I find it crazy just how good these old recordings sound with NOS1. And now with USB3 even better not in any subtle way but in a very obvious "my wife can hear it" kind of way - Right now I am listening to old mono recordings of Billie Holiday - Original Masters and the sound quality is silly - as in silly good - no dynamic range old mono and it just sounds great I mean really great - it really should not but it does. There is depth and space and ambience - Billie's voice just sounds so real - what I really mean is that her voice sounds like a personal performance just for me. She is in my room singing for me. All the emotion and inflection in the voice is there - just for me. How this is possible? I just do not know but oh boy is it great listening.

So rather than putting up with poor sound quality to listen to one of the all time greats - I actually look forward to listening to the performance.

Crazy as I said before but in the best possible way.

Regards

Paul

Hi All - eventually got round to this but in my BIOS setup I can disable NEC USB3 and/or USB 2 controller. So I have disabled the USB2 controller leaving the NEC USB3 controller running. I am now listening to music with USB2 disabled. No problems and I have not experienced any cracking at all at any time.

It does seem to me that the sound quality is even better with USB2 disabled but further listening is needed to be sure.

USB3 is on the mobo which is ASUS P6X58D-E as stated earlier in the thread

[UPDATE: OK I can say certainly there is a very significant improvement in sound quality with USB2 turned off - no question about it]

Peter mentioned earlier that dynamics sounded reduced with USB3 well that is not my experience. When I first connected to USB3 the improvement was a smoother fuller more analogue even softer sound and I can see how that might appear to sound less dynamic. But that is not my experience - my system has a very dynamic detailed sound and I would say that particularly with USB2 disabled the sound is very dynamic - no complaints at all and sounding by some margin the best it has ever done.

All the best

Paul

Motherboard is ASUS P6X58D-E

P

For what it is worth I have not experienced any cracking at all. When I first connected via USB3 NOS1 was not recognised so I had to power down and then power up NOS1 to get USB3 recognised.

My USB3 is on the main board.

Still sounds good 

P

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

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

Hi Nick,

What is different about your DIY USB2 cable compared with a standard USB2 cable presumably they are both A male to B male.

Cheers

Paul

Is it? Well yes as Peter rightly avoids using the word "oversampling" because of its interpolation connotations. But of course NOS1 does increase the input data stream to one with a much higher sample rate and for exactly the same reasons that oversampling was intended to do. Unless of course any of us listen at 44.1 which I certainly don't.


Certainly agree with that but I would add "if at all". And then I would ask why are my very best sounding recordings 16/44?

Update  -  after an evening listening to USB3 it is clearly better. More relaxed analogue presentation there seems to be more detail but presented in such a relaxed way that I really do not want to go to bed. My wife can clearly hear the improvement - that means it really must exist  -  why did I not think to try it  -  durgh.

Big Thanks to Nick

Hi Calibrator - a very good read thanks for posting. It certainly supports what I hear with my system - some of the very best recordings I have were recorded in the 50/60's and are recorded at 16/44.

Although I have some exceptional modern recordings they tend to be produced by specialist recording engineers and are mostly 16/44. I have some superb 24/96 recordings also but not (I think) because they are 24/96 more because the recording engineer was superb.

Paul

this is what I actually ordered from amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aleratec-240172-Female-Male-Adapter/dp/B000Q6EC16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331582727&sr=8-1

Hi Praphan - yes indeed I am using a cheap USB2 cable. I suspect that Nick is close to the reason why it sounds better when he mentions the improved internal USB3 architecture but who knows?.

But what really interested me is this comment in the email quoted in Peter's post earlier in this thread:


On first thoughts I cannot imagine why the USB3 cable connected through an adapter should sound so much better but I am looking forward to finding out in the next few days if indeed it does in my system.

What a great hobby this is!!! tweakers paradise.

Paul

I am just now listening to a very familiar recording and there is no doubt about it - USB3 sounds better. Count and Dizzie have never sounded better.

Thanks Nick another free upgrade and the next upgrade (potentially) the AB adapter for £1 (delivered free) to use with my USB3 cable. It may or may not make a difference but hey that is the sort of risk I am willing to take.

 

Paul

I guess you are going to tell me that I have ordered the wrong thing but this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Adaptor-USB-A-Male-USB-B-Female-/150772230271?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item231ab9a87f#ht_500wt_1156

is what I ordered and converts USB A to USB B (old style) of course the super speed connectors will not be connected to anything but this is what I read to be what the NOS1 user in Peter's email had done.  I am not sure why (without the superspeed connectors connected) there should be any improvement but it is cheap enough to try it out.

Besides the USB3 cable is blue and matches the colour of my NOS1 ha ha 

Paul

Hi Nick - I had to go for A to A USB3 cable. The USB3 B plug includes new super speed connectors and is not compatible with the old B socket.  So I will try an adaptor with it as the email in Peter's post suggests

All the best

Paul