PCIe USB 3.0 host card

[CoenP]

Then maybe it's one way traffic only in your situation (streaming requires talk back to the DAC in a somewhat more heavy fashion).

If you can't change sample rates either, zero bytes return (well, a hunch).

Peter

Good hunch. The driver panel discovers the nos, but it is not possible to change the settings (error messge appears).

Regards, Coen

[Scroobius]

I received my USB 3A  to 2B adaptor this morning and I have now installed the USB 3 cable (my wife loves it - the blue cable matches my blue NOS1 perfectly - she is very particular about that sort of thing - and if she is happy I am *allowed* to be happy).

After plugging in the new adapter and USB3 cable the NOS1 USB device was not recognised by the PC but after powering down NOS1 and then switching on NOS1 main power switch and then the DAC switch the USB was recognised and everything works fine.

Over the last few days of listening (cheapo USB2 cable) I have been really impressed by how good USB3 sounds - a very significant improvement in all the areas stated by others in other posts in this thread.

A quick listen to the USB3 cable indicates a further improvement but I will need to listen further to be sure. I will report back soon.

I just love cheap upgrades   nice one Nick aka "Chief Tweaker").

Paul

[CoenP]

Nick,

Thanks for the tip. Since it doesn't work i disabled the motherboard usb3 chip in the bios.

The usb3 cable makes no difference in making it work. It does sound however quite different from the regular NOS1 usb2 cable. It sounds like a different trade off, not shure yet if it is worthy of the label "improvement".

Regards, Coen

[CoenP]

Today I hopped into a PC store (they do still exist!) and got myself a nice oem western digital usb3 pcie card which has the NEC chip on board.

Installing was a breeze and amazingly music appeared when the nos1 was plugged into an usb3 port! After playing some music I saw in the mobo manual that the i5 (lga1155) has a native pcie bus (for the gpu) and replaced the usb3 card to the connected pcie16x slot to give this a shot.

This last move gave a different type of sound, but more importantly with now and then some cracks. In the driver panel the usb and fifo errorcounters stepped up in the same pace. Not surprisingly these cracks coincided with a sfs driver cycle in which the cpu is loaded at a peak.
Moving the card back to the chipset pcie bus, no more errors appeared. One wonders what effects a graphics card in this place might have on the interaction with the cpu, but that is another topic !

Anyway, I immediately liked the fresh and open presentation dispite a slight electronicness that accompanies a lot of new components. Let's give the mobo and card a little time to get used to eachother and observe again.

Thanks again for the encouragement,

Regards, Coen

[Scroobius]

After a couple of days listening to the USB3 cable I can confirm that it does seem to be an improvement on the USB2 cable connected to the USB3 port. The sound seems to have even more detail but is smoother & easier to listen to. It is not clear to me why the cable should make a difference when there are only 4 connections into the NOS1 USB2 port and considering just how well engineered the overall USB connection is. Maybe I am just kidding my self but I do not think so never before has my system presented so much detail so effortlessly - it really has the kind of sound where you can enjoy listening to just about anything and just want to stay up all night listening to it. Can it really get better than this? well we all know the answer to that is yes with 7 on the horizon.
P

[Nick]

After a couple of days listening to the USB3 cable I can confirm that it does seem to be an improvement on the USB2 cable connected to the USB3 port. The sound seems to have even more detail but is smoother & easier to listen to. It is not clear to me why the cable should make a difference when there are only 4 connections into the NOS1 USB2 port and considering just how well engineered the overall USB connection is. Maybe I am just kidding my self but I do not think so never before has my system presented so much detail so effortlessly - it really has the kind of sound where you can enjoy listening to just about anything and just want to stay up all night listening to it. Can it really get better than this? well we all know the answer to that is yes with 7 on the horizon.
P

Paul,

I think you have hit the USB3 port and USB3 cable sounds dead on. Very detailed but really easy and enjoyable to listen to, particularly with the USB 3 port.
There must be something in the USB 2 chipsets / USB 2 drivers / PCI bus or whatever that sure generates a sonic signature.

Just one thing left for me to work on with Peter to get things really tuned in my system.

A very pleased Nick 

[JohanZ]

After a couple of days listening to the USB3 cable I can confirm that it does seem to be an improvement on the USB2 cable connected to the USB3 port.

What kind of USB3 cabel did You use? Do You use an Adapter to connect to the NOS DAC USB? Can't find a Shop in the Netherlands for an adapter (USB3 A to USB2 B) ?

[Stanray]

You could use USB 3 A male to USB 3 A male cable and an USB 2 female A to male B adapter. . . . ?

www.allekabels.nl

Stanley

[CoenP]

What kind of USB3 cabel did You use? Do You use an Adapter to connect to the NOS DAC USB? Can't find a Shop in the Netherlands for an adapter (USB3 A to USB2 B) ?

I bought a USB3 'elongation cable' with a male USB-A on one end and female USB-A on the other. The female USB-A fits in any USB2 converter I had at home (ie standard A-B in most USB 'toolkits'). Most shops carry USB2 converters, for instance Mycom sells a generic converter with all micro and macro USB2 options (all male-to-male!).

regards, Coen

[Gerard]

After a couple of days listening to the USB3 cable I can confirm that it does seem to be an improvement on the USB2 cable connected to the USB3 port.

What kind of USB3 cabel did You use? Do You use an Adapter to connect to the NOS DAC USB? Can't find a Shop in the Netherlands for an adapter (USB3 A to USB2 B) ?

Hey Johan,

I bought this at www.allekabels.nl

Artikelnummer 926 | USB Verloopstekker

Artikelnummer 1084072 | USB 3.0 Kabel

Grtz 

[Stanray]

Yep, that's what I was planning. Please let us know if and how it works 

Stanley

[praphan]

Hello Tweakers,

In this thread, I think we have addressed at least three factors which affect sound quality/ sonic signature. They are:

1. USB cable : (USB3.0 + adapter) vs USB2
2. USB controllers : some uses on-board USB3.0 controller (such as NEC on ASUS X58), some uses USB3.0 PCIe card to compare with plain USB2 port on mobo. As for me, I use PCI USB2 host controller.
3. Bios control on USB function : disabling or enabling USB3 / USB2 hardware controllers by the Bios

I am one of those on the league that believes in different SQ coming from different quality of USB cable. I did the test and ended up using mid price Kimber Kable USB cord since day one after getting my NOS1 back from upgrade. Presentation is more vivid, detail and less edgy. I guess that stock USB3.0 blue cable may be built with better conductor and mechanical construction and hence giving better SQ like expensive USB2 cable.

With Kimber Kable, I did several testings with it connecting to

(a) USB2 mobo port
(b) USB3 mobo port (controlled by NEC chip)
(c) USB2 port on SOtM tx PCI USB2 host

I compared (a) and (c) many months back when I bought SOtM tx card and I stick with it since then.

The first impression with USB3.0 port on mobo was interesting. Fuller sound with more body and seems like less edgy high.  However, the more I listen the more I can feel some untidiness in the music I heard. I think someone ever mentioned about echo in this thread. But when I checked back, the text was removed. Not sure that echo is the right vocabulary. I would say the note is diffused. I can hear this kind of diffused note on piano instrument clearly especially on "I'm a Fool to Want You" track in Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio's Midnight Sugar. Yamamoto rolled his fingers a lot on the upper top three octaves of the piano (starting from tenor C key 52 up). These notes have crisper and tidier presentation from SOtM USB2 than my on-mobo USB3 port. Notes from USB3 have unrealistic sustaining sound as if Yamamoto applied the right pedal. I can even hear the diffused notes from part of his play which was supposed to be "staccato".

I still prefer USB2 out from SOtM. But I learnt one value added advise here ie. disable the onboard USB2 controller by BIOS (tried disable USB3 controller too but don't like it).

Just my view on my equipments.

Best regards,
Praphan

[Nick]

Hi,

Does anyone tried to connect the USB 3.0 port to the NOS1 with an USB 3.0 cable (with an adapter)?.

I wonder if you have the same problems as me to find the NOS1 with this kind of connection.

Best regards,
Juan

Juan hi,

I received a USB 3 extension type cable and adaptor this morning. All works ok from the PCIe USB 3 card. First impressions of sound are very posertive, all the detail and relaxed presentation of my home made cable but with more polished highs. A Very enjoyable sound. I am thinking of soldering a usb2 b type connector to the cable to iliminate the need for and adaptor.

I will post some links to the cable and adaptor I bought.

Cheers,

Nick.

Juan hi,

This is the USB 3 cable I bought,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-USB-3-0-Cable-Premium/dp/B006NYGIZ8/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1332184352&sr=8-9

And the adaptor.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aleratec-240172-Female-Male-Adapter/dp/B000Q6EC16/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1332184550&sr=1-8

Regards,

Nick.

[Gerard]

I think someone ever mentioned about echo in this thread. But when I checked back, the text was removed.

I did mention about echo but replaced it in stereo because i thougt it was not the correct word for it. Not sure about my change also. 

 

[juanpmar]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your links, your USB 3.0 cable looks great.
Today I´ve reinstalled the OS with the hope of fixing it up to use my USB 3.0 cable/adaptor. No way, I don´t know why but with this cable in either USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 ports it´s impossible to find the NOS1. And I don´t think it is a problem of my cable but who knows, could you install yours with no problem?.

Best regards,
Juan