Peak Extend

[Scroobius]

I have been listening with Peak Extend (PE) switched off for some time now because without any doubt (to these ears anyway) it made the sound edgy and less comfortable to listen to. Peter said in the discussion thread at the time that it did not stack up with measurements where he could demonstrate that with PE *ON* transients were clean rather than truncated. In other words PE switched on should sound better but in reality it did not.

I do not know why I tried it maybe a hunch but tonight I tried PE *ON* (with USB3 connection) and to my surprise PE *ON* now sounds better. And significantly so. It sounds clearer more delineated but relaxing at the same time. I could not really believe what I was hearing and so I have been up and down trying the comparison on many types of music and I have to say that without any doubt PE on is now better. I suppose tomorrow I might try it and find out I was wrong but I do not think so.

This is a complete turn around from when I tried the same with USB2 connection.

Am I right? Maybe I have to do some more listening to be sure but I am pretty sure my first impressions are correct.

So what is going on?  Well I know that Peter's view is that technically there are good reasons to suppose that USB3 should be worse than USB2 (less stress on the PC with USB2?) but my ears tell me that USB3 is cleaner and sounds much better.

So could it be that with USB2 connection we were listening to less *pure* music and maybe it even contained some "nasties" that have been reduced or even removed with USB3. I am not sure but lets assume that is correct - in that case could it be that PE *ON* passes though more of the nasties and sounds worse but now with USB3 PE *ON* passes through a more pure sound and therefore sounds better.

It would be good to hear what others find out when they try it. Maybe I have one too many Chiraz tonight but then maybe not.

Cheers

Paul

[PeterSt]

A description and reasoning to my heart Paul ...

What I did not tell yet, is that fairly soon after I implemented that XXHE tweak (sorry to start about that again while you not haiving it yet ) - and which creates that so pure sound inherently (!), it did not work for thee better because I could hear some nasty things. And so I reasoned similar as you just did Paul, and thought to switch on Peak Extend. It just *has* to be for the better because I can see that without it something is wrong.
And it helped. Never switched if off anymore either.
After this USB3 came around, and I never compared without PE, but I don't think I should ...

Btw, I am reluctant now to solve that problem (there without PE) because it "does" something which for some might workout for the better. Well, it did to us, or does with USB2. And oh, no idea what happens to people without NOS1 - I don't think we had feedback about that.
??

So yes. If we allow ourselves to think that things get better again from USB3 (and/or my XXHE tweak for that matter), the wrongness of something else gets profound. This seems to be such a situation.

I say it more often - distortion creates freshness up to sheer enhancement. Why not, when so many things are wrong in the first place. I don't mean bugs in software or anything, but how digital translates to analogue, and our systems in general (too much noise in there, blahblah).
But when other things get better, the particular distortion doesn't work out. Then it deteriorates.

Ok, when I ever find this bug (which seems a compiler bug) or when I can work around it, I can always have a "distort" button in there and one can activate it, right ?


So to be clear, whatever I wrote about how I perceive the sound of USB3, this has always been with PE On.
Others may try it too and let know what they think.

Thanks for sharing Paul !
Peter

[Nick]

Paul, Peter,

I have just turned Peak Extend off for the first time in months and for sure the first time since using a USB 3 port. I managed to listen for half a track....ouch !

Peak extend off was so congested and seemed to have that randomness of digital distortion in the mid and top end. The interesting thing is that when the subject came up before I  could only just hear the difference, now I just could not listen to it the sound is so much less enjoyable.

I really subscribe to your point Peter about distortion in one part of the chain interacting with the distortion from another (sometines for the what sounds like the "better" overall)eg,

Play with USB 2 and peak extend on or off sound similar.
Remove the effect of USB 2 and suddenly peak extend off sounds almost unlistenable by comparison.

Paul I can really understand why you made this comment about leaving peak extend on.

Nick

Ps i have to own up to listening to Party Rock by LMFOA a lot this week end. I was going post about the track in "today's playlist" to bring to tone down a notch or two  . It's just that with USB 3 it's so much fun the whole family just can't stand still when it's playing now

[pedal]

I never tried my NOS1 with anything else than USB2, and I have used PE on a fixed basis for several months. All I can say is that the SQ is 100% pure and resolved. I am extremely happy with the sound.

 In fact I havnt done much "fiddling" with XX for the last 3-4 months, simply because it is soo damned good.

I know, a testimony like this isnt much worth, since it is not based on an AB-comparison. But I do know that I have some of the most revealing tweeters on earth. -A true linesource ribbon 220cm long, working from 800Hz up to 40kHz. Its wired with solid silver and driven by SOTA SS amplifiers and electronic crossovers. I can play veeeery loud without any fatigue. -If there where any nasties, I would have noticed.

To put this in perspective, the last 6 months I have done some serious comparisons between several balanced interconnects, and all of them failed in the treble, except two: Nordost Valhalla and a solic core silver/cotton DIY construction.

I'm gonna eat my lodspeakers front grill if you find anything wrong with the Peak Extension as it is now!

[Scroobius]

With PE *on* and USB3 my system sounds soooo silky smooth at the top end and mid now - it has a real top end feel about the presentation of all that NOS1 detail. And to think that potentially it is going to get even better with Peter's mod - now there's a thought!!!

Paul