I purchased a RAM-OS HDD from Peter when he first started offering it, and used it for a while in the home-made audio PC in my main system. When I purchased a Stealth Mach II it came with an SSD, and I started using the original HDD in the home-made audio PC in my office system. Irrespective of whether it's an HDD or SSD, I can't imagine there could be any difference in SQ once either is booted into RAM-OS and the HDD/SSD removed from the audio PC.

Does anyone use base-OS (with the HDD/SSD necessarily remaining in the audio PC) vs. RAM-OS (with the HDD/SSD removed from the audio PC)?

Mani.

Hi Juan,

No, I went straight from 2.07 to 2.09. I used the paste-over-patch and it worked perfectly first time... on both my audio PCs using RAM-OS. (Of course I booted into base-OS first, but remained in MinOS for the pasting. I tested that everything was working correctly before booting back into RAM-OS.)

Mani.

Just upgraded to 2.09...

And I love the way it sounds! To my ears 2.09 sounds like a natural extension of the Lush cable. It's almost as if Peter has taken what he learned from developing the Lush cable and somehow incorporated it into 2.09 (though I doubt this is really possible).

The overall sound seems mellower and fuller. There used to be an ever-so-slight edge to the mid-range on my system (especially at higher volumes), but that has totally gone now. I can listen at pretty much any volume and the sound remains perfectly balanced throughout. Nothing screams anymore, and yet all the details remain in buckets. The bass seems fuller and deeper, and the highs more 'shiny'.

All this really complements the AP filter too.

Excellent upgrade Peter. Thanks.

Mani.

Haha, probably not a good test for Peter, having grown up with the sound of violins, but for the rest of you...

Blind test of 6 violins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlJ_DXneJ98

I picked the Stradivarius as second best to my ears. My favourite was a modern violin that retails for around half a million. But the difference between the 6 was obvious, even through YouTube and mediocre headphones on my laptop.

So much for 'expectation bias', that some people always come up whenever you mention that you can hear a difference between things. (Not so much here of course, but certainly on other sites.)

Mani.

Really disappointed not to see the 'fridge magnet pair of clogs' for sale

Mani.

I've had a couple of PMs recently asking me to just go through the steps in getting the Roon -> HQPlayer -> NOS1 path working correctly. Most of the important steps have already been spelled out in Peter's earlier posts in this thread, but I thought I'd put it all together.

1. Make sure you are in Normal OS!

2. Install Phasure driver (I use 1.04).

3. Go into Windows Sound Properties and make sure 'Disable all enhancements' is ticked [Peter discovered that this is the key to getting this all to work].

4. In HQPlayer Settings, select Phasure NOS1 Out 4.0 as Device

5. Make sure '2wire' is ticked [the NOS1 is probably the only DAC that can actually use this in PCM!]

6. Peter found that the correct sample rate needs to be selected in the Phasure Control Panel. (The rate shown in the Control Panel will be 1/2 the rate that will actually be sent to the NOS1 - don't worry about this, that's what the '2wire' is all about.) Ordinarily, XXHighEnd will do all this automatically, but HQPlayer doesn't seem to be able to do this. So we need to do it manually. What I recommend is simply selecting 384kHz first, and then selecting 352.8kHz back again - to force the Control Panel to the rate we want.

7. Probably best to test that everything is working locally at this point. But ultimately, you want to use Roon remotely. To do this, firstly ensure the 'network' icon is selected on the HQP Desktop.

8. In Roon, add HQPlayer. Simply put in the IP address where HQP sits.

9. Test that everything is working correctly!

10. Everything will work in MinOS mode and RAM-OS, but make sure you have 'Stop WASAPI' disengaged in XXHighEnd before going into MinOS.

11. Sit back and enjoy the second best sound you can achieve from a NOS1 

Fire away with questions if you have any.

Mani.

Don't worry about whether your DAC needs a 5V connection or not. Just get a regular Lush (there is only one version anyway) and compare it to any other USB cable you care to try. I'm confident you'll be very happy with its sound in comparison to that of the others.


Well, there is a 'Phisolator' integrated into the NOS1 G3 DAC, so I suppose technically the answer is "yes". From what others have reported with other gadgets, I think it's a matter of just trying and seeing. But I'd go for a straight Lush connection to begin with.

Mani.

Hey Norman, good to see you here. Which DAC will you be using the Lush with?

Mani.

I've just received my second Lush, for my office system. All I can say is that it has transformed the sound in here too - now totally natural and analogue-sounding.

It's crazy that a USB cable is capable of this

Mani.

Well said!

Mani.

For some reason, that seems to lock up (the Windows blue 'thinking circle' just goes around indefinitely).

But, putting it in the Artist field works!

Thanks.

Mani.

OK, how about this one with Rubinstein?

Mani.

HELP!!!

I'm trying to find versions of Beethoven's piano concerto No. 3 on Tidal. Clicking on XX's Srch Tidal button, in the Artist field, I'm inputting 'Beethoven' and in the 'Album Name / General' field, I'm inputting 'Piano Concerto No.3 in C Minor, Op. 37'. But what comes back are loads of No. 5 piano concertos!

Roon identifies the correct piano concertos no problem.

Please help!

Mani.

Yep, I think we all share this sentiment.

Mani.

I know not many of you post on the CA forum, but here's a thread I've started there about the Lush, just in case you're interested:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/34683-usb-audio-cracked-finally/

Mani.