juan

[PeterSt]

And when you come back, all the music sounds like that track !

I don't think this is necessary. Your DAC has been burned-in lone gone. It is sufficient to bring up the Control Panel, which initiates streaming over USB (without sound). You can minimize it to the taskbar (crossing it away will stop streaming).

Still, somehow, I would not do this. I mean, I go to sleep with all on, may leave for the day or weekend with all on, but when I'm out for a week, I shut all off. Maybe this is because of some technical insight I have, and all those bits like 6,144,000 per second with in parallel a clock which should not deviate one single bit for whatever reason I can't think of ... if something goes out of order there could be static for a week. Not that your windows will break (amps are off), but this may be too much for breaking in. Oh, it should be the best in the mean time (nice transients from +2V to -2V within one sample all the time), but no.
It is not that I don't trust myself (and obviously nobody heard anything going wrong during playback), but still.

2c
Peter

[juanpmar]

Ok, thanks Peter. I'm now in the airport but someone is going to turn everything off in a couple of hours.

Best regards
Juan