Clairixa USB

[PeterSt]

Hey All,

After a long journey, more constisting of being in doubt than actively doing something, I present to you : Clairixa USB.


What a daft name that now is. But you know, I wanted to let the name represent her audio properties : clarity. And it is a she, representing the opposite of being rough as in rough-digital.

Of course this is not what I planned for the sound (how could it). Instead I searched and searched and searched - and found nothing. And as a last resort made one with the best specs myself. No audio hoopla, but 90 Ohm and 480Mbit/s capable (USB High Speed).


The sound ?

There we go again; another round of listening to all those "test tracks".
Watch out : I am reporting this only after 4 hours or so of listening. So as usual, my judgement can change in the upcoming days.

At the first sounds of it, I knew it : what a firm rock-steady controlled sound. Ok, what I mean is that you can sense that the external influence is not there, and now the electrical behavior is on its own, so to speak. So not a rock-steady sound but sound which is producing itself without being influenced by frequencies. Hard to further explain, but quite similar to how the Blaxius Interlink "controls" things.
Not that one album or track sounds OK but another does not because coincidentally it plays in the "wrong" frequencies. All stable. All as "good". No, can't explain it really, but maybe people can get some sense from my description anyway.

Apart from being quite sure that another leap of improvement happens in the low frequencies, Clairixa excels in the highs and in a fashion that as a very first comes to me as "clear" but not really that. First I observed way more detail, and at listening some more I was sure that a more raw mid-detail was now nicely rounded. So say that quite square music can happen in the mid, then this masks the "snappyness" of the highs. Meanwhile a "sharp" mid can sound quite nasty, as in too much of digital. Say the difference between an analogue synthesizer and a digital one, might that tell you something; the anlogue synth is just not "able" to create that sharp (square) wave which therefore produces the so nicely full bodied sound. A digital synth implies much more problems with that (can make sound as square as it likes), but we can emphasize that by means of having the mid "too fast" or something. Anyway, it is not really about the mid being now less "sharp" but about that being lowered somewhat so the highs get better profound. And those too, all are less "sharp" and that expressing in a far better colour (of say cymbals).

What I also noticed of the cymbals is that they sound better metal. This in itself is hard to describe and the only thing I can really do is again refer to the Silverstone USB card which was (is) good at that. "Create holes" where holes are to be, which in my view is nothing more or less than a better on its own expressing frequency; less smear.

In all of the 4 hours there was exactly nothing that I did not like. What sure occurred to me was that a. I played louder and b. it was not disturbing anywhere, plus c. we had quite long conversations (think 5-10 minutes) in the midst of that level I played for, which otherwise for sure had me turned down the level in order to concentrate on the other person's sayings. That all was not necessary and it occurs almost explicitly (me knowing what the dBFS was set to, which was 4.5 dB louder than the many weeks prior to this).

In the very end, after these 4 hours only, it occurs to me that I actually have difficulties with describing how it sounds, and all I could do was decribing it relatively to how it was before. This, while otherwise I could say something like a more stiff bass, better size of cymbals, beautiful voice and that kind of thing. Nothing of this now, which looks quite similar to me as a so neutral NOS1(a) and that you are not able to describe its sound.
And this is now back to the beginning of this long post : you can feel that the music is not influencing itself. It exhibits in more air between the instruments and how a voice is more that voice instead of a mixture with an instrument. A stable sound which I describe as rock-steady.

Cost ?

At this moment I can't tell whether "I did it again", but it looks like it. Now suppose I myself still think all is fine after 4 more days, so my standard required 5 days is behind me - then this is in order :

At this moment I tried with 1m80 (5.5ft) to resemble the standard USB cable for the NOS1(a) we all use. Do notice : nothing should be related to the NOS1(a) here, except possibly the USB-B connection. So we generally talk about an A-B cable, but it just as well can be about A-A for those who want that.
If I claim that the 1m80 works for the better over the stock cable, then this tells nothing about shorter or longer lengths, although officially this should not matter (regarding the specs). Still no guarantee anywhere.

With the above in mind, any length can be obtained but when above 7 meters (21ft) we need to try whether it works, were it about the NOS1a. I mean, from the normal NOS1 it is known that it works with 7 meters, but comprised of a normal USB cable plus extension cable. So logically without extension it may go well beyond the 7 meters.

There is nothing shiny as such with the Clairixa and especially not gold plated connectors. This is because no gold plated as such is present in PCs nor the NOS1(a) (other DACs I can't tell) and having two different materials to connect (nickle + gold) is not a good thing in my view.

After calculating everything for overhead (not my own) such as shipping costs to us, and anticipating 20 sales at least - including a little profit the commercial price will be 200 euros for 1 meter (~3 ft). For any additional meter 30 euros have to be added and let's say that we can order per the 10cm.

Because this price includes everything like a (small) box and the packing and administration (including shipping administration), we can roughly say that shipping by UPS (2 days max for most of the world) will cost no more than 35-45 euros.

I don't expect you to queue up for this, but I have to emphasize that I spread the overhead costs over 20 cables. So with less orders of them, the sales price has to rise, obviously. When more than 20 are ordered in due time, this does *not* mean that the price will drop, just because of the overhead of shipping costs of the parts (think ~100 euros per shipment). Of course, when right away I can register 50 orders then things look different, but now I feel that the extra profit because of that could be deserved.

Lastly, maybe you noticed that at this moment we can produce 10 (because we have stock for that), so first come, first serve.
Still no real obligations yet, because I will always wait until my 5 days have passed.

Phew ... that's it.
For some fun you might want to read the below as well, but never mind really.
Peter



Background of development

Start laughing in advance ...

Maybe this was a once in a life time experience and it is only that I was not obsessed with this for "hurry up !", and that because I estimated the chance for it to work out zero anyway, but ... envision :

So I found a company of which I estimated that they could make the cable assembly for me on spec. What spec ? well, the 90 Ohm thing at its best, whatever might come from it. No audio talk because the company in question produces quite different things and then ... I had to laugh myself;
So was on the phone, sent some confirmation emails, waited a week and there came the response. Technical rawings in details of everything, and whether I would like to check and confirm. Of course at first I didn't understand half of the numbers and arrows and "talk" the company is used to, and all I saw was the precise dimensions of cable and connectors and tags and more tags and ... of course nothing really what it was about. Still I had to confirm everything and had the idea if I missed something the connectors wouldn't even fit in their quite common sockets. On the other hand that couldn't be, so I guess I confirmed things in the hope that all would be OK anyway.

Of course I didn't speed up things by changing a few properties, so the drawing had to go back to the drawing board actually only to remove some tags (think labels) because in my view that would influence the impedance.
Yeah, envision me behind the screen and an OMG what am I doing.

Notice that I have been working at e.g. like Dutch Oil Company (NAM - Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij) where my main activity has been the development of a system that is all about specs, and how "contractors" used that system to make clear their quotations about the most senstive stuff like blow out valves and safety and what not, and that things really have to work well or otherwise a disaster like that in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 will be due.
Such a company I dealt with and I actually knew ...

What I did was not only ordering for a cable assembly, but also for 20 meters of the cable and 10 pairs of connectors. Why ? well, I envisioned that if the assembly worked out to satisfaction I'd have some spare material to practice making it ourselves, and the reference would be that one assembly. So our own produce had to be the same at least (audibly).
When things were under way I already thought that I had made a mistake because I should have ordered two assemblies so one could be cut to see how it had been done. But alas, I didn't.

OK, sit tight;

4 or 5 weeks after the first contacts, the box arrived. Nothing special except for a maybe more extensive packing note than I am used to.
As how I am, I leave such box be until the moment of truth, which would be the day's listening session. So, box being on the table for 4 hours or so, and only at the end of the working day unwrap it and give the assembly a go.
So I did.
Excitement didn't last long. No USB connection could be made, no matter what I tried. ?

I started to be afraid that I nicely put out some specs, but forgot those related to the bandwidth. And actually nothing much was put out about that, because I wouldn't even know how to do that. I mean, don't come up with a "480 Mbit/s" for such thing. I just reckoned that the other specs would imply that automatically (like gauge and the 90 Ohm). Hmm ... sh*t.

My next hope was that maybe we ourselves could improve on the connections (in the connectors) and since we had those spare parts, let's see tomorrow. Meanwhile though I got the smart idea (ahum) of just testing it with a USB disk. Ok ...

I have no real clue about what's all in the house for such disks and known working connections, so I just asked "can you try this cable with something of which you know that it works and how it works (responds and such)" ?
That could be done. A laptop was switched on, the cable put in such disk and when the other end went into the laptop and I just had entered the password, all went black.
My conclusion was almost formed and said "hey, saw that ?". Answer : "can't be related because I didn't switch on the disk yet". Yeah,
So I deciced to pull the cable, let the laptop reboot and apply the same sequence. Same thing happened.
Then let in the cable and boot the laptop ... it wouldn't.

This made me happy, because instead of a not sufficient bandwidth now something had to be wrong.
Earlier on I already checked whether all pins could find a connection on the other end, and this was so. But I didn't sort out which had to connect to which. So we did that now.
And all was connected wrongly. 1 to 4, 2 to 3.

And I must laugh again, looking at those drawings in retrospection (in my mind only). Maybe in there it was drawn that 1 connects to 4 etc., but I didn't even look back and also recall nothing about *that*. What a stupid thing.
And another blow out valve didn't open ...

We didn't cut open the assembly, and just made a new one to our best ideas. Worked right out of our own box.

[juanpmar]

I want one, your standard length, 1,80m, is fine for me.

Juan

Hey! I´m sure you won´t forget Mani!

[Arjan]

Hi Peter,

One for me!

Regards, Arjan

[manisandher]

No way forget me... I'm here!

Peter, I'd like two please:

1. 3.5m (for my NOS1a B75)
2. 0.5m (for my NOS1a standard)

OK?

Mani.

[Tore]

Peter,

I want a 3 meter cabel

Tore

[KnB]

3 meter for me   

[AlainGr]

Hi Peter,

I did not count if you already are at 10 orders, but I would like one at the usual length please ?

Alain

[tillen]

And one for me 1m is ok.

Arnt

[toddn]

Hi Peter,

I'd love a 1 meter one also.

It's been nice having the dollar closer to the Euro, to bad this wasn't some full fledged "Peter's Brain" inspired piece of electronics

Todd

[Gerard]

1 meter for me please ;-)

[Arjan]

For me 80 cm please.

Regards, Arjan

[JohanZ]

Hi Peter,

1,4 m for me please.

Regards Johan

[Mamba315]

Hey Peter, I'll take a standard 1.8M length.

Matt

[Dantana]

Hello Peter,

  Please put me in for a 1.5m.

Best regards.

Daniel

[PeterSt]

Hi All,

So we are at 14 now, including one from email. Btw, if possible please subscribe in this topic; Of course I maintain a nice list but at stages it can be convenient for yourself to check whether you are in a "group" or not. So right now the first 10 end with toddn but you can't see that because of the one from email which came in in between Alain and Arnt.

Keep in mind, I am at day 2 anyway so 3 days more of waiting at least. At least, because something could go wrong with my listening capabilities (could be a bad mood or something).
Will post hereafter from day 2.

Peter

[PeterSt]

So about yesterday's findings ...

Yesterday I played far more random "normal stuff";
Looking in yesterday's playlist I see that I started out with Hotel California. Just curious because it never had been the best SQ wise, while it seems to have much potential. And is a great song of course.
Well, in my perception it was all over better. The first I noticed was the now refined cymbal (right speaker) and otherwise I thought it had improved a lot. Then I was told that it was a bit sharp, which indeed would be the case when you're in direct line of one of the horns. This is not what I told, but what I was told ... "oh, here (at the sweat spot) it indeed is quite good !". Ok.
Oh, I actually was finished with this post (below) and now I suddenly recall why I said "all over better" which actually is nothing for me to express, but it was this :
Maybe some are used to it from this track, but did you know this is all over *slamming* the toms (and flor tom) of the dum kit ? I did not. Dang-dang-dang all over with two sticks at the same time, if you ask me. Suddenly this really makes the track and I never noticed it before.

Then the real thing happened for me in Yeat of The Cat. Now *what* a what I call mid bass (instrument) is playing there ! Never heard it before, with the notice that I played this only 2 weeks ago (because all from Al Steward can be way lean in digital, and it is something to regularly check). Can't explain really about that guitar, but what a difference there now is suddenly between the guitars ...

From there I explicitly played Yours is No Disgrace (Yes). This is because a same guitar, but lower keyed, is playing there. Ok, this did not get more profound. But to my surprise something else happened : what a find sounding track (and album - The Yes Album) this now suddenly is. And then to think that this one is really in my Nice Stuff to regularly check it for improvement, mainly on the cymbals. Same thing : seams to have a lot potential. Well, for that reason it can now go out of the Nice Stuff, because it is there. Of course I will leave it in for it being Nice Stuff really in the first place.

I tried The Beat Hotel again (Allan Taylor) because it was that one which seemed nice at first, but actually completely flawed on the YFS for me. Well, all the strange sounds were there while it sounded beautiful to me at the same time. And the voice, once that jumps in, shivering, so forward and profound (and honestly sounding).

Because of the nice guitar in there (explicitly and urging for more "guitar") I played a few tracks of Ahmad Jamal - Digital Works. Well what to say. Can sound very processed and therefore interesting, but can also sound plain beautiful and not processed at all, like it did now. And now interesting because so beautiful.

A strange one : Animals (Pink Floyd). I played Sheep only, and this album is on my list for improvement (against all odds) for it's too dull sound. Something like not enough highs, but different like Machine Head). What I now noticed was not dullness at all but roughness (end explicitly not dull). I said "strange one" because it tells something which is similar to what I noticed before (first post) : those "holes" in the sound "required". So here seems to happen something like that too, but now at the way lower frequency; things get more separated and more square because of that, instead of a flat mush. Eh, dull.
But it sounds ugly because of that, and I guess this album will never make it really. N.b.: This is about the original, and the Remaster of this is better but I didn't try that.

Of course I played more, but the general consensus of the evening is again that without exception all was better, sometimes not by a small margin. But far more important : there hasn't been a single track that disturbed anywhere. On this matter a last one which won't tell you much : Shulman;

This is again "ambient" stuff, and a most difficult one to play throughout without thinking anywhere "oops" and "hmm" and "maybe not". One of the tracks I ever used to show how a Weiss completely chokes on it, where the end of it ends up in plain distortion which turns out to be just some frequency combination, and which distortion isn't even noticable because synths. I don't play this often, say once per 6 months, because really too difficult to enjoy it. But I felt now I should try it again.
Didn't even recognize it much. All so fluent and all so "meant to be" that I now start to wonder how super badly rendered much more will be without us realizing. Because that is the point : you will only know once you hear the better version.
How to explain it ...

Again I noticed the easyness of all what I played and how it allows for being background music, no matter the level is 90dBSPL or so. Really. So what is interesting about this is that when you are busy with something you are not distracted by the (loud) music, and when you want to listen explicitly all is there (I say after two days). To us this should tell that nothing is going on for strange "math" in our brains, hence nothing jumps out for the wrong and nothing must be corrected to we can adapt to it (and which would be tiring I'd say).

And so again I must conclude with the "rock-steadyness" I seem to perceive from it all. No false influence from anywhere.

3 days to go.
Peter

[esimms86]

OK, so here I am once again late to the party, as my friend Alain and others have found their way ahead of me into the top ten for what I shall refer to as Peter's Valentine's Day surprise. My bad, of course, for yesterday spending less time with my laptop and more time with my wife(!).

So, yes Peter, put me down for a 1 meter run of Clairixa usb in production run #2.

Esau

[AlainGr]

Hi Esau I normally am late at the party, so I was surprised to see there was a small place for me this time

Maybe we should have a "subscription list" for those who are interested ? I would certainly adhere to it

Peter ?

Alain
PS: Maybe we should start another thread...

[esimms86]

You know Alain, sometimes you just get lucky! With all due respect, I think that this thread is sufficient and that people should send Peter a private message if they want to place an order. We all know that we can trust Peter in keeping our place in the queue.

Esau

[PeterSt]

Hi Esau I normally am late at the party, so I was surprised to see there was a small place for me this time

Maybe we should have a "subscription list" for those who are interested ? I would certainly adhere to it

Peter ?

Alain
PS: Maybe we should start another thread...

Hey Alain,

I understand Esau's response (I think) but I do not understand yours here. Maybe it is not important either ? ...

Peter

[AlainGr]

While I do attend here on a regular basis (generally at least 2-3 times a day), I was suggesting that there could be a "mailing" for the announcements.

So I would receive an email as soon as a new XXHE version emerges, a new upgrade of some kind, anything that sounds like something of importance.

Not that it is necessary, but since we are under different time of day, we would receive something through our email.

And this would justify my need to wake up at night

Alain

[AlainGr]

You know Alain, sometimes you just get lucky! With all due respect, I think that this thread is sufficient and that people should send Peter a private message if they want to place an order. We all know that we can trust Peter in keeping our place in the queue.

Esau

Hi Esau. Yes of course, I have full trust in Peter. It is not about this...

I do understand that it is not a good idea, as it would put more work on Peter's shoulders, so I guess you are right.

Alain

[PeterSt]

OK, I understand now Alain.
But as you know I already receive far too many emails which could go in the forum just the same. And in the forum at least I can keep track of things (they are grouped automatically). So I don't want to encourage for more emails ...

But hey, there are not *that* many of these announcements ! Although ... I already know the next one.

Regards and thanks,
Peter

[manisandher]

But hey, there are not *that* many of these announcements ! Although ... I already know the next one.

It had better not be about an ATX linear power supply because I just ordered one, which should be here sometime next week.

So, if not an ATX PSU, maybe... hmm... a new PCIe USB card perhaps??? Anyway, something USB-interface related.

Anyone else want to hazard a guess?

Mani.

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter - count me in length 30cm usb a to b

Cheers

[acg]

So about yesterday's findings ...

Yesterday I played far more random "normal stuff";
Looking in yesterday's playlist I see that I started out with Hotel California. Just curious because it never had been the best SQ wise, while it seems to have much potential. And is a great song of course.
Well, in my perception it was all over better. The first I noticed was the now refined cymbal (right speaker) and otherwise I thought it had improved a lot. Then I was told that it was a bit sharp, which indeed would be the case when you're in direct line of one of the horns. This is not what I told, but what I was told ... "oh, here (at the sweat spot) it indeed is quite good !". Ok.
Oh, I actually was finished with this post (below) and now I suddenly recall why I said "all over better" which actually is nothing for me to express, but it was this :
Maybe some are used to it from this track, but did you know this is all over *slamming* the toms (and flor tom) of the dum kit ? I did not. Dang-dang-dang all over with two sticks at the same time, if you ask me. Suddenly this really makes the track and I never noticed it before.

Then the real thing happened for me in Yeat of The Cat. Now *what* a what I call mid bass (instrument) is playing there ! Never heard it before, with the notice that I played this only 2 weeks ago (because all from Al Steward can be way lean in digital, and it is something to regularly check). Can't explain really about that guitar, but what a difference there now is suddenly between the guitars ...

From there I explicitly played Yours is No Disgrace (Yes). This is because a same guitar, but lower keyed, is playing there. Ok, this did not get more profound. But to my surprise something else happened : what a find sounding track (and album - The Yes Album) this now suddenly is. And then to think that this one is really in my Nice Stuff to regularly check it for improvement, mainly on the cymbals. Same thing : seams to have a lot potential. Well, for that reason it can now go out of the Nice Stuff, because it is there. Of course I will leave it in for it being Nice Stuff really in the first place.

I tried The Beat Hotel again (Allan Taylor) because it was that one which seemed nice at first, but actually completely flawed on the YFS for me. Well, all the strange sounds were there while it sounded beautiful to me at the same time. And the voice, once that jumps in, shivering, so forward and profound (and honestly sounding).

Because of the nice guitar in there (explicitly and urging for more "guitar") I played a few tracks of Ahmad Jamal - Digital Works. Well what to say. Can sound very processed and therefore interesting, but can also sound plain beautiful and not processed at all, like it did now. And now interesting because so beautiful.

A strange one : Animals (Pink Floyd). I played Sheep only, and this album is on my list for improvement (against all odds) for it's too dull sound. Something like not enough highs, but different like Machine Head). What I now noticed was not dullness at all but roughness (end explicitly not dull). I said "strange one" because it tells something which is similar to what I noticed before (first post) : those "holes" in the sound "required". So here seems to happen something like that too, but now at the way lower frequency; things get more separated and more square because of that, instead of a flat mush. Eh, dull.
But it sounds ugly because of that, and I guess this album will never make it really. N.b.: This is about the original, and the Remaster of this is better but I didn't try that.

Of course I played more, but the general consensus of the evening is again that without exception all was better, sometimes not by a small margin. But far more important : there hasn't been a single track that disturbed anywhere. On this matter a last one which won't tell you much : Shulman;

This is again "ambient" stuff, and a most difficult one to play throughout without thinking anywhere "oops" and "hmm" and "maybe not". One of the tracks I ever used to show how a Weiss completely chokes on it, where the end of it ends up in plain distortion which turns out to be just some frequency combination, and which distortion isn't even noticable because synths. I don't play this often, say once per 6 months, because really too difficult to enjoy it. But I felt now I should try it again.
Didn't even recognize it much. All so fluent and all so "meant to be" that I now start to wonder how super badly rendered much more will be without us realizing. Because that is the point : you will only know once you hear the better version.
How to explain it ...

Again I noticed the easyness of all what I played and how it allows for being background music, no matter the level is 90dBSPL or so. Really. So what is interesting about this is that when you are busy with something you are not distracted by the (loud) music, and when you want to listen explicitly all is there (I say after two days). To us this should tell that nothing is going on for strange "math" in our brains, hence nothing jumps out for the wrong and nothing must be corrected to we can adapt to it (and which would be tiring I'd say).

And so again I must conclude with the "rock-steadyness" I seem to perceive from it all. No false influence from anywhere.

3 days to go.
Peter

Hi Peter,

Just wondering if you had realized the irony in the fact that you are now well on your way to becoming a "ridiculously expensive USB cable vendor".

No $1 cables any more!!

Cheers,

Anthony

PS: All in good fun - I see this as a very interesting development in the whole Phasure system mantra.

[PeterSt]

Just wondering if you had realized the irony in the fact that you are now well on your way to becoming a "ridiculously expensive USB cable vendor".

No $1 cables any more!!

Hi Anthony - Yes and it is a sad thing. I have seriously been thinking "now me too ?". But the point is that it seems necessary, so to speak. And honestly, when I think back of when I was 20-25 of age, I loaned interlinks of 200-250 euros and was always happy that they didn't work out (for me) and I could bring them back.

Since that age I have always been telling myself "cables later !" and I have been holding up that for now 30 years or so. And seriously ... I have been (so) proud that a 1$ USB cable worked out for the better for most, including for myself.

Maybe it shouldn't have happened that some perceivedly for the better were (virtually) spread, and that I myself tried a couple of them which were so much fo the worse. So this gave me the idea that might I try to make something for myself it just as well could turn out for the better. But of course this is since the "a" version of the NOS1 and I don't think such differences would have been there for the normal NOS1.

As it turns out, I may have been quite ignorant to never dive into these cable matters, that is, if I now look back and see that this can just be approached from dumn technical properties; extend what you're doing in DAC design to the outside of that.

Part of my changed thinking has been encouraged for with the "total system" concept, and how I in that other part of my life have always been saying that it would be rubbish to have all from the same brand (like DAC, preamp, power amp). Ok, maybe that is still so, but when you are (finally) making that a consistent whole, all now under (groundloop) control, things are really different. But how to think of that say 10 years ago, when nothing at hand for a base. So it is a (slow) process that today ends up in an "including cabling".

Still tough of course, because like with the Blaxius there is no real guarantee for those using different amps than the few owning that whole system, but that seems to have worked out as well. So apparently if someone pays attention to such things as cables, and now NOT from any audiophile ($$$$) view, things are quite easy ?

For the USB cable it still does not look easy to me at all because of the unknown influence. The 90 Ohm spec as such ? I don't even believe in that much (aha !). However, one can try to overspec so much that the impedance becomes relatively unimportant. Think like normal cable losses and how a longer length can be covered for by a thicker cable conductor. Thicker shielding. Better topology (differential). Make it so that you can't go wrong for the lengths as we use them. Take into account that at the computer side things may deal with it in a way that is out of our control anyway, but actually quite the same at the interface side of our D/A converters. Or put in the DAC (or amp) design perspective of : that for example a very carefully 50 ohm differential PCB design could be extended to "all the way through".
But who is doing that ?

Today I am, or at least I try. It is crazy as well, because normally required for ultra high speed designs only. And then thinking digital while half of what "we" do is analogue. This, while knowing that digital is to be only within the "threshold" specs of edge triggering, while looking at that "in analogue" *everything* will change the signal when approached like "digital only". So yes, analogue appears to be more difficult than digital. This is how Blaxius came forward but from there you can again think digital once you're at that anyway. And I tried that with Clairixa.
And so far so good; 2 more days to go.

Peter

[PeterSt]

OK, a small report of day 3 :

For the Sunday evening we often dive into old hits and such. This time I had the idea to only try a few so I could move on with furher different types of music so things could be sped up because 5 days should be 5 days.
But I didn't manage. What I did manage was 4 hours in a row of 60's and 70's stuff being totally amazed of how super detailed and so on par things sounded. Think of tambourines and how their individual bells can be heard; maybe 5 years ago I started expressing of those and how they can differentiate. But yesterday I learned that this doesn't require new reqordings, but actually the old. And how tambourines were used everywehere. Feels like a Woodstock kind of hippy thing. Easy to play as well.
And how all sounds so super open and completely full with hall (that in the end known from the end of the 60's I'd say).
Here some of the better known "hits" of the time I played :

Fire (Crazy world of Arthur Brown). Man, those horns.

Wild Thing (The Troggs). Rough stuff and won't be the best at any time. But how the low distorted sound expresses (what is that ? synthesizers didn't exist I think).

With a little help of my Friends (Joe Cocker). Those lady voices, soo beautiful.

I'm a believer (The Monkees). Shows those guitars again.

You really got me (The kinks). Same thing.

Out of Time (Chris Farlow). Just a modern thing now.

Listen to The Music (Doobie Brothers). Not too special except for sounding so well.
Jesus is just Alright (Doobie brothers). Very very beautiful and completely nothing wrong with it SQ wise.

If I had words (Yvonne Keeley). We talked about that to my recollection this came out in January and as how this sounds today it should have been a Christmas hit (say so intens and like how Stop the Cavalry of Jona Lewie became a Christmas hit, only because it came out just before Christmas).

Don't let me be misunderstood (Santa Esmeralda). Seems impossible to hear it in this quality.

Beautiful Sunday (Daniel Boone). Same thing.

American Woman (the Guess Who). But this already sounded strangely good before. One of the prominent early rock songs.

Sympathie (Steven Rowland & Family Dogg). Must use the same instrument as above mentioned Wild Thing. But this sounds all over modern and good.

Ruby is The One (Earth & Fire). Again, just from today. I wish I had more from Earth & Fire with lead singer Jerney Kaagman with Weekend as a great hit back in the days).

Give up your Guns (The Buoys). Was a hit when I was dismantling motor cycle engines (tune them) at 12. Here too : the quality just does not fit with my perception from back then.

Hit The Road Jack (Stampeders). Want a guitar ? it has always been prominent, but nothing from today that I know is going to superseed it.

Venus (Shocking Blue). The only Dutch hit that landed on #1 in what I call today the US Billboard Sh*t 100 (not even The Golden Earring made it to that). Man, just re-release it and nobody would notice that it is from 1969.

The Most Beautiful Girl (Charlie Rich). Again, can't be from so long ago.

Davy's on the Road again (Manfred Mann). The other day I discovered that all from Manfred Mann('s Earth Band) sounds so good.

So now you know my "hits" and a few more to fill up the 4 hours. Never wanted to stop because nothing indicated that I should stop because of poor sound or the urge for better.

Then the bell rang and dinner was about to be ready (oh, this is easily 10:30 pm over here) and I quickly wanted to hear one of the albums with "test signals". My famous ambient sh*t. After two minutes into a first track I quickly hopped to the next one because that first did not satisfy me. But same thing with the next one. Remember, my "all so square" and "showing everything" ehm ... "music".
What a dull sh*t. Blanketed.

I guess tonight I will be over that, but in comparison it did not sound good at all. The old stuff was just too good ?
And this now never happened or occurred to me before. I mean, not on the global level of 4 hours of such open sounding music, with btw the notion of way more "stereo" than I ever heard it. Room filling.

One other thing I noticed too :
The balance between the low end and the mid-top end was all the way to the mid-top. So normally woofer output and mid-high output are about the same, and when I say that 90dBSPL is my share then this is from both woofers and mid-high quite equally (depending on the track of course and when you measure). Yesterday, with no real difference in perception between songs (hey, I call that songs and not tracks) I saw the meter hardly moving for the low end with the midpoint of the meter at 90dBSPL (which would mean something like 80-82dBSPL for the woofer output), while the mid-high excursed to 96dBSPL for higher pitched women voices.
This is quite ridiculous. So envision that high output from mid-high (let's stick to 90dBSPL on average) while the low end is 10dB lower. This should be pretty painful, normally. But it was not at all plus there was no way that I perceived such unbalance all the time. How can it be.
That the means of recording from back at the time was just so is an acceptable explanation, but how this will not turn out in a way too loud and shrill etc. perception, ... is strange. And by all means, it was far from lean; the contrary.

Sorry for the long post, but I guess that happens when I'm enthusiastic. Still steady as a rock ... (not my typos and I didn't check)
Peter

[juanpmar]

But hey, there are not *that* many of these announcements ! Although ... I already know the next one.

It had better not be about an ATX linear power supply because I just ordered one, which should be here sometime next week.

So, if not an ATX PSU, maybe... hmm... a new PCIe USB card perhaps??? Anyway, something USB-interface related.

Anyone else want to hazard a

My vote goes for a new PCIe USB card 

Juan

[acg]

But hey, there are not *that* many of these announcements ! Although ... I already know the next one.

It had better not be about an ATX linear power supply because I just ordered one, which should be here sometime next week.

So, if not an ATX PSU, maybe... hmm... a new PCIe USB card perhaps??? Anyway, something USB-interface related.

Anyone else want to hazard a

My vote goes for a new PCIe USB card 

Juan

Possibly the ATX Supply, but more likely the secret footers will be revealed methinks.

[acg]

Just wondering if you had realized the irony in the fact that you are now well on your way to becoming a "ridiculously expensive USB cable vendor".

No $1 cables any more!!

Hi Anthony - Yes and it is a sad thing. I have seriously been thinking "now me too ?". But the point is that it seems necessary, so to speak. And honestly, when I think back of when I was 20-25 of age, I loaned interlinks of 200-250 euros and was always happy that they didn't work out (for me) and I could bring them back.

Since that age I have always been telling myself "cables later !" and I have been holding up that for now 30 years or so. And seriously ... I have been (so) proud that a 1$ USB cable worked out for the better for most, including for myself.

Maybe it shouldn't have happened that some perceivedly for the better were (virtually) spread, and that I myself tried a couple of them which were so much fo the worse. So this gave me the idea that might I try to make something for myself it just as well could turn out for the better. But of course this is since the "a" version of the NOS1 and I don't think such differences would have been there for the normal NOS1.

As it turns out, I may have been quite ignorant to never dive into these cable matters, that is, if I now look back and see that this can just be approached from dumn technical properties; extend what you're doing in DAC design to the outside of that.

Part of my changed thinking has been encouraged for with the "total system" concept, and how I in that other part of my life have always been saying that it would be rubbish to have all from the same brand (like DAC, preamp, power amp). Ok, maybe that is still so, but when you are (finally) making that a consistent whole, all now under (groundloop) control, things are really different. But how to think of that say 10 years ago, when nothing at hand for a base. So it is a (slow) process that today ends up in an "including cabling".

Still tough of course, because like with the Blaxius there is no real guarantee for those using different amps than the few owning that whole system, but that seems to have worked out as well. So apparently if someone pays attention to such things as cables, and now NOT from any audiophile ($$$$) view, things are quite easy ?

For the USB cable it still does not look easy to me at all because of the unknown influence. The 90 Ohm spec as such ? I don't even believe in that much (aha !). However, one can try to overspec so much that the impedance becomes relatively unimportant. Think like normal cable losses and how a longer length can be covered for by a thicker cable conductor. Thicker shielding. Better topology (differential). Make it so that you can't go wrong for the lengths as we use them. Take into account that at the computer side things may deal with it in a way that is out of our control anyway, but actually quite the same at the interface side of our D/A converters. Or put in the DAC (or amp) design perspective of : that for example a very carefully 50 ohm differential PCB design could be extended to "all the way through".
But who is doing that ?

Today I am, or at least I try. It is crazy as well, because normally required for ultra high speed designs only. And then thinking digital while half of what "we" do is analogue. This, while knowing that digital is to be only within the "threshold" specs of edge triggering, while looking at that "in analogue" *everything* will change the signal when approached like "digital only". So yes, analogue appears to be more difficult than digital. This is how Blaxius came forward but from there you can again think digital once you're at that anyway. And I tried that with Clairixa.
And so far so good; 2 more days to go.

Peter

Thanks Peter for the comprehensive reply to my little joust.

Personally, I think that it is a well balanced person that can be swayed from firmly held opinions by weight of evidence alone.  In this case you have optimised/negated/reduced more important influences for SQ and now it is just time to do the USB cable properly.

So kudos, especially if it all works for the better for the next little while.

Cheers,

Anthony

[Nick]

that for example a very carefully 50 ohm differential PCB design could be extended to "all the way through".
But who is doing that ?

Guilty...

Analoguge electrical conditions of the link are important, but have not been the first line of "attack". The approach to setting up the usb link is researched and planned out.

A 50 or 90 ohms transmission line from transmitter chip pin to reciver chip pin is the way I'm going. This has what I think will be the benefit of losing those horrid USB A and B type connectors on the way. Think  differential BNC type or similar for d+ and d- lines, earth and +5 vols are not too important. Of course that means making changes to use BNC at the PCIE card and dac USB connectors, that is fine here but might not be to everyone's tast as its a departure from the standard connections.


Nick.

[Robert]

With the current reference USB being the Lightspeed Harmonic which has loads of specs to go with the rather extravagant price in my country off $1700 NZ for one .8m with separate earth connection. Peter's Clairixa seems very well priced at $350 NZ.
It had to come though as we know, all wires are not the same!!!!
I'm keen for a 1 metre. I still run the supplied Benchmark Gold plated connectors $1 USB lead.

Robert

[PeterSt]

I'm keen for a 1 metre. I still run the supplied Benchmark Gold plated connectors $1 USB lead.

Hi Robert. As we all know my English is rubbish, but did you just tell me "yes please, 1 meter for me" ?
I think so, but ...

Regards,
Peter

[PeterSt]

Now a really small report from last night :

I think I will be running out of time (5 days) because I am listening too long to a same album.

Say that yesterday was Jazz night. Well, piano's sound with so many harmonics (as it seems) that I start to wonder what is real and what is not. But thinking those harmonics : what about a roaring piano eh ? I think yesterday I had a better discription for it, but on the low end pianos can roar; the interaction of those low keyed strings. Super impressive. The highs ? if only I could detect something wrong as such. Creepy.

What's also new is the "lightness" (light-weighed) how a snare and also toms can sound. And funny, this is just so in real life, or it can be so. Just about drop the stick instead of smashing it. I heard this all over in everything, while I never heard it before. And, a typical example of something you can't know it's there, because who can tell how hard the instrument is played (smashed). You'll only know when you hear it softer.

Usually when I've had 2 hours of Jazz it's time to counterweigh that with Rock. Still the old stuff but I always like to have the old stuff play well. And here too, didn't hear more than two because I played them out in full both. Not smart.
Anyway I seriously must now think whether this now all is so good or whether something happened to my ears because it seems that I might be driven by whatever dopemine and adrenaline. This is almost "explicitly bad" because I am thinking more than once during such a session that this cable is burning in by the minute. And this I don't believe much. And thus something must be happening inside myself that says "more, better, more, better, more, ...".

What seriously worries me (well, intrigues me largely would be the better expression) is how it happens that I play so loud. At first I kept it at 4.5dB (see first post I think) but now I better say that it is 9. Or 6 at least. No 9.
And nobody complains. And whatever I try, I don't perceive it either. Meter says 96dBSPL now though, so this really is more loud, and more importantly, for any type of music.
But why.

The answer must be in that feather light drumming now possible. I mean, before there wasn't really differentitation in it. Or at least not that I noticed or recall that. So a light drop of the stick sounded as a louder smash. Well, then it *was* louder I'd say. Uhm, distortion. And of course, when that part of music sounds louder, and it is incurred for by certain frequencies, then those frequencies play everywhere. In voices, in guitars, in - name it. Meanwhile I am sure that in other frequencies this does not happen and now the, say, "harshness" got profound. Not noticable as distortion, but louder anyway, and apparently not for the better balance. The always jumping out thing I guess, and exactly what is not hapening any more (I already told about that).
But 6dB ? (to keep it on the very safe side I'd say) ?

There's another strange thing and unconsciously I already told about it : I don't have the idea by far that I have been judging the performance. So, a typicle max 5 days is occurring as so often, but what have I done really ? I don't know. But I wasn't able to judge anything and instead I let the albums play. OK, this in itself indicates that I really haven't been doing much, but the why of it can tell something. No signs of "ok, heard enough it this - it is better - next one". Instead constantly intrigued about what all *not* happens or something. And no, not normally sounding either. But sure something like nothing to put your attention to. Like "hey, good bass !" or "wow, good cymbals". Super good music then ? also not that I'm aware of (well, day before yesterday's hits is a bit of a different story). One thing though keeps popping up in my mind and for ten times during this writing I did not want to say it, but now I will after all : with this now super on-par (100%) sounding Who do we think we are - Deep Purple, I noticed that at that time a really good song writer must have been in order because of the so smart texts in that album throughout. So what I saw almost explicitly working was the combination of those texts and how the music is played to emphasize the messages. And you see, once that is happening, you want to hear the next track. So maybe not the good music, but the beauty of it.
Same happened with the Bob James Trio I started out with. And there's not even singing in that. The regular stuff but now with a message. And at track 7 of it I forced myself to switch it off because I realized I was listening to the same ever good thing and was wasting my time (of the 5 days). And what did I do next ? I put on another Bob James. But into track one I could force myself to proceed with something else.

Ok, by now you are all sure that I am crazy. But I only try to describe about something which didn't really ever happen yet.

Peter

[michaeljeger]

Peter

One meter for me as well please.

Regards Michael

[Stanray]

Hi Peter,

Spare me a leftover of 0,7m please 

Regards,
Stanley

[Scroobius]

Peter - looking again at the cable maybe it does not bend like normal USB i/c so mine may need to be longer. No problem we can sort it out later (assuming you still like it in 2 days!!).

Paul

[PeterSt]

Hi Paul - There will be no problems with bending really. But think 10cm (4") diameter of a circle to be on the safe side.

Regards,
Peter

[Robert]

Hi Robert. As we all know my English is rubbish, but did you just tell me "yes please, 1 meter for me" ?
I think so, but ...

YES certainly was.

[Tore]

Have you seen this before?

USB cabel with separate USB-powercabel and DATA-cabel


Tore

[PeterSt]

Hi Tore,

Yes, several of these exist. It can be reasoned that the impedance of such a cable (for its data part) is now under control better.
Notice that your NOS1(a) does not use USB power (but the Clairixa supports it).

Regards,
Peter

[Dantana]

Hi Peter,

  Since NOS 1a does not require the USB 5V power, would it be possible to have the Clairixa be without the power leg? Will this further improve on the SQ?

Daniel

[acg]

Hi Peter,

I assume that you are still using the isolated Silverstone card.  Is this correct?

After your 5 day "trial period" I would be most interested if you would perform a few experiments with the Silverstone and try it:

• not isolated from the chassis
• removed from the system and say use another card or even a mobo USB port

I have a niggling concern that the the Silverstone may still be affecting things given that the USB cables is influential and reportedly PC clocks are as well.

Do you think this is possible?

Regards,

Anthony

[Stanray]

Hi Peter,

I assume that you are still using the isolated Silverstone card.  Is this correct?

After your 5 day "trial period" I would be most interested if you would perform a few experiments with the Silverstone and try it:

• not isolated from the chassis
• removed from the system and say use another card or even a mobo USB port

I have a niggling concern that the the Silverstone may still be affecting things given that the USB cables is influential and reportedly PC clocks are as well.

Do you think this is possible?

Regards,

Anthony

I would be interested too, because I removed the Silverstone card after I found that the mobo-USB connection sounds a bit more balanced.

But the differences also varied with different USB-cables.

Regards,
Stanley

[PeterSt]

I assume that you are still using the isolated Silverstone card.  Is this correct?

Anthony, Correct.

After your 5 day "trial period" I would be most interested if you would perform a few experiments with the Silverstone and try it:

Yes, I can imagine that this is interesting. But say I'm still catching breath from the current exercise and that I am not ready for a next one already. Maybe next year.

Regards,
Peter

[christoffe]

Hi Peter,

  Since NOS 1a does not require the USB 5V power, would it be possible to have the Clairixa be without the power leg? Will this further improve on the SQ?

Daniel

Hi Peter,

a reply to Daniels questions would be interesting for me too.

Joachim

[PeterSt]

Since NOS 1a does not require the USB 5V power, would it be possible to have the Clairixa be without the power leg? Will this further improve on the SQ?

Whoops, never saw this post ! (thank you Joachim)
Sorry !

This must be considered not possible (well, what is impossible);
The NOS1(a) officially uses the 5V for ESD protection and besides it is a general appliance (meaning : not dedicated for the NOS1(a) at all). But what I'm more afraid of is that while finding this good means of normal USB cable is already a pain, making that an uncommon application will be undoable.

What I can do though is when I am ready with this, make a next one with the power wires not connected at both ends and use that if nothing happened, and then watch for differences I may notice unconsciously.

...

Peter

[PeterSt]

I assume that you are still using the isolated Silverstone card.  Is this correct?

Anthony, Correct.

After your 5 day "trial period" I would be most interested if you would perform a few experiments with the Silverstone and try it:

Yes, I can imagine that this is interesting. But say I'm still catching breath from the current exercise and that I am not ready for a next one already. Maybe next year.

Regards,
Peter

I could have answered this similarly as I just did with the power connections, so before someone comes up with that :

No, not really. This is because I'd need to switch on the in the BIOS the Legacy USB2 plus the USB3 support and *that* I don't like, because I would be making two changes at the same time (different USB port and as less lean BIOS). And I think I am not the only one who does not like to change things once he is happy (which I still am after day 5 ).

Peter

[PeterSt]

So about day 5 :

This has actually been the first day of listening almost exclusively to my ambient sh*t. But I did that for a quite explicit reason : improve again by now filling up those perceived (nice) holes I talked about earlier. So, sound had become more metal and this is all good (no complaint anywhere) and I thought that refining that by means of adding ~1.5dB of high output would add more space/air (I can do this easily with the speaker - the Fletcher Munson curves).

And so it did;

Playing quite random material, that normally not requiering the higher highs output, or better : that normally resulting in too much of hissing or "white", now just added that spaciousness. But so much so that all sounded new again. Quite unrecognizable. And already looking forward to tonight's listening session for more of that.

The last 45 minutes or so I went back to more normal music to see whether that still worked out, and for what I played during that short while, it did.

This may be not of much interest for most of you, but what it clear prooves to me (and what was my intention to proove) is that there must be a really clear difference and I am not fooling myself. So before I wouldn't last long with the extra highs because I'd always run soon into a track/album that can't bear it. That now did not happen for several hours.

That meanwhile the highs got louder *again* in good fashion is something else. And so I am wondering how crazy it now is to listen to such super fresh and still very OK music which in this realm is in such a different league from say a year ago that people who hear it for the first time at my place may say that all must be super out of balance.
But still I don't think it is.

More of it tonight although I already have decided ...
Peter

[sondale]

Peter,

(My first post)

I am currently using an iFi iDSD Micro dac along with an iFi iUSB Power unit; for this combo I would like 2 Clairixa USB cables, both 1 metre, one USB A to B and the other USB A to an OTG Female. Is this OK/possible.

At the moment I am fiddling about with the Silverstone USB connector versus MOBO, not tried the isolated version yet.

I will update my profile - soon.

[PeterSt]

Hi there sondale, welcome !

For your first post ... it is not an easy one for me. So I found this a.o. :
http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Wikilearn/IRulu_OTGvsStandardUSBCables
and got a bit dizzy.

Besides this, at least two sizes of OTG connectors exist (mini and micro).

So I must honestly say that I don't feel very confident at this moment.
Thus hmm ...

Regards,
Peter

[sondale]

Peter,

My first post was misleading/incorrect! The iFi iUSB has two male usb output sockets, both type A, so the lead would need to be Female type A to Male type A. I was confused by the otg socket on the side (that is my excuse).

So it would be very much like an extension cable.

(Thanks for the note re Fan controller)

Alan

[PeterSt]

OK, Alan. So :
1x normal A to normal B;
1x Normal A to Female A (hence normal extension cable).
And both 1m.

Correct ?
Thanks,
Peter

[sondale]

Peter,

That is correct.

Alan

[acg]

I assume that you are still using the isolated Silverstone card.  Is this correct?

Anthony, Correct.

After your 5 day "trial period" I would be most interested if you would perform a few experiments with the Silverstone and try it:

Yes, I can imagine that this is interesting. But say I'm still catching breath from the current exercise and that I am not ready for a next one already. Maybe next year.

Regards,
Peter

I could have answered this similarly as I just did with the power connections, so before someone comes up with that :

No, not really. This is because I'd need to switch on the in the BIOS the Legacy USB2 plus the USB3 support and *that* I don't like, because I would be making two changes at the same time (different USB port and as less lean BIOS). And I think I am not the only one who does not like to change things once he is happy (which I still am after day 5 ).

Peter

If you have to alter the bios to change the USB port, then that is what you have to do and I would be quite happy to call that "one" change because the bios change is necessary for the hardware change and there is no way you can do it without.

I understand your reluctance to do it Peter, but at far as I know the Silverstone card is out of production and not everybody that has one right now will be isolating it from the chassis.  If the Phasure mantra is something along the lines of "advancement through a cooperative effort" and not the entire co-op has the Silverstone or is able to get the Silverstone, then in some ways it sort of makes that USB card redundant.  I makes the argument out "two changes not one" largely irrelevant in my view.

Anyway, just thinking out loud.

Cheers,

Anthony

[sondale]

If the Silverstone USB card is the SST-EC04-P then it is still available from:-

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-ec04-p-pci-express-card-with-4x-usb-30-ports

I bought one just a couple of weeks ago.

[Scroobius]

There will be no problems with bending really. But think 10cm (4") diameter of a circle to be on the safe side.

No problem but I may go for longer anyway just to give some flexibility in terms of equipment placing but will let you know before I order.

Cheers
Paul

[Tore]

Peter,

i`m curious. Do you still like the Clairixa?

Tore

[PeterSt]

Tore, you bet I do !
But I couldn't find the time to again put up some crazy post about it. Anyway, today (wanted to be very sure first) ordered some more parts for at least the first 10 and this should be here upcoming Tuesday or Wednesday and then ...
then I'll have to see what happens, because that is exactly when we (most probably) are not there for a few days.

You could say "bad planning" but I rather be confident and a bit later than the other way around.

Regards,
Peter

[Dantana]

Since NOS 1a does not require the USB 5V power, would it be possible to have the Clairixa be without the power leg? Will this further improve on the SQ?

Whoops, never saw this post ! (thank you Joachim)
Sorry !

This must be considered not possible (well, what is impossible);
The NOS1(a) officially uses the 5V for ESD protection and besides it is a general appliance (meaning : not dedicated for the NOS1(a) at all). But what I'm more afraid of is that while finding this good means of normal USB cable is already a pain, making that an uncommon application will be undoable.

What I can do though is when I am ready with this, make a next one with the power wires not connected at both ends and use that if nothing happened, and then watch for differences I may notice unconsciously.

...

Peter

Thanks Peter and Joachim.

  If I may pursue further, I see 2 possible options to implement split data and 5V connections for the NOS 1a with the Clairixa cable, without sacrificing on the ESD protection. But this is on the assumption that separating power from the data signals going into the DAC (instead of getiing them from a single USB cable) could provide even better sound quality.
 
  There are currently split data and power USB cables available and some here may have already tried them (eg. from Paul Pang, Acoustic Revive, Light Harmonic etc). But these eventually re-combined the data and power at the USB input connector of the DAC. From there into the USB interface, the 5V power signal will/may still be able to influence negatively, albeit at a much shorter length (maybe the effects are negligible).

  What I'm suggesting here is using Peter's Clairixa USB cable as it is, simply by blanking off the 5V contact legs on the respective ends of the cable's connectors. Once it is confirmed workable and effective, Peter may then build a specific data-only Clairixa USB cable, and a 5V power-only USB cable.

Option 1.
USB input #1 to have data-only from Clairixa USB cable,
USB input #2 to have 5V power-only USB cable for ESD protection.

  a.  There are currently 2 USB inputs on the NOS 1a. One of it we are using for connection from PC to NOS 1a with a standard USB cable (combined data and 5v power). The other USB input is not in use at the moment. Could we not use the second USB input to connect for ESD protection? I'm guessing there would be a need to modify the internal wiring slightly, from input #2 to ESD protection circuitry.

  b.  The USB input #2 could now be powered from external 5V battery or Linear PSU or simply from the second USB port of the Silverstone PCIe USB card. (Side advantage now is Peter can sell extra Clairixa cables for this 5V ESD protection.)


Option 2.
USB input #1 to have data-only from Clairixa USB cable.
The 5V ESD protection to come from within NOS 1a.

 c. Again, this would need some modifications as new super regulators would be needed to generate the 5V power and a separate cable from the regulated supply to the ESD protection circuitry. But this option, if workable, should give better SQ since Peter's mil-spec super-regulators are definitely better than existing battery or Linear PSU or from Silverstone USB. Moreover, there will be less external connections making it neater looking.

  I'm not a technical expert. Please pardon my simplistic view. The difficult part I see here is for current owners to carry out the modifications required to re-wire the ESD protection.

  Or maybe it is totally un-workable. Just thinking aloud.

Thanks and best regards.

Daniel

[PeterSt]

Hi there Daniel,

Let me first "admit" that it could not be the best idea to improve on something which is unknown to begin with. So for example, I sometimes run into a new customer who right from the start wants better oscillators in his NOS1 and he doesn't even know what's in there and for sure not how it sounds.
How should I respond ?
So in this realm I respond to this. There is nothing to work with !!

But if I had to say something anyway ...
So far, all what I have seen from tests (by others) is that NOT having the power connected is for the worse. So say that the "topology" is changed and what comes from that I can't predict (until I try it myself of course and then still super dangerous because what happens in the normal situationSSS is quite well known by now).

Next thing could be that the ESD protection is a sort of self contained system. Think like the plugging (or unplugging) of the cable may cause ESD (think like a spark) and now the topology of the whole counter attacks that. Thus, take out half of the cable and move it to elsewhere (your separate USB connection for example) and nothing can be lead to anywhere. But to be honest ... a bit difficult to explain for me because I'm also not 100% knowledged here and often "we" apply the standard (advised) tricks. So if a datasheet tells to filter a leg of a chip with a 0.1uF capacitor, "we" just do that and don't doubt it. And if someone asks to not have in that capacitor, it suddenly requires deep thinking what the cap is for. The dataheet may not describe that.

This is all different from just using the cable without the 5V power. Just go ahead with that. Most probably nothing will break ever. And whether we don't solder the wires concerned, or whether you tape them, not much difference I'd say. Well, one difference is there : the 90 Ohm spec will not be met now. And oh, this is doubtful anyway, because I'd say this depends on the current draw through the power wires in there. And this depends on what the cable is used for.
So it is all a quite rough thing.

The difference will start really, when the wires concerned are not even in there. Now suddenly it requires the design of a new cable, unless some two-wire 90 Ohm topology exists already. Which it most probably will not, because who is going to use that ? OK, you and me, but ...

But (please) back to my real answer : What to do this for. Is something wrong ?

Best regards and thanks (!),
Peter

[christoffe]

See details about the YSF cable, the are omitting the power lead only.

http://yourfinalsystem.com/cable-design-f-a-q/147-how-do-data-only-usb-cables-work

What i can confirm is, that with the data only cable the "air" around the instruments is gone (with boxed speakers). Using the standard USB cable the "air" is back - more informations/details? More noise?.

The question for me is, what is right/correct? Mostly we are listening to music out of recording studios.

Joachim

[PeterSt]

The question for me is, what is right/correct? Mostly we are listening to music out of recording studios.

Joachim,

Yes, that is the good question. My own means for determining this seems fairly easy : all must be consistent. But of course this is an out of space job, because ALL needs to be "perfect" so to speak. So for example, if I would be using a random Weiss D/A converter, then I would see no single way to "test" a USB cable. And not to call a Weiss "bad", but nothing much in there is consistent in itself.

So the huge task (for us all) is how to start with something you can trust. Well, for me this turned out to be the NOS1 and obviously I represent many with this "statement" and *still* it turned out to be improvable quite a lot. But somehow that always became a start (was, and still does for me) so you could trust that when something went odd it is caused by whatever was changed.
If I look back I see many expressions from myself like "and thus now the software had to be improved" but just the same as in "the DAC now requires improvement first". And (your, Joachim) Interlinks. Now the USB Cable.

All is based upon this consistency and relative working from all the components in the whole. And from there it is, for me at least, now quite easy to listen to that YFS for 1 minute only and take it out forever. Again nothing about a "bad" YFS, but within the consistency of the remainder as how I have it, it is out of line largely.
That such a happening coincidentally encourages for improvement in that area (USB cable) while I actually was quite satisfied, is, well, coincidence. But I can assure you that if VJ hadn't been so kind to organize its tour that nothing would have happened in this realm. Or at least not yet.

And what is next ? Well, I can tell you ... the digital filtering again. So say that again a better component was added (Clairixa) which, because good in itself, now shows better the INconsistency of the remainder ... it now shows again that basic Arc Prediction possibly is not the better one. No no, don't try it again when you already did earlier (like I did that myself) because you first need this cable to show the real difference.

Are we in circles ? maybe. But the circles get smaller and smaller.
Regards,
Peter

[christoffe]

because you first need this cable to show the real difference.

Ok,

put me on the list for a 1m cable, normal A to normal B, please.

Joachim

Edit:  Changed the standard USB cable after one week back to the YFS cable today. In my system the YFS cable has much more details and “punch” etc. in the various listening positions, such as our “favourite toilet”, PC working place  and at the near field location.

[PeterSt]

Hey Joachim, I thought you already were on the list ! Well, sort of assumed that. Sorry for the implied "proposition". It sure wasn't meant to be that.

Regards,
Peter

[PeterSt]

Hi you first 10 guys ...

First off, thank you all for paying so quickly - some within minutes !

I just finished testing the first 7 cables which are ready now and I can tell that we will not be able to ship out all the 10 today (deadline in 15 minutes). So I decided to ship all 10 upcoming Monday.

Something else is that from the 20 meters of cable I ordered for trial, only 20cm is left (for the 10 of them) ! I never took into account that we could run short for the 10, so it is a bit of luck that it worked out; would have been quite embarrassing when not.

I will wait a little with ordering for the next batch so it can better match the further needs. Of course this also will depend on how much you first 10 will be doing. And I sure hope you will because I am still doing so myself, and if you don't, I feel like stealing.

Enjoy your weekend !
Peter

[juanpmar]

Hi you first 10 guys ...

I will wait a little with ordering for the next batch so it can better match the further needs. Of course this also will depend on how much you first 10 will be doing. And I sure hope you will because I am still doing so myself, and if you don't, I feel like stealing.

Enjoy your weekend !
Peter

Hey Peter, be quiet, we´ll try to judge it generously hehe

Nah, seriously, thanks for shipping it so quickly

Juan

[boleary]

One meter for me too. Thanks!

[AlainGr]

Hi you first 10 guys ...

First off, thank you all for paying so quickly - some within minutes !

I just finished testing the first 7 cables which are ready now and I can tell that we will not be able to ship out all the 10 today (deadline in 15 minutes). So I decided to ship all 10 upcoming Monday.

Something else is that from the 20 meters of cable I ordered for trial, only 20cm is left (for the 10 of them) ! I never took into account that we could run short for the 10, so it is a bit of luck that it worked out; would have been quite embarrassing when not.

I will wait a little with ordering for the next batch so it can better match the further needs. Of course this also will depend on how much you first 10 will be doing. And I sure hope you will because I am still doing so myself, and if you don't, I feel like stealing.

Enjoy your weekend !
Peter

Hi Peter,

I did not see this post until today...

I certainly am unable to relate you and the word "stealing" in the same sentence. After all that you have conceived and wil all the qualifiers that we can think positively...

For me, PeterSt and St-Peter are quite the same

Kind regards,

Alain

[manisandher]

My Clairixa USB cables (3.5m and 0.5m lengths) have just been delivered. I won't get a chance to listen to them until later today but will report back my thoughts as soon as I do.

Mani.

[PeterSt]

Oh ... Mani, I completely forgot ... All cables have been tested except for your 0.5m. It was too short !
I wanted to put a note in the box, but forgot ...

Peter

[AlainGr]

Oh ... Mani, I completely forgot ... All cables have been tested except for your 0.5m. It was too short !
I wanted to put a note in the box, but forgot ...

Peter

Do you mean that the signal could arrive at the other end before it is sent ?

Alain

[christoffe]

 

Do you mean that the signal could arrive at the other end before it is sent ?

Alain

 

[juanpmar]

Clairixa received! Thanks, Peter

Juan

[manisandher]

OK, I've just taken a listen and here are my first impressions:

Firstly, I compared my 3.5m Clairixa to my 0.5m Clairixa and they sound pretty much the same to me. This is the first time I've ever had the opportunity to compare like-for-like USB cables of different lengths to each other and it's SO refreshing to know that USB length doesn't seem to matter one iota (within the USB spec at least).

OK, onto the sound. Well, I have to mention that I've had the YFS USB cable in my system for the last few days. Here's what I originally said about the YFS before putting it back into my system:

The honest truth is that I listened to exactly 10 seconds before stopping the music and taking the cable out. It sounded detailed, but way too forward and 'shouty'. Also, I'm sure there was a haze of distortion around everything. Edgy. Metallic.

After a few days with the YFS, I totally stand by these comments. In comparison, the Clairixa is ultra, ultra smooth... and to my ears, a breath of fresh air. So easy to listen to. But I have to say that for me, the name "Clairixa" doesn't really fit. I mean, yes it sounds 'clear' and 'detailed', but not overly so in any way whatsoever. In fact, it sounds quite dull compared to the YFS, and much closer in sound to my Tellurium Black Diamond.

All in all, I really like the sound of the Clairixa. But I think a name like "Naturalixa" would be more accurate... though obviously not as nice or catchy.

The next job will be to compare the 3.5m Clairixa with the 3.5m Tellurium Black Diamond. The latter is some 5x more expensive, but I already have a hunch I'm going to prefer the Clairixa. We'll see...

Mani.

[Mamba315]

Can't wait to read more impressions..

Hey Peter, already put myself in for a 1.8M.  Can I add a shorter 0.8M cable as well?

Matt

[vrao]

Just received my Clarixia cable!

So far I have about an hour, and the cable is very smooth. As Peter mentions, you can play louder with this cable.

[vrao]

In the last few months after my interesting experience with YFS cable, I was able to try out few more.

Here is the list so far
1. PeterST's world famous $1 cable: nothing much to say on this one except it's/was the gold standard.
2. Oyaide d+ "S" : a POS. actually this was the cable that made me believe USB cables have no influence on music, I was so far in the naysayers catagory. However during the Blaxius development I got a bit more open minded.
3. YFS ref cable (silver coated copper): this opened my ears to possibilities to USB sound (I'm happy in many ways Peter did see the diamond in the dust, I was referring to)
4. YFS custom cable (Cu only), more smother than the now on tour ref cable. Still it did not work for me. The soundstage just collapsed into a 5ft bubble. Gotta give my huge huge thumbs up to Kevin at YFS, customer service at its best, kudos buddy.
5. Prana wire Photon: this cable worked fine, but did not substantiate its cost, especially coming from the YFS cable, where I found such a startling difference.
6. AC cable: only after playing with this cable for a few weeks did I realize it could not withstand the need from Phasure system, and found it was limited to 196/24. Mani ....   ;-)
7. Aqvox: my current favorite. It has been in my system for the last month. More thoughts and differences to come ...
Sound of Clarixia is similar, but there are some differences. I'll listen for some more time before I concrete my impressions.

VJ

[michaeljeger]

Vrao
It's interesting you mention the Aqvox cable.
For 150 Euros it still seems to offer some value if it's really good.
Seems to be one of the better deals out there.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
I can fully support your observations about the YFS having a smaller sound stage.
Did not like it.
Michael

[PeterSt]

Although I know that 3 of you are not even at home or didn't receive the cable yet, and one of the 10 was a "double" for one person ... I still think it is awfully quiet in here.
But then of course, when you all listen 5 days first like I try to do it then we must wait some longer.

But like with the other cables, first impressions are as important as long as we know they are that.

Of course I myself am dying of curiosity and I am sure some others are too. 
And it is not the idea to say nothing when you think it is nothing. But if that is the case I like to hear from you how it sounds, so from there I may have some ideas (to express).


For me ? no way of going back. It is so super special in the highs that is really allows further development in the general SQ department. Infinite resolution or something. And super smooth ? No, super-more-black because of that resolution (think in the smear realm). That may come down at more smooth at first sight, but there's detail that makes any dull sounding recording very detailed like "pins" now jump out of it. From there "freshness" emerges just like we tend to call other situations "fresh", but I think I now know for sure that "fresh" as such is not good at all (I now dedicate that "distortion"). I think that this also introduces a new era for the filter design.

Peter

[michaeljeger]

Hey Peter

Stop pulling the bacon through my mouth, I want one of those cables too!

With my new Abyss headphone, I can hear all that like a magnifying glass so to say.

 

- Michael

[toddn]

So I've been busy installing a new 4 post lift in my garage to put my beloved NSX above its new stablemate, a F430 Spider I finally got a chance to do some evening listening of my new Clairixa cable. Here are my initial impressions:

WOW!! Peter, what is under that cotton casing? Magic fairy dust!! Your descriptions are dead on. At first I thought wow this is really smooth but then realized all the distortion free detail I was hearing. And body(Raquel Welch and Sofia Loren in their prime have nothing on
Clairixa!)

Across the board, wider, deeper soundstage and just way more information? And those highs! Cymbals are getting so much closer to reality and violins too, so sweet. I'm really quite stunned that once again I am listening to my familiar library and hearing it as if they are all brand new super high resolution masters! This is easily as transformative as the B75 BNC upgrade.

I'll do some more listening this weekend and follow up. I've got some new BD Orphean3 horns and a new DSP bass crossover itching to be installed but I'll hold off an additional day just to acclimate to my new music reality and the all the new beauty I am hearing.

 Should really be an interesting weekend!

Heartfelt thank you Peter, really a fabulous upgrade!!

[manisandher]

 

A new stablemate for the NSX, hey? And a prancing horse no less! That's a VERY nice garage you've got there. Now how on earth did you get that past your other half? I need to know that secret

Mani.

[tillen]

Hallo all!

Dont know what I expected, but mabe something which could give me the best of all three. Peter's 1€ cable, the Supra and mye Entreq with  separate ground. But IT gave me so much more.
I could hear IT after a few seconds only. The soundstage was totally changed, much wider and spesially much deeper. And I felt much closer to the music (not sound) livefeeling.
So much more information and details, still clear and smooth.
And the bass? WOW ;-)

Super!
Tanks Peter

Regards
Arnt

[PeterSt]

So I've been busy installing a new 4 post lift in my garage to put my beloved NSX above its new stablemate, a F430 Spider

The longer we wait, the more secrets are unveiled. Now this !
I still wonder whether that F430 shouldn't be on top for safety. But maybe Mani doesn't agree.

[manisandher]

And the bass? WOW ;-)

Yeah, I wanted to comment about the bass too but decided to wait until others had chipped in. Over here the bass is excellent too. Actually, there is probably a bit too much with the Clairixa and I may need to turn my bass DSP down a little. But I don't want anyone to get the impression that this is 'fat', 'woolly' and vague bass. It's tight, powerful and incredibly tuneful.

How these things can happen just by changing a USB cable is totally beyond me.

Mani.

[manisandher]

I still wonder whether that F430 shouldn't be on top for safety. But maybe Mani doesn't agree.

The first thing that came to my mind on reading this was Xenia Onatopp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_Onatopp). Not sure what that says about my mind!

I'm assuming Todd's NSX is 'onatopp' because he wants to use the F430 more often. Fair enough, as it's the newcomer... and a LOT faster... better-sounding & better-looking in many's eyes... but not mine of course

God forbid, should there be a mishap with the lift, I'd certainly want the NSX onatopp - not sure what the state of affairs is in the US, but here in the UK, the number of F430s for sale outnumber facelift NSXs by 50 to 1. You could replace your F430 with the insurance money pretty easily, but getting hold of a good NSX would be very difficult.

(All in good fun... there's no way you can really compare an NSX with an F430!)

Mani.

[toddn]

So I don't want to get off the topic of the wonderful new Clairixa USB cable, so I'll just make one further response about my other love besides my first love of audio, fast sports cars!

Mani,

You are certainly correct about wanting to drive the newcomer and both of them are beautiful mid-engined sports cars in their own way(although man the Ferrari is really a work of art).

But just to clarify, I've owned the NSX for over 20 years so I don't take these purchases lightly and the NSX will never go until I do! The F430 could be a stepping stone to a used 458 in the future, who knows.

One other thing, I do ALL the work on the NSX, including the current highly modified engine build(OK, I still need the machinist, but I do all the blueprinting and assembly) The NSX is turbocharged and put down 720HP to the ground on premium unleaded and over 850HP ON e85 ethanol, so it is WAY faster than the F430

In terms of convincing my wife to go along? Well, she is my 2nd wife and we were both in our 40's when we got married, so I'd say our expectations were honest and "what you see is what you get" so I we both got it right the 2nd time! So I feel blessed.

If I had to choose between my love for fine music reproduction and fast cars, I'd choose Music!!

All in good fun!
Todd

[juanpmar]

When I was testing the Clairixa I found a problem with one of my speakers (I sent you a PM about it, Peter) so although I have a first impression I keep a deeper review until everything works perfectly. To calm a bit some anxiety let me advance just a few things I'm already sure about.
In comparison with the standard USB cable,  which is the one I was using and everybody knows, the Clairixa has a better and deeper bass, being probably this its most prominent quality, a much bigger and three-dimensional soundstage, much more "ambience" and a sense of realism that makes the standard cable seems like an amateur.
Just one more puntualitation, the Clairixa in my appreciation it is not smoother than the standard cable,  it is not even a smooth cable in my opinion. It is a cable that makes a sound as real as you can imagine it is the real sound.
I don't think that I'm wrong if I say that the Clairixa it is more than just a cable,  much more.

Enough for now...

Best regards,
Juan

[vrao]

Small update,

So in the first hour, the cable had a bit of constriction/darkness which opened up thereafter. There was a bit of harshness on the highs only noticeable on multi-violin crescendos, which I could not detect last night. The Clarixia is a bit more forward in presentation than the AQvox. Smoothness very very similar. Sound stage width is the same. AQvox seems to have a deeper soundstage. In the last few days with AQvox I thought I detected a subtle digitiz/zing around the notes. This is not present with the Clarixia.

With the Clarixia I though the highs were truncated (I don't think it's the cable) I'm still using the custom filter. Maybe Peter May be able to explain?

 I Hope to compare them head to head today.

Cheers,
VJ

[PeterSt]

With the Clarixia I though the highs were truncated (I don't think it's the cable) I'm still using the custom filter. Maybe Peter May be able to explain?

Hey VJ,

That depends on how much highs as such you can hear. But I don't think you can where this indeed will be the case because of the filter. It's actually a sort of other way around :

In the higher regions you *will* be able to hear - with Arc Prediction. That is, you may perceive distortion. However, this distortion exhibits merely by, well, more rolled of in the first place and less of the actually frequency otherwise. Okay ...
With the Custom Filter you will be using, there's less roll off and more of the real frequency. Say this is from of 16KHz where the changes begin (downwards).
But this now is for comparing normal Arc Prediction with the Custom Filter ...
(hey, if I read this back I can't even understand it myself)

What I have here for filters at the moment goes further;
Roll off is earlier again, BUT the way this is done - the roll off *under* that (say towards 10KHz) is less. This is again because of the better reconstruction. At the same time, the whole range is more "honest" and more of the higher frequencies is perceived. So generally, the earlier the formal roll off, the better the reconstruction around that area the more net energey and the more genuine "frequency" (think nice sines). Thus, the earlier the roll off of the filter, the more highs you will perceive. Notice though that this explicitly anticipates 12KHz - 14KHz to be perceived well by our ears in the first place. IOW, when you'd perceive 18KHz very well, then I can tell you that this is now heavily rolled off (say up to 8dB).
Remember, this is all for the filtering I have here and which you all do not have (nobody).

That I, meanwhile, am able to lift the highest frequency with the F-M curves of the speaker is very comfortable of course. So I do that too.

How is this related to another cable ?
Think of it (if all is right !) ... Normal Arc Prediction at first glance will also show more fresh sound. My view : no way this is because of the roll off. It is distortion. So analogously the AQVox should also show more distortion ...
All, of course, is dependent on how good "we" are in detecting distortion. For that, try normal Arc Prediction and learn it from there. Be careful though what music you use for it. I mean, the super square ambient stuff only will sound more interesting because of it. So it must be the more normal music first.

2c
Peter (pretty sure you could not follow because of the upside-down reasoning)

PS: Maybe I should have summarized all by saying : that roll off you perceive from the Clairixa should be about less HF distortion. Next we can "use" a better reconstruction of the high frequencies, which is exactly what I do. And now the HF output is only *higher* but up to ~14KHz.

[vrao]

Peter,
 

So how I would look into your explanation is, there are less or none  higher order harmonics to give us the cues for loudness, detecting notes edges. Smoothness .....

I forgot to add in my prior post a couple of additional things

Music has a better sense of control with this cable. (Maybe a combination of this and the above gives that truncation effect)

Bass: Aqvox was better than the standard cable. Clarixia has more bass than AQvox.

VJ

[AlainGr]

About the Clairixa...

I have been using a special USB cable for the last 2-3 years and I was quite happy with it (Clearlink Plus USB 2.0 Cable). But when Peter announced that he was making his own cable, I could not let that occasion pass.

First: I still haven't upgraded my NOS1 for the "a" version. I will ask Peter when I feel I can send it.

Here are the observations that I made (and they are to be taken with a grain of salt since I do not have trained ears):
- I had trouble connecting the cable to the NOS1 because it is stiff, as are my ICs, so I am a little concerned about the pressure applied on the USB port that the crossing cables generate. I may ask if my USB port can be moved to the rear of the NOS1 to prevent this in the future.
- The Clairixa allows more bass to flow. My speakers are bass shy (or my acoustics do not allow me to perceive them well), but they have always been tight. With the Clairixa, I get more tight bass and it generates more "power".
- There is at least as many, maybe more details than with my Clearlink Plus, but this should be compared when I will have enough hours done on the Clairixa.
- The Clairixa lets the music play already !

These comments come from early listenings. I should come back with more information as time passes.

This to conclude that I am an happy early Clairixa adopter and... Well Peter, you get the best of me, even when I write too many emails

Alain

[Arjan]

Hi,
Finally yesterday evening I was able to start using the Clairixa cable (0.8 m). I currently use an AudioQuest Coffee (0.75 m), it is at the same price point as the Clairixia.

For me it is bit mixed feelings:
The Clairixia is the best I ever heard in the Highs! Also piano sound really good, nice round sound and long decades. This I like very much!

And voices are very good, no harshness.

I think that is one of the main differences between the AQ and Clairixa. The Clairixa is rounder (smoother) sounding.
I know the AQ contains some silver so maybe that makes it sounds different.
Therefor also the AQ sound more open. My wife calls the Clairixa more flat sounding.

But in the lower part it seems to miss detail. And it is a bit to much (booming) in my system. The cable sounds to me a bit out of balance. (for my system at least)

Example: an electric bass guitar can roar, with the AQ you can hear that very well, the Clairixa makes it rounder so the roaring detail seems to be lost a bit.

But highs are so brilliant!!!!!! yes they are.

I do not know which cable will stay in the chain. Now I have heard what is possible I might test other cables again.
Or maybe I have to tweak my system to get the low end better with the Clairixa? If possible.

Will keep on testing, switching cables now and then. Will report later.

kind regards, Arjan Kremer

[PeterSt]

Hi you all,

So that concludes the first testing/reporting from all who are at home. Thank you for your extensive reports !!

Now one thing obviously jumps out : bass.
And I think if you look back in my own "reporting" you won't see anything about bass. Maybe this is because I come from the $1 cable (the stock one with the NOS1) ? Is my room large enough and yours is maybe not ? (to hold the large waves I mean) ? Did I just forget to hear it ? (now I am used to it, so a bit too late for that).

So for me the funny thing is that most report about more bass (and almost all also for the better) while I just didn't notice a thing about specifically that. Odd.

But I think we are all in agreement about the highs. Quite crucial of course.

The past few days my ears are a bit bass-shy (famous cold). But when it's recovered I will try to compare with the stock cable again.

For now, thank you all. And please report new findings as well.
Btw, at some stage I thought that all went better again, but didn't dare to speak about burning in. But maybe that influences (I forgot, but maybe 4 days it was when I thought I noticed <- a bit difficult when all sounds good right from the start).

Regards and have a nice weekend !
Peter

[AlainGr]

Hi Peter,

When I started changing my old ICs with better ones, at the time I was not really concerned about the differences in SQ because some components just came in my system so I would not have been able to distinguish which did what (too many updates at the same time).

When I changed my standard AC cables, I experienced a problem with some female voices (this "halo" I mentionned then). It disappeared in about a few months.

So I do believe that something was in order with these cables. Not that I can explain what phenomenon was at work, but the "burn in" could be a part of the explanation.

Since then I tend to believe that a cable needs to "sit" with use. The Clairixa is "clear" (I forgot to mention it), but I expect that it will soften a little.

Anyway, it is too early to comment further...

Alain

[Arjan]

Hi Peter,
Did you (or other) notice any change after many hours of burn-in time?
I just have 5 hours now and there was a change the first 2 hours.
regards, Arjan

[PeterSt]

Arjan, As I said in my previous post - not really, although at the 4th day or so I thought things were better. But I myself don't dedicate any real value to that.

Regards,
Peter

[JohanZ]

Hi Peter,

Any thoughts about making a second batch?

Best Regards Johan

[PeterSt]

Hi there Johan,

Yes, that seems definitive. So now the polite question to those who might even the slidest consider to obtain a Clairixa as well - to please announce themselves and with the length needed.
Do notice that orders are only definitive when they are paid for, so no real risc when you are not 100% sure yet. But it lets me better estimate what to buy without too much overhead.

For the 2nd batch we now have 16 people.

Regards,
Peter

[juanpmar]

To complete the Clairixa small review I did the other day I´d like to add some of the notes I took spontaneously while I was  listening.
As I said, the standard cable that comes with the NOS1 was my reference. This cable is, in my opinion, excellent. I tried maybe 10 cheap cables both USB3 and USB2 similar to the standard one, I tried also the Mapleshade Clearlink USB 2.0 which is perhaps the only cable that is a bit clearer. However, I ended always using the standard cable. I can´t find a better explanation for the good performance of this cable than that this is the one that Peter used from the start with the NOS1, therefore should be in an excellent sync with the dac. I guess, that the same philosophy can now be applied to the Clairixa regarding the  NOS1a and the NOS1a 75B with the Blaxius cables.

These are the notes I took:

The bass is more prominent although very well integrated. There is perhaps a slight emphasis on the upper bass.

The mids and a bit up and down becomes, as it should be, the essential body of the sound.

A phenomenon occurs that I had not perceived previously: the feeling that the air in the room vibrates and that that vibration energizes the room and even reaches the chest. Something like as when one is in a disco with those terrible bass, but this time the effect is much more subtle and balanced, and this happens also at lower levels of sound.

The voices have a greater body than previously with the standard cable and acquire more maturity.  A female voice is a voice of a woman. I don´t know how to express that feeling in a better way.  The piano has also that same body and maturity as also the violin, the orchestra, the sax or the bass. All of this with a clarity that seems closer to the reality.

The soundstage is larger in all the dimensions, height, width and depth. There are no empty spaces in the soundstage, all  the space makes sense, even the spaces where there is no sound (some call it "air"). The combination of three-dimensional space, body and air makes what I would call "ambience". The Clairixa has ambience in spades.

The speakers disappear completely, until the point that from the listening position and closing the eyes, it's really hard to find the exact speakers location.

I had to find the appropriate volume to get the best sound. A qualitative leap is perceived when the optimum volume is reached. In my case, this sound is around -22.5db / -21.0db. I guess this depends largely on the listening room.

There's a sense of speed in the response to different sounds. Maybe it's better dynamics or because the sounds are better defined and that produces that sensation of speed.

The Clairixa does not seem to be smoother than standard cable. Rather, the standard cable is smoother than the Clairixa. Perhaps it is due to that  the standard cable rounds a bit the highs or maybe to that just gives less information. Certainly the softness of the standard cable can be addictive. However, the clarity of sound that gives the Clairixa has nothing to do with aggression. Interestingly some old recordings appear now very gently. Maybe that recordings were not as bad as it looked.

The contribution to the SQ that makes this cable is incomparably greater than any cable of any type at any price I've tried before.

Perhaps this cable will evolve if Peter evolves also the NOS1a 75B and the Blaxius cables. However, today, I have the intuition that, at least for the ones with those components, the Clairixa is the best cable. Of course just an intuition.

Has the Clairixa defects? Sometimes the upper bass seems a little oversized. It may be in relation to my speakers, I´m not sure. Anyway, it happens only in some recordings.

All these appreciations are actually related harmoniously with each other and obviously are not only a result of this cable. It is the balanced set of components that produces this sound.
In the end,  the result of the synergy extracted from the NOS1a, the Blaxius and the Clairixa as a system, makes listening music, more than ever, a pleasure and not a permanent dissatisfaction.

Juan

[acg]

So now the polite question to those who might even the slidest consider to obtain a Clairixa as well - to please announce themselves and with the length needed.

Hi Peter,

I will add my name to the list if it helps you to order things, but I am certainly in no hurry.  I have a new music room to renovate and as a result will not know the length of cable I need for some time.  Likewise with the Blaxius.  I am guessing Clairixa 1m and Blaxius 2m.

Cheers,

Anthony

[Scroobius]

So now the polite question to those who might even the slidest consider to obtain a Clairixa as well - to please announce themselves and with the length needed

Hi Peter - I confirm my order but I will go with 50cm length.

Cheers

Paul

[PeterSt]

Well Juan ... What a beautiful description you gave there. And I don't mean because it is so positive, but merely because I recognize all of it and you must be good at this audio analysis. So I recognize it all, but am not able to put it in such words.

Because of the "consistency" (can I call it that ?) it reminded me of something I wanted to say for a longer time about the Clairixa but it never would fit in a story of mine. It fits in yours, but I am not sure whether others can see the consistentcy with it (I do) :

I think (haha) that I definitely (again haha) know how ultra low jitter sounds. This perception comes as a puzzle with pieces; the puzzle is the whole jitter spectrum while the pieces are individual sounds and some of those sounds can improve as crazy. But really crazy like not being there at all against blasting through the room.
I've got that perception from various "situations", some experiments, some just coincidentally there because of general improvement.

While it is "sound" that can so vastly improve, it is hard to find that in an instrument. So far example, expressing that the voice of a female becomes the voice of a woman ... who can do anything with that. Or, how everything receives more body. What is that ? More mature ... we audiophiles really see them spinning now. Disco-bass but lucikly not.
All of these I have talked about in various topics and all has been related to jitter (although half of the time I didn't tell about that so you couldn't know).

Still this only expesses in sounds as such. Thus while expressions like the above (which are actually Juan's) are the exhibit of the net result and which is good because it is about music as such, deep down all springs from something which I don't know myself how it works, but which is audible throughout. Say how "strange" an otherwise normal sound or instrument suddenly can sound. Strange in the sense of "huh ?! never heard *that* before". And I don't mean the sound of a plectrum against a wound string and such (which are the usual suspects to hearing more detail) but how an otherwise far away cymbal hit now are 3 girls with a tambourine. Thus really too large differences to be "normal".

And when you explicitly apply ultra low jitter (say in lab situations) all these kind of strangenesses appear.

And all these exhibits of "sounds" is what the Clairixa exhibits too ...
Not as crazy as how I have had it with the low jitter applications, but the very same sounds (or what can submerge).

With this huge lead-in, I actually wanted to point out one thing only : that there *is* an instrument which sort of shows all of this : the steel pan (or steel drum - see picture below). But this is how I mean to say "I don't know how it works" because I can't reason out what actually happens in such an instrument that it can show ultra low jitter. Maybe if we sort it out we may find that it only plays "flagiolettes" (remember ?). So only the harmonics and not the fundamental. At least it sounds like that to me and it would fit the general (my) idea that the lower the jitter the better flagiolettes show.

But wait, because with pointhing out this instrument, all I did was telling you what kind of sounds will jump out and those with the Clairixa should recognize it. So this is this instrument itself (but I wonder whether I ever heard it via the Clairixa). But it would also be the "singing saws" (in the end just a classical instrument, apart from percussion as such).
It is all about sounds of which you can feel that the sound they express emerges later than the initiation of it. Think of the body of the sound which actually is NOT there if we talk about the fundament of it. Uhm ... think more physically now, and see how the sound springs *from* the body of the instrument.

Well, enough. But in my perception the Clairixa has to lower the jitter vastly, although I can not proove/measure it. How it is supposed to work as an influencing phenomenon which can work via the back door only (NOS1a isolation) ... don't ask.
But it is not just lower noise or blacker or more of indirect voodoo ... it has to be about jitter because I recognize it.
And I can be wrong.

Peter

PS: Sound of such a steel pan / drum and try to notice the lacking attacks (sound evolves later from inside of the instrument) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-bTMbePj0A

[juanpmar]

Because of the "consistency" (can I call it that ?) it reminded me of something I wanted to say for a longer time about the Clairixa but it never would fit in a story of mine. It fits in yours, but I am not sure whether others can see the consistency with it (I do)

Peter, this was my final paragraph before I corrected it:

"In the end, the result of consistency, intensity and emotion extracted from the NOS1a, the Blaxius and the Clairixa, as a system, makes listening music more than ever a pleasure and not a permanent dissatisfaction."

After being around the word "consistency" for at least 15 minutes I changed the words "consistency, intensity and emotion" for the word "synergy" because I was not sure if "consistency" was going to be understood the way I wanted. For consistency I wanted to say "coherence" but also "cohesiveness" something that has a "permanence", something that stay there firmly and constantly. I mean "that" sound.

I think (haha) that I definitely (again haha) know how ultra low jitter sounds.

Well, enough. But in my perception the Clairixa has to lower the jitter vastly, although I can not proove/measure it...But it is not just lower noise or blacker or more of indirect voodoo ... it has to be about jitter because I recognize it.

If the low jitter helps to make this sound, then welcome the low jitter and thanks to the one that can handle, however imperfectly, such matter.

Thank you for your kind words
Juan

[Arjan]

Hi Juan,
Really good description. It is exactly how I perceive the SQ via the Clairixa!
Yes, you can feel the bass and the voices do have more body.
regards, Arjan

[juanpmar]

Thanks Arjan, I'm glad you can enjoy that sound as I do.

Regards,
Juan

[manisandher]

Hey, really nice write-up Juan.

The Clairixa does not seem to be smoother than standard cable.

In comparison [to the YFS], the Clairixa is ultra, ultra smooth... and to my ears, a breath of fresh air. So easy to listen to.

I'm going to revise my description a little bit. My Cliarixa cable remains totally natural-sounding, but I would no longer describe it as "ultra-ultra smooth". I need to start a new thread in order to explain exactly what has happened for me to change my description.

Mani.

[Arjan]

Hi Mani,
Did you already compared the Clairixa with the Tellurium?
What do you experience in the bass and upper bass area with the Clairixa? I do not know your listening room. But I do know that Peters room is way larger then mine. And off course the amplification and speakers are different. As far as I understand from Peter he is not aware off any extra addition in the bass and upper bass (standing waves?). What do you experience?
regards, Arjan

[manisandher]

Did you already compared the Clairixa with the Tellurium?

Hi Arjan, no I'll do this in the next day or two. Fortunately, I now feel that the quality of my system is such as to do the comparison justice.

Mani.

[sondale]

Peter,

I would like to confirm my order of two cables but is it possible to make them 75cm (or thereabouts)??

That would be A to B and A to Female A.

Alan

[PeterSt]

Hey Alan - That's fine. I already have the female parts (not even easy to get !) but couldn't test it yet because of no cable left. The latter I am about to order for the next batch ...

Thanks and regards,
Peter

[Stanray]

With this huge lead-in, I actually wanted to point out one thing only : that there *is* an instrument which sort of shows all of this : the steel pan (or steel drum - see picture below). But this is how I mean to say "I don't know how it works" because I can't reason out what actually happens in such an instrument that it can show ultra low jitter. Maybe if we sort it out we may find that it only plays "flagiolettes" (remember ?). So only the harmonics and not the fundamental. At least it sounds like that to me and it would fit the general (my) idea that the lower the jitter the better flagiolettes show.

But wait, because with pointhing out this instrument, all I did was telling you what kind of sounds will jump out and those with the Clairixa should recognize it. So this is this instrument itself (but I wonder whether I ever heard it via the Clairixa). But it would also be the "singing saws" (in the end just a classical instrument, apart from percussion as such).
It is all about sounds of which you can feel that the sound they express emerges later than the initiation of it. Think of the body of the sound which actually is NOT there if we talk about the fundament of it. Uhm ... think more physically now, and see how the sound springs *from* the body of the instrument.

Interesting Peter, you mention this instrument.

For over 30 years I listen to this album when I want to make comparisons in cables, settings etc.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/slow-motion-mw0000650546

Yes, steel drums.

Regards,
Stanley

[PeterSt]

Stanley, ha !
Interesting indeed. I just noticed it. So nothing explicit ...

Kind regards,
Peter

[JohanZ]

So now the polite question to those who might even the slidest consider to obtain a Clairixa as well - to please announce themselves and with the length needed

Hi Peter,

I send you an P.M. (1,2m) yesterday!

Best Regards, Johan

[PeterSt]

Hi,

For those who wonder and are eagerly waiting ...
As how the plans are now somewhere the upcoming week the next batch of Clairixa should go out (cable should arrive hopefully Monday). I ordered some spare for ~10 people more (anticipating 1m per person).

Regards,
Peter

[PeterC]

Peter, as per my email I would like a 1m Clairixa USB cable...preferably without 5V connection if that is possible?  Thanks.

Regards, Peter C

[boleary]

Is Clairixa blue? Hope so. 

[PeterSt]

Nah, merely dirty-white. But is plays the blues all right.

[PeterSt]

... And I don't know what freakin' company I am dealing with, but the cable still hasn't been shipped. Still it was ordered for last Monday.

Now if someone could give me a few good lessons on how to deal with Americans ...
If I'd only write out the email conversations to you from this week. And then to think this is a simple repeat order.

Unbelievable.

[PeterSt]

But here you have one example only, as per an email at 10pm my time last night and after that the guys started celebrating some weekend :

Getting ready to ship and the shipping clerk is telling me I did not write down the expiration date to your credit card

Can you kindly give it to me again.

And then to think that the first round I was not asked for the security number of the credit card. So in that case *that* lacked.

No, I don't know how to deal with this. Yes, take the time for it ...
(which means the customer of course - You)

[Tubeamp]

Hi Peter,

I heard good feedback about your USB cable.
Can I order one? I need 75 cm. And what will it cost?

Bye, Hans
The Netherlands.

[PeterSt]

Hi there Hans,

Yes, you are just in time to order for this round. Cost will be 192,50.

I sent you an email as well.
Kind regards,
Peter

[PeterSt]

So ... cable finally arrived today.
Everybody got his invoice and if all is right the lot will ship upcoming Monday. Shipping time is 1 or 2 days, depending on where you live ...

Thank you all,
Peter

[PeterSt]

For Alan and maybe others ...

Extension cable can also be constructed (hence produced) and works ...

Peter

[PeterSt]

USB tweakers ...

We just tried a Clairixa without the power wires. That does NOT work. That is, not for the NOS1a. Still the NOS1a does not use the power. But maybe there's more to this than I figured in advance;

With the ground connected it does work.

Now, without sorting it all out at the technical level I would say that the differential setup of USB can allow to let it work without explicit ground, because differential creates its own ground. This is not entirely true per se, which is why I said can. Now :

I know some of you have tested the USB connection by leaving out "the power". But what did you actually do ?
So for instance, you can tape the plus wire (in the connector) alone, but you can also tape the ground wire. Virtually we over here did both and that does not work. Tape only the plus wire does work ...
Or if you have/had a cable without the power connection in there, was that also without the plus wire ?

Please let me know your experiences, with the notice that very far theoretically the NOS1a can behave differently here than the normal NOS1. This is about the isolation in the NOS1a ...

Thanks !
Peter

[boleary]

A data-only USB cable is a cable that only contains the + and the - data leads. It does not contain the +5V power lead. lt SHOULD contain the ground lead.

The above quote is from the YFS site regarding their data only cable. So they only "tape" the + power lead but not the ground. I use the YFS V4 cable.For me, it is significantly better than the standard $1 cable, though I'm anticipating a change to the Clairixa.

[PeterSt]

Hey Brian .. thanks !!

Are you quickly able to measure whether the ground lead is connected ?
If you (quickly) say yes then I will quicly tell you which "pads" in the connectors to measure.
Get your wife because it is hard to do this on your own (multi meter measuring Ohm resistance).

Peter

[PeterSt]

Btw, I said "quickly" because you might be heading for work ...

If you have the A connector and put it on the table so you see the (golden) pads in the connector (they point towards you). The left most is the ground.

If you have the B connector and put it on the table with the flat side under. The left bottom is the ground.

And if you are in your car and a queue already - bad luck.

[boleary]

Haven't left for work yet, but I lent my volt meter to my friend Rick! I should be able to get it back tonight or tomorrow. Will let you know. Maybe Joachim could do it faster since he has a YFS cable too?

[PeterSt]

Thank you Brian. No worries.

So ...

Joachimmmmmmmmmm ?
That is, if you have one without power connection in there.

But I guess it is clear already ? Ground should always be connected.
Still that feels like a disappointment. I mean, out of all we don't want the ground to be connected. Or ?

Peter

[christoffe]

Ground should always be connected.

YES !!!

I measured the 4 (ground), the ground is connected.

[CoenP]

With the ground connected it does work.

I know some of you have tested the USB connection by leaving out "the power". But what did you actually do ?

Or if you have/had a cable without the power connection in there, was that also without the plus wire ?

Hi Peter,

I just made the cables with only the red (power) wire DISconnected. It occurred to me that with the ground wire the balanced signal floats and as such can float above the logic level 1 or below 0, so no real data are transported.

Just like the YFS I had on the visit.

The "other ground" complicates the matter, I refer to the screen. In datatransportland the screen must be connected to quiet earth to behave properly. Otherwise you are better off without it (capacitive couplings of the wires to the screen). USB cables' screens are connected to the chassis of the two devices. Any grounding current for the balanced USB signal has to go though that path....

regards, Coen

[PeterSt]

Hey Coen - many thanks.

It occurred to me that with the ground wire the balanced signal floats

Didn't you intend to say "with the ground wire not connected the balanced signal floats" ?

[PeterSt]

Meanwhile ...

I don't know how I do it, and possibly I can earn some $$ with it in a circus or so, but :

The first round I ordered 20m of cable.
When all which was ordered for was produced, I was told that I did my calculations very well because 7cm of the cable was left (earlier on I told 20cm, but it was 7cm really). Well done.
But I didn't calculate anything against the orders; just thought it would be fine.

This afternoon I again was thrown such a compliment, this time about the outer dielectric :

I ordered 40 meters before round 1 was produced. Now round two is finished and one piece of ~60cm and one piece of ~50cm is left.
Thank you again, but it turned out automatically like this.

But actually I was lucky again (what could I have told you, who ordered and payed).

This also concludes round two unless someone can use a very short USB cable.

Thank you all.
Peter

[Stanray]

I see mine 

[PeterSt]

Careful, one is shorter than yours.

[Stanray]

9th from below?

[PeterSt]

That's what I estimated, looking at the photo and the length data on the screen here.

So LOL, I just walked downstairs to check and Yes. Label says "Stanley, 0,70".

Unless that's not you, all should be fine.



PS: Sorry we didn't label you Mr K.
haha

[Stanray]

So I won the prize of the day 

[PeterSt]

To be honest I thought of :

Next one ?
But no prizes to win !

But I didn't do it.
So yes Stanley, you definitely won the prize of the day.

[Gerard]

1 next to the paper roll?

 

[PeterSt]

Yes Gerard, but that is not fair. You have the smallest ...
Or shortest.
Something to be not so proud of ?

[Gerard]

Yes Gerard, but that is not fair. You have the smallest ...
Or shortest.
Something to be not so proud of ?

Yeh yeh yeh.... Had to ask 

[CoenP]

Didn't you intend to say "with the ground wire not connected the balanced signal floats" ?

Yes!

Salut, Coen

[PeterSt]

All,

Day before yesterday, when I was trying the Clairixa without power for its "working" in the first place (leading to the plus wire not connected at both ends), I thought to listen to it when I was at it anyway.

First impression during a brief 2 track listen during the day time : More air. Different anyway for sure.

Second impression during normal listening in the evening : way more bass.
What I also noticed happening is that right away many tracks went into my "Demo" folder for the Orelo MKII speaker (should be bass oriented). None of that happened since I use the Clairixa with the notice that at some stage it becomes difficult to find more "super bass" tracks after say a year trying to find them. So, a clear indication to me (read : quite objectively).

Later, when I was outside to sip a cigar (nasty habbit) it came to me that the same thing was happening to me now, decribed by scroobius (Paul) : the house shook. Strange experience because it felt like military practicing (explosions) because I was outside. Inside I did not notice that really. Outside I did, and since it was on the rythm of the music - it was the music (but I'm still scratching my head because so "abnormal" and observable outside only (door closed).

I focused explicitly on that bass for the "is it right ?" thing. I never found it to be wrong as such, and it was only that I in my mind it was a continuous "but why and how ?!".

Then, later again (think of a total span of 4-5 hours or so) I started to notice the "separation" between what the basses were doing and what the remainder of the music did. Disconnected or something.
Now the gag of the bass started to disappear and instead it started to be too profound. Annoying. Under way (but this was a bit more from the start I'd say) I also noticed rolled off highs. However, since I am also trying the new filters, I put this aside (stupidly).

Then the day was over and a new day started (yesterday).
This time, right away, it annoyed. What was in my mind from the day before now became profound in another way : no music. So this time I played "Demo" stuff from my Orelo MKII folder and what got in there over the past year because of sheer "happiness" now was no joy at all. I tried for 30 minutes and several tracks, and no-one did it. But also : too bass heavy. Overwhelming the highs *if* they didn't roll off in the first place.

After these 30 minutes I had to know and used the cable with power again (it is the same cable). I started with a track of which I knew I put it in that Orelo MKII Gallery the day before, just to see whether I would (have) put it in with the normally "powered" cable.
Well, I still recognized the track for its bass and maybe I would have put it in that Gallery anyway, but there wasn't much chance to observe it, because the machines turned into music again and I now liked it for *that*.


And so it happened again :
When something is wrong with USB there is more bass and less highs. I already told about it more often - it is just a sheer measure, but needs quite some experience to utilize it like a measure (and I can thus still waste a day on it).
This time I explicitly obeserved the bass to be "better". But this seems to be at the lowest end only (more individual vibrations at say 40Hz and under). Otherwise it's a too dark sound.
What I did not notice before - but this is because of the lacking experience with Windows 8 and this speaker and possibly much more (NOS1a, Blaxius, Clairixa itself, 1.186-a software) is that no MUSIC wanted to play. So the robot thing from W8 when it wasn't right.

All in other words : quite interesting at first, but a pitfall as usual.

The remainder of yesterday's evening all was fine. Nothing to watch for, nothing to jump out. Just lovely.

Regards,
Peter

[boleary]

Hey Peter, thanks for taking the time to sort out the virtues, or lack thereof, of a "data only" Clairixa. Now I won't have to mess around with the same effort!

[PeterSt]

Oh, you can try Brian. Maybe it's just me or my situation.
But I think in the end it is very similar to what others reported. But with different cables of course.

Regards,
Peter

[juanpmar]

All in other words : quite interesting at first, but a pitfall as usual.

The remainder of yesterday's evening all was fine. Nothing to watch for, nothing to jump out. Just lovely.

Regards,
Peter

Ufffff, I was sweating thinking I had to cancel the power in the Clairixa 

Juan

[AlainGr]

How to explain this result when the power is removed ? Logically it should induce less chance for power to "pollute" the data wires ?

Unless the electrical field that the power cable emits is "kind of" protecting the signal wires from something more harmful ?

Alain

[PeterSt]

How to explain this result when the power is removed ? Logically it should induce less chance for power to "pollute" the data wires ?

Unless the electrical field that the power cable emits is "kind of" protecting the signal wires from something more harmful ?

Well Alain, something like that I have suggested before. So, theoretically when such a cable is made for 90 Ohm impedance, all its parts must be taken into account;

One property is the capacitance of the wires and when a wire is not connected the capacitance will be different.
Another property is the inductance, and I have been thinking myself that *that* part is doing jobs here. This is much what you are saying, but don't ask me about the net work out. So the inductance the power part of the cable (the plus and the ground) nornally create and which is a(n emitting) "field" will now not be there.
Additionally (at least that is how I think) now the ground - which thus is used - will have its own and different effect on the inductance (more in co-operation with the data wires now ?).

Of course it is still beyond me how that can influence the sound (so much) and all I can think of is that it has to be related to the "thoroughness" of the transmission. Say, how much work the receiver has to do to "get the data right".
But I really don't know too much of that part; maybe I should by now.

What I, also by now, don't understand much is how the differential signal is supposed to work out as really that, when the ground as such is under influence of not only the data itself. So notice that a differential signal has a plus and opposite minus signal (each with opposite amplitude so they add (total amplitude is twice as large now) with in the middle of that a mid point - ground. But that ground does not need to be the midpoint because, apparently, it connects to some other explicit potential, say the PC's chassis and the DAC's chassis at the other end. These both chassis already don't need to be at the same potential (their ground reference is different). This, with now also the notice that at the DAC's (isolated !) end nothing is really there to change the potential of the ground wire in the USB cable and thus it is the same as how it is at the PC's end. At least this is how I see it at this moment.

Now notice how the isolated NOS1a can suddenly be under influence of the USB cable (at least much more as the not isolated NOS1. So the "ground loop" explicitly created for the normal NOS1 to balance out the potential between the PC and the DAC via the backdoor(s) (this is the interlink and also the mains) is not there any more. This in itself means that that the PC is under full control now, and anything changing there will change the ground potential of the cable itself.
Bad ?

No, because along with that should be/go the generated differential signal around that same ground, and nothing should change the signal (notice : for its balance between the amplitude of each of the single ended signals forming the differential signal). Fine.

But now we are using with vs without power wire;
I am not sure how I can fit in the story above with this, but when power is used with the same ground wire as is used for the data, then I feel that this power will influence the ground potential for the differential data wires. Thus, when the ground e.g. lifts a bit (was 0V and now becomes 0.1V) then the differential signal is out of balance. This will not only create different amplitudes as both halves of the differential signal, but also lag between the two (this is a bit difficult to explain but when you'd fold the two signals over each other (virtualize them to be not opposite any more) and next imagine that both need to "edge-trigger" something, then both will not do that at the same time).
And, because the triggering will happen at one "side" only (like on the upgoing slope only), this will imply a fairly large amount of jitter on the USB transfer (I had more explanation but it is too difficult to put to words without extensive drawings).

Anyway ... I think that the power part in the USB receiver will change the potential of the ground (that part is in front of the isolation) BUT ALSO that all should be made for that. Thus :
- Ground from PC plus nicely formed differential signal around that ground;
- Power from PC but also from DAC's receiver that uses the same ground.
- Net the ground is fine, because both above are taken into account of the design.
Disclaimer : I can't hold this up for devices which don't even use power, also thinking about the one wil use more of it than the other (so following my theory the ground will change more or less depening on the used power (current)).

So what I try to think is that NOT using the power while it was intended to be used, might change the ground potential in an unexpected way and now the differential signal is misformed.
I'm sure it is too far sought but I must try something. At least I now seem to be on a path of explanation how the isolation of the DAC makes the USB cable influence more profound. But I'm afraid that if I read back what I just sprouted, I won't even understand it myself.

Regards,
Peter

[AlainGr]

I don't understand the details that are at work from your explanations, but I hope I have grabbed enough to understand that each part has its importance and fiddling with them will trigger changes that are not for the better.

I suppose that dacs that use the USB 5V to function could benefit from an accessory like a iFi iUSB, but for the NOS1 this would NOT be the same.

What I am less sure of is these "Y" shaped USB cables that separate the power from the signal (I mean "Are they beneficial"), but to my ears the Clairixa is the most accurate cable I have and that the impedance is a perfect match.

Regards,

Alain

[PeterSt]

Clairixa owners of the second batch ... Your USB cable will arrive one of these days (all were shipped yesterday).

Because at first I was rather enthusiastic about the results without the power, we made a set of these for you all :

Two is enough - one is spare.

Below you can see how to apply it when you want to try without the power wire.

If you look above again, you see one of these self adhesive "pads" upside down. The protective paper is cut in the middle. Now you can peal off the bottom part (the thinner part) which goes to the inside of the connector.

Look above and below for the position of the pad for of the A connector.

Grab a tooth pick which you can put through the hole in the connector to additionally press the padd. Try to press it over its full length so it will stick everywhere.

Above you see where to put the pad for the B connector.


When you are finished with positioning and pressing the pad so it sticks well, you can peal off the other protective piece of paper and fold the tape as you see in in the pictures so that remainder part now will stick to the outside.
You can now put in the cable and pull it out and the pads will stay. Number of in/out times won't be infinite of course.


Already-owners of the Clairixa (or others) can make these pads like this :

Total length is 28-29mm.
The thin part is 3mm of width.
The wide part is 5mm of width.

Notice that the wide part is only wider so you an hold it better during the assembly - otherwise it has no function. However, it will stick better to the outside now as well.
The thin part should not be mangled with for its width.

Have fun,
Peter

[boleary]

Customer service? It just doesn't get any better! 

[sondale]

Peter,

Cables have arrived and are in the system - I think a brick is needed to stop my iFi dac being moved by them!

Update on the sound at the weekend.

Thanks

Alan

[PeterSt]

Hey Alan - eh ...

I think a brick is needed to stop my iFi dac being moved by them!

Too much of English for me !
Sorry, but what does it mean ? Something good I hope ?

Peter

[sondale]

Peter,

The iFi dac and USB power units are small and light, the cable is strong and does not bend easily, so the cable is quite capable of pushing these little boxes around hence the need for a heavy weight on top of them.

I assume the Phasure NOS 1 is somewhat heavier!

It reminds me of the time I had some Proac Tablettes and used a VERY thick microwave cable as speaker cable, the Tablettes had to be stuck firmly to the speaker stands.

Alan

[PeterSt]

Ah Alan. Ok, thanks for the elaboration.
Anyway I wouldn't try to bend the cable in too sharp bends, if you know what I mean.

But at least it seems that your "double" solution works in the first place.

Peter

[christoffe]

The last 4 weeks a $1 USB cable was in my system, due to the “SQ nearness” to the vinyl sound with my turntable.

My very first SQ impressions (within **25** sec)  of the Clairixa USB cable (power wire enabled)  was,

this is ***a SQ similar to*** the ”YSF data only” cable, but with

-   a stronger left/right separation
-   more speed
-   ***much*** more details*** ***
-   more resolution

and less ambience compared to the $1 USB cable. The deepness of the room image declined from 5m to 2m.

Joachim

[Robert]

Gosh got Clairixa today. Well everything is better. Less digital hash whatever that is. But when its less its better. Whole sound is better. $1 cable is cr*p as you would expect. Hearing things I never heard before, vocal harmony's standing out.

Gosh can I expect this sound to get better!!!!

Everything counts even if its digits!!! I'm amazed more havn't been positive. What are you listening for? I think some are not hearing the music!!!

Robert

[michaeljeger]

My Clarixa should also be on the way.

Having the Blaxius cable now and the new Abyss Headphone, I more and more realize how bad all those other digital sources out there are.

I am really super curious what the impact of the Clarixa cable in my chain will be.

Could it be Nirvana?

We will see.

[PeterSt]

Michael,

That stupid part did not arrive yet (comes from the UK and already Monday the order was processed so I don't know what's happening).

I will also openly admit : I forgot to put Michael on the internal list and I hate it. Then we ran out of that part ...


Peter

[PeterSt]

That stupid part did not arrive yet

Ha, it just did !
So your cable will ship today, Michael.

Regards,
Peter

[michaeljeger]

Hi Peter

Happy to hear that.

I might then be in Phasure Heaven next week, or so I hope.

Best, Michael

[christoffe]

Bl**dy hell,

the cable opened up dramatically after 4 to six hours.
Very “clean” sound of the wind instruments and the timbre of all instruments and voices in my system is amazing. The depth of the soundstage improved a lot.

The best USB cable in my system ever.

Joachim

[PeterSt]

Yes, well, ... I don't even know whether I said it already, but I had the idea myself that something changed after 2 hours or so. But I always find it hard to "dedicate" better sound to breaking in, especially when it seems to go in a sudden fashion.
And breaking- or burning-in of such a cable ... if it is so it is so. But I remain to think it is a strange phenomenon. So benefit of the doubt ...

Thank you Joachim,
Peter

[PeterSt]

Gosh can I expect this sound to get better!!!!

Super Robert ! and especially since you're not a NOS1(a) owner.

Best regards,
Peter

[listening]

I ordered a Clairixa cable made of one of remaining cable pieces and got not less than I expected - a reference cable! After readjusting all parameters of the USB interfaces I could use the SQ parameters for he first time as written in my forum profile without clicks. Apparently transmission errors are gone  and another curtain is drawn from the music! There is a rock stable positioning of the instruments, a lot of details, all around coherency and last but not least the bass SQ. Well done Peter!

Georg

[Arjan]

Hi,
I use the clairixa for >200 hrs and I love it. It needs some first hours to open up. But after the first hours bass and upper bass was still a bit to much. But now after this number of hours also the bass is beautiful. It replaced my audioquest coffee which sounded harsh, edgy and noisy compared to the clairixa.
What other usb cables are replaced by the clairixa, I mean expensive cables?
regards, Arjan

[Robert]

I didn't find the bass too much. But there is certainly more bass information. I was tempted to buy the Lightspeed but struggled with the cost. The Clairixa seemed much better value for money judging by reports. I wanted to upgrade the USB cable as by all accounts it was worthwhile.
Thanks to Peter now he can get on with updating XXhighend.

[boleary]

Well, since last Wednesday,  I let the Clairixa burn in for two and a half days and spent at least five hours on Friday listening to the system without any A-B-ing. The sound was fantastic, though different from what I've become accustomed to. Late Saturday, after again spending several hours listening, it seemed that i'd never heard the various drum solo's on the Bassface Swing Trio's Gerschwin album sound so real and energized.  However female vocals (Eva Cassidy, Claire Martin, Alanis Morrissette-accoustic Jagged Little Pill, Ana Caram) didn't sound quite as natural and textured: the timbre seemed a bit too energized, tending toward a less nuanced or textured or less analogue sound. I adjusted settings and found that with Peter's recommended NOS1a settings, 16x oversampling ( I usually only do 8x) and the device driver buffer set to 8ms the sound became more like the sound I get from my YFS V4 data only cable. However it wasn't until yesterday when I finally put the YFS cable back into the system that it became clear that the active 5v power leg of the Clairixa adds a level of noise that on the one hand "energizes" the sound, but on the other hand colors the sound in a way that leaves vocals less satisfying because they sound less natural.  With the YFS V4 cable the magic of a live vocal performance returned.

So I then applied the tape Peter supplied with the second round of Clairixa cables to the power leg of the Clairixa. Immediately the noise that had bothered before disappeared; however, the sound wasn't as spacious as the YFS cable and it seems, though I don't really have any idea if its true, but it seems to me that the spaciousness of the sound is related to the delicacy and naturalness of the timbre of vocals. The two seem to go hand in hand on my system. I didn't leave the Clairixa (with tape) in for too long so it may be that the sound will open up more with a few more hours of use.

A few conclusions: It pains me a bit being a contrarian. I would much rather be "in line" with the experience of others but that's just not the case here with the Clairixa. The energy and clarity of the Clairixa just sounds a bit "unnatural." One cannot discount the possibility that I have become addicted to a sound that is not quite right and the Clairixa is "upsetting" that, but, if that's the case, oh well.  I personally don't think so but who knows. Equally concerning to me is the fact that quite a few forum members here listened to the YFS Reference cable and have rejected it as sounding not right. Being the only one here, as far as I know, having listened to the YFS V4, rather than the Reference version, makes me wonder if the V4 isn't actually better sounding that the Reference? I was really hoping I'd get a turn with the YFS Reference cable when it returned to the US but I guess that's not to be, as I've not gotten any response to my last query about it.

Anyway for me the YFS cable sounds "truer," without any lack in detail or rolling off of the higher frequencies. Bass is taught and textured and vocals are just magical. The last thing I'll say about the difference is this: with the Clairixa, I had some trouble getting the volume "just right." One "Alt X" up and it was a tad too loud, "Alt X" down and it was a tad too soft. With the V4 I simply have a range of undistorted,  pleasurable levels of loudness. I hope that makes sense.

Lastly, I want to say that I am very glad to have gone through this experience. It has been totally worth it to once again assess the overall sound of my system!

Brian

 

[PeterSt]

Hi there Brian - super report ... thank you for that !

Now let me (try to) tell you something that actually has been told already ... new filters. Not to explicitly counteract on what you perceive, but because I can just "hear" what you ran into now. And remember, some of us have the finest ears and I regard you to be amongst those. Also, I think, and have always thought, that you focus on the hardest part of "music" as such - women vocals.

Now, while I actually already planned to tell the exact same as I am going to do right now, it is only the context which changed (to me) - your report. Here goes :

For two or three weeks now, I am using the latest incarnation of (one of the) new filters I have been creating;
Three days agso I was as far as thinking : hey, strange actually, but in all this time I never ever ran into *anything* that did not sound right or harsh or whatever. This, while when playing random music (meaning not for explicit testing this time) will always let me run into something of which I think "maybe later, but not yet today". Even on a daily basis, while now it did not happen in them 2-3 weeks (which for me implies something like 80 hours of playing).

Then I was thinking ... is it the Clairixa or is it the new filter ?
Well, it must be the combination, but it has to be the filter really.

After this thinking 3 days ago, I started to watch for what it actually can be that does not "hurt" anywhere any more. Could be complicated, but one of the things I noticed since, was this :

When you'd play modern recordings for a longer time it now starts to be noticable that some of the older, but from certain era, sound rolled off. Yes. But where ? hey, in the lower highs end or something. Say maybe 4-5KHz. Could be the hit on a snare drum (with snare On). I noticed this with Deep Purple in Rock, which never sounded rolled off to me (say like Machine Head does). But now the strange thing : nothing of the sort for the highest highs !
So see, officially this does not fit, were it about a high frequency distortion, but ... but ...
(note in between : I hardly play those Deep Purple albums because ... they distort)

It is very clear to me that the Clairixa adds spades of "high frequency". You can hear it in everything, especially the (now more) older recordings. 60's and such. Also, there is nothing wrong with this if you allow yourself to ditch an album here and there because it's too much of it. On thing : that should not be albums which were OK before, and those I never ran into anyway (with Clairixa).
But something of an other way round happens ...

The highest frequencies we tend to hear are not those of very high pitched (sine) flutes. So no, we must think about some way lower frequency like maybe 1000Hz or even lower but the sound implied being fairly square (hardly any sound is pure sine). Like a snare drum with its snare activated. Or, a woman voice. Just low key, but because of the nature of such a voice, fairly square and that ending up in high frequencies which disturb when not right.
But how ? well, because those frequencies are not 100% in the first place. That's what happens when you give priority to the time domain (zero ringing); now the frequency domain is not the best and this plainly means distortion.

Now pass on that distortion better just because a stupid USB cable apparently can do that. Well, all it needs is focusing on those sounds hence for example woman voices and you will easily hear it.
Uhm, I do. But I learned not to play the Griffin's and all. "Just don't sound right".

What the new filters do is making the audible range (as how I see that !) "undistorted" and which would be applicable to the 12KHz-16KHz range, and roll off the frequencies where this is not possible (because otherwise ringing occurs) and this is at 16KHz and above.
... And if you then apply Clairixa, all is in super balance - over here at least.
And next it occurs to you, without paying attention to it, that you never shut off any album or track in even 2-3 weeks of time.

Also, if you combine this (filter) with the unpowered Clairixa, it immediately becomes apparent that now you lost high frequency (stuffed ears situation).

To see what I mean you could try the 768 Custom filter that comes along with 1.186-i. Notice though that this one was not really optimized as how they are now for the next version, plus I am using a very different filter myself (doing way "more" than that 768 filter does). But you might be able to see in what direction it goes and I am fairly 100% sure you will hear the distortion after a couple of hours playing with it, going back to normall Arc Prediction. And how does normal Arc Prediction express ? way more detail if you play the "wrong" tracks. But play the right ones (could be Cassidy) you'll hear the distortion.
Notice that because of the detail I, at some stage, went back to normal Arc Prediction (say 6 months ago). But if I'd use the Clairixa today *and* normal Arc Prediction it would be too much (distortion) for me. So Clairixa really adds more highs (way more) but actually all it does it let pass on more with which it is fed. And with Arc Prediction you can hear that this is not correct.

But of course this is how I said in this topic somewhere that Clairixa gave me the reason (opportunity) to proceed with the filters, which I actually gave up upon.
Thus careful, you may perceive what I just described for direction of the filter you have ... and if it's good it's good ... but I really use something else. Hopefully out soon now !

Best regards,
Peter

[AlainGr]

Hi Peter,

Reading Brian's report, I wonder if beyond a certain point, what is "too much" with a component (or an accessory) will be tamed or emphasized with other components (and accessories)... It seems logical to me to assess that some cables (or components) may "filter" in a way or another and that determines the different results that each of us hear...

I know I am writing the "obvious" but just to be sure: are you saying that Arc Prediction may not be the best when you compare it with the other filters you have worked on with 1.186i and the next version ?

Thanks.

Alain

[PeterSt]

Hey Alain,

I, personally, don't see much wrong with your asessments. But still it is not easu to see through all of it (again, as how I see it);

Reading Brian's report, I wonder if beyond a certain point, what is "too much" with a component (or an accessory) will be tamed or emphasized with other components (and accessories)...

First off, I don't think that anything can be "too much" as such. However, the "emphasizing" is key here.
So for example, if we use a filter which in the end is a more or less distorting filter, we can't really say we "emphasize" it when we only make better audible what the music file tells us to hear. I mean, that would only happen when we apply an amplifier to that part of the frequency spectrum. So it's a bit the other way around (as usual, from my sprouting) :
If we apply something which passes on better what's in there (the music file) but next what's made of it (via the filtering) isn't the very best, then possibly we better had not applied that whatever it is (Clairixa in this case).

It seems logical to me to assess that some cables (or components) may "filter" in a way or another

So yes. But now one thing which has been strategy forever : what I (always and ever) do is filter as few as possible and thus pass on as much as possible. Best example could be the Blaxius interlink, which was made to pass on 5-6GHz of frequency. So only beyond that it filters (if all is right). A strange way to approach audio ...

This is especially strange if we see that the digital filtering - and for those with NOS1(a) this is without any analog filters either - implies at least high frequency sh*t beyond 768KHz ... and we now do all our best to pass that on. So notice - this is what it comes down to, really.

This was just an example, and it should be a harmless one (the level of that HF is way down). But so many more things can be "wrong". Fact for my own life is : all what's eliminated for filtering in the general sense (like cables can), works out for the better. And where not, something else must be solved. That is, this is my strategy and this always worked.
Do notice once again that any explicit filtering means, as far as my ears can perceive those, exactly 100% never worked out. Thus, anything (really anything that I ran into) that filtered the highs, may have solved e.g. harshness, but it never lead to anything close to satisfaction. It is what you're used to perhaps, but once my cymbals sound fairly the same as the real drum kit, I can't listen to muffled ones later. But if they sound sharp and such because of the high output, I must find the source of that sharpness. And thus don't solve it with filtering the HF.

Point in this case is : when the digital filtering is not optimal, it *creates* HF. But this is false !! So any distorting sine is not a sine but more square, and anything "square" implies unavoidavle higher frequencies to represent it. And the danger : this sounds more fresh. But it *is* distortion.

So other way around again : If I first use filtering cables (interlink is the best example again) I won't even hear the distortion the filter CRE-ATES. And back to today's base : if I eliminate some of that analogue filtering, I can suddenly hear it (you too) and now we must work on that digital filter.

are you saying that Arc Prediction may not be the best

So yes. Notice though that during the process my highest frequency output may have been risen with 12dB or whatever. Really very much !
This is the result of many progress over the years but meanwhile it is way more difficult to let sustain those highs in good fashion. I mean, 12 dB louder makes it 12dB better audible what's wrong in there.

To be clear : Arc Prediction serves the time domain for 100%. This means no ringing at all. But correct it never is. It implies fairly high THD in the higher frequencies.
THD can be made quite close to 100% correct - as far as the hardware (equipment like amp and DAC) allows. But close to 100% correct means close to infinite ringing (really so).
So the trick is to find the optimum, and the new filters do that. At least as how I could make it today; still no ringing, but - and this is the fun - again higher output of the higher frequencies (say between 12KHz 16KHz) and with less distortion. Both go together anyway and all what I should be saying is : if someone thinks that Clairixa might exhibit too HF output and therefore will not like it, then I have even more output there and it only got *better*.

This is all very very fragile and it is also so that all goes together. The better one part gets, the more audible will the not-so-right part become. And so for me all is one large iteration, forever as it seems. And the conclusion is seriously one only : the better it becomes the more high (level) the HF output *has* become (automatically). This should tell that for any situation which incurs for the other way around, something else is not at its best yet. Just find it ... (ahum).

Peter

[boleary]

Thanks Peter. Probably won't be till the weekend untill I get time to listen to the Clairixa (no tape) with the 768 filter. Hopefully the new version of XXhighend will be out before then. 

Brian

[sondale]

 Diary of a Break-In

Please note that the following relates to using TWO USB cables to run my iFi iDAC and iDSD Micro; at the start point I had not removed services nor used MinimizeOS.

Day 1 - the cables arrive and both are put into the system replacing the iFi supplied cables. Initial thoughts were nothing much changed, slightly thicker sound in the mid, perhaps a touch more detail at the top and possibly a little more bass. I ran this for a couple of hours only.

Day 2 - Dynamics have improved, for instance on Michael Hedges 'Aerial Boundaries' when he plucks the strings or raps the guitar body the effect is visceral, it reminds me of my best vinyl setup. Bass is extended but tight, top end is nicely detailed. Played Piano, Orchestral, Jazz - all sounding better than yesterday.

Day 3 - I decided to set Time Performance Index to Optimal, rebooted, all seemed OK for a few minutes and then I noticed some low level ticking noises and distortion. I checked the connections, rebooted the pc, no change. So I reset TPI, rebooted, played the same music - the low-level ticking is still present as is the distortion. I went from x16 upsampling back down to x1, i.e. Redbook, and the ticking/distortion went away. I know that in my days running cMP2 I always ended up running without any upsampling. NOW the imaging is all over the place, front to back is reduced, central images are a little indistinct sounding almost out of phase. After a while of head scratching I took the cables out of the system and watched the TV for the rest of the evening. At midnight I relented, put the cables back in, set the pc to repeatedly play a Telarc sampler and left it to run overnight.

Day 4. What an improvement, sounding better in all ways, imaging, detail, bass. Played some choral works - groups of voices and individual voices are easier to hear and locate.

Day 5. Only manages to listen to some Arvo Part - quietly - again good imaging, detail, vocals.

Day 6. Trying to sort out a neighbour's subwoofer.

Day 7. Oh dear - back to the thick voices - just listening to Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner - sounds a little chesty as if she is getting a cold. I have just read 'boleary's' post and I can relate to most of his findings (at least today!). OK today may be because it is a weekday when the mains is at its worst but so was day 2.

What is that Chinese curse? 'May you live in interesting times'.

The iFi dac is normally powered by the iUSB, but just for the sake of identifying any other problems I will run it battery only which removes one of the new cables.

[PeterSt]

Wow Alan ...

Question first : Did you get rid of that ticking at normal upsampling rates ? You don't mention it. But it seems that from there (this Time Performance Index thing) did something and wasn't recoverd from. Am I correct ?

Let me know ... (and maybe start a new topic about it ?)
Peter

[PeterSt]

Because I had to put it up soon anyway ...

Filtering

Peter

[sondale]

Peter,

Yes the ticking went away after I took out the resampling of x16; however thinking about it now I am going to try values from x1 to x16.

I will leave the two USB cables as they are, i.e. change nothing else.

I will be opening a few more support threads so I will post findings in that section.

Alan

[PeterSt]

Yes the ticking went away after I took out the resampling of x16; however thinking about it now I am going to try values from x1 to x16.

Alan, yes, I understood that. But while engaging that "Optimum" setting should not imply ticking (though I guess it can) when going back to the "mid" value of that, all should be back to normal. So something has to be seriously wrong in the first place (now).
So yes, please open a topic for that if you can't get back to normal any more.

Thanks !
Peter

[vrao]

Hi,

Update on my side.

I was waiting for newer filter, maybe what Peter had was better for the Clarixia?!

Clarixia is no longer playing in the system. I'm exclusively using AQvox for the last few weeks after my initial report. I A-B ed more extensively, and found AQvox to be more "natural" sounding. Better soundstage, smoother (natural) presentation. AQvox has been the best overall cable I've tried so far with the present version of the XXHE I'm using.

VJ

[PeterSt]

I was waiting for newer filter, maybe what Peter had was better for the Clarixia?!

VJ, did you try that Custom filter with it ?
(I don't recall that we talked about this so I am not sure where your text (quote) springs from - or maybe we did talk about it)

Peter

[vrao]

Hi Peter,
I believe so ...
 

[michaeljeger]

This is going to be a very different review of the Clairixa Cable.

So basically..... hooked it up...... let it run for 4 hours without listening to it.

Well, after the second song I listened to it.... I peed in my pants.....

What a difference to my old cable!!

Listening as I write.....

[boleary]

I wonder if beyond a certain point, what is "too much" with a component (or an accessory) will be tamed or emphasized with other components (and accessories)... It seems logical to me to assess that some cables (or components) may "filter" in a way or another and that determines the different results that each of us hear...

Alain's quote, above, made me think about the footers I use under my NOS1a: Daruma 3II isolation bearings. (see: http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue1/daruma.htm) These footers consist of a stainless steel bearing sandwiched between two aluminum cups. The company doesn't exist anymore. If I recall correctly, there has been some discussion in this forum that "hard" or metal footers under the NOS1 provide a more focused but sharper sound, while softer material, provides a less sharp sound. Shouldn't we include the type of footer used under the NOS1a when describing the sound of a particular usb cable? Perhaps the ultra focused sound of the footers I use in combination with the Clairixa is too much "clarity", but paired with the softer sounding YFS cable, I achieved a "just right" synergy? Geeze,
more testing to do!

Brian

[Arjan]

Hi Brian,

Might be a good suggestion. I complained about to much (upper) bass.

I use bearing footer / ikea bamboo / bicycle tube. The softness of the tube has a lot of influence on the (upper) bass.

regards, Arjan

[christoffe]

.... provides a less sharp sound.

Hi Brian,

your very low SFS = *.4* has a tendency to a sharpness with some cables too. I increased the SFS therefore up to 2.

Joachim

[michaeljeger]

The sound with the new USB Cable seems now perfect.

I think the mids are also more balanced.

Wider soundstage.

A new level of realism.

I am also sure some mild distortions in the mids are now gone.

WOW, just WOW.

[PeterSt]

Hi Clairixa owners,

The past two days I wasn't satisfied with my sound at all.
But what did I change ?

Working on the new version of XXHighEnd I got the CoverArt working under Windows 8 and the situation "Keep LAN - Not Persist". Together with that the "Stop Remaining Services". Now please notice :

Since the NOS1a I did not stop the Remaining Services and I also kept the LAN running. This because of
a. It shouldn't make a difference anyway (and I didn't notice any);
b. I wanted the Coverart working which otherwise would not (Unattended).

Right after I got this working day before yesterday ... no music. Too thin, not enough colour in the cymbals and such. Again back to the beginning of Windows 8 days, as it seemed (when playing in Normal OS Mode could sound better).

Yesterday I sustained these settings, thinking it could be me. But no happiness.
Then tonight I dared changed back to the settings I am using for almost a year now.
And all sounds again as what I was used to since, well, the Clairixa.

So this must be related I think. And now I wonder ...
Do people use the Clairixa with all those services shut off ? If so, maybe try without that. So like in my case :

Windows 8;
Minimized OS;
Stop Desktop Services;
Stop WASAPI Services;
Keep LAN Services - Persistent;
(and I have set Use Remote Desktop - just because I do;
Unattended.

I think it makes a huge difference ...

Peter

Edit :
PS: Just change those sesttings while being in Minimized OS. So assumed you booted (ever) into MinOS with all shut off, just switch it on without leaving MinOS or rebooting.

[Arjan]

Hi Peter,

I am one of these people....

MinOS is a must. But all service ON is better. Thank you!
Seems more energy and slightly larger image.

Tried it first without MinOS, but that makes the lows worse and less 3D.

Regards, Arjan

[AlainGr]

For the moment I have removed the Clairixa from my system and put back the Clearlink Plus USB cable that I had previously... The reason is that I find the Clairixa a little too accurate, up to the point that I find the sound "bright". If there is one thing that Clairixa brings, it would be that it may point to some flaws in my system and I need to address this.

I will of course try it again in a comparison with the Clearlink but I will also have to take care of other aspects of my installation...

There comes a point where details are so important that the least flaw will be very revealing and one needs to redo his homeworks...

Alain

[PeterSt]

The past two days I wasn't satisfied with my sound at all.
But what did I change ?

Well, stupid me changed something else as well at the same day, but I didn't realize that;

After a "fight" of  week and thinking that my Clairixa had a burn-out or something, day before yesterdat I found what I did elsewhere and yesterday that was undone. What a relief.

Btw, what I changed is unimportant. But with that undone, to my belief the sound is better now with the LAN off. But this is after one day of listening only and a reference of more than a week old, so maybe I'm dreaming. Also it is not the most important. The fact that I said something wrong, is. Sorry about that.

Peter

[JohanZ]

Peter,
The other settings remain as you suggested?
Minimized OS;
Stop Desktop Services;
Stop WASAPI Services;
Keep LAN Services - Persistent; off
(and I have set Use Remote Desktop - just because I do;
Unattended.
Johan

[PeterSt]

Hi Johan,

Now I am not sure what you are referring to. I mean, "remain as suggested" for what purpose ?

But assumed that you want the list for the best SQ and what I am listening to at this moment, then it is this :

Minimized OS;
Stop Desktop Services;
Stop Remaining Services;
Stop WASAPI Services;
Keep LAN Services - Persistent Off;
(and I have set Use Remote Desktop - just because I do;
Unattended.

... but don't ask me how moot this is or what does and does not (really) work because my version is a little different.
The least you will see is that the Wallpaper Coverart does not work (Windows 8 for sure).

It is better to state that nothing changed (see link in my sig), already because I listened to this for 1 day only.
But you can soon yourself (with full functionality).

Regards,
Peter


PS: The boot into MinOS, for me, was via the link in my Sig anyway. So after that I apply the list above. And at least with the "Persistent" setting I had to change something for that, and you won't have that.

[boleary]

Well, since last Wednesday,  I let the Clairixa burn in for two and a half days and spent at least five hours on Friday listening to the system without any A-B-ing. The sound was fantastic, though different from what I've become accustomed to. Late Saturday, after again spending several hours listening, it seemed that i'd never heard the various drum solo's on the Bassface Swing Trio's Gerschwin album sound so real and energized.  However female vocals (Eva Cassidy, Claire Martin, Alanis Morrissette-accoustic Jagged Little Pill, Ana Caram) didn't sound quite as natural and textured: the timbre seemed a bit too energized, tending toward a less nuanced or textured or less analogue sound. I adjusted settings and found that with Peter's recommended NOS1a settings, 16x oversampling ( I usually only do 8x) and the device driver buffer set to 8ms the sound became more like the sound I get from my YFS V4 data only cable. However it wasn't until yesterday when I finally put the YFS cable back into the system that it became clear that the active 5v power leg of the Clairixa adds a level of noise that on the one hand "energizes" the sound, but on the other hand colors the sound in a way that leaves vocals less satisfying because they sound less natural.  With the YFS V4 cable the magic of a live vocal performance returned.

So this was my impression on March 30th, but, it turns out, that impression was with an NOS1a-75B that wasn't right. Apparently, the local guy who removed/installed the 75 ohm output resistors, when I converted to 75B,  screwed it up: when removing one of the original resistors, he also removed the the contact attached to the pcb that the resistor is soldered too. So, by my estimation, I was only ever hearing about 80% of the NOS1a upgrade. Encountering problems, I had to package up and ship my DAC to Peter, where this problem was diagnosed and repaired. For the last ten days, I have been completely blown away by the full and correct sound of the NOS1a-75B upgrade. There now seems to be endless high end resolution. Using an SPL meter has become essential to the preservation of my hearing; otherwise, without realizing it,  I could spend hours listening at levels that would certainly damage my hearing!

So how does the Clarixa sound now? Tone and timbre of vocals are every bit as textured and natural as my data only cable. All brightness or glare has disappeared. Every time I put the Clarixa in the system it feels totally correct and my first thought is that I don't see any reason to ever change this cable. However, when I put the data only cable back in, and I have gone through this exercise several times, I am even more surprised. It is now the V4, data only, that has a bit more sparkle and energy. The Clairixa has a darker, less translucent, and more "solid" sound. Now, I've never heard of "translucent sound" but I think it describes what I'm hearing: a kind of airiness that allows for pinpoint focus but, at the same time, is like a live performance where all individual sounds are merged into kind of "wall of sound." Very hard to describe but very, very pleasing.

Regarding my problems with the NOS1a-75B, I would be remiss if I didn't mention what incredible customer service I received from Peter and Ciska. The email support and turn around time were amazing! IT JUST DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET!

Brian

[PeterSt]

Thank you for your all so kind words, Brian. I suppose that's what customers are for ?
(not sure what I'm saying)

The Clairixa has a darker, less translucent, and more "solid" sound.

About the solid : I am sure I described that the very same (but with different wording). So my "solid" was/is about the robustness of the music itself not inlfuencing the cable (or whatever it was before). Still hard to describe, but it is about no frequencies influencing the other.
Is that what you mean ?

Thanks !
Peter

[Mamba315]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention what incredible customer service I received from Peter and Ciska. The email support and turn around time were amazing! IT JUST DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET

When I sent in my NOS1 for the "a" upgrade, it was only gone 1 week.  Shipped halfway around the world (California to Netherlands), upgraded, fully tested, shipped back to California, and back in my hands within a week.  I'm still blown away by this...

Now it's currently packed as I prepare to move.   

[AlainGr]

When I sent in my NOS1 for the "a" upgrade, it was only gone 1 week.  Shipped halfway around the world (California to Netherlands), upgraded, fully tested, shipped back to California, and back in my hands within a week.  I'm still blown away by this...

Now it's currently packed as I prepare to move.   

I understand the feeling... But I suppose you will unpack it at the speed of light when you will be in your new surroundings

Regards,

Alain

[PeterSt]

Now it's currently packed as I prepare to move.   

Hey !
Well, for someone who lives in a location with one of the best views in the world ... I would be sad !!
Still I think a "congrats !" would be appropriate ?

Regards,
Peter

[boleary]

About the solid : I am sure I described that the very same (but with different wording). So my "solid" was/is about the robustness of the music itself not influencing the cable (or whatever it was before). Still hard to describe, but it is about no frequencies influencing the other.
Is that what you mean ?

If what you mean is that the various frequencies are not changed by the cable I would say yes, that's what I mean. Or do you mean that the Clairixa keeps the various frequencies from influencing each other?

[PeterSt]

The latter is what I meant.
How to tell about the former ?

[vrao]

For Phasure-ites with mid/upper bass prominence with the Clarixia, I would urge them to try vibration isolation. It also eliminated the treble harshness I previously experienced!

The name "Clarixia" actually suits the cable now! 

VJ

[pedal]

Dear Peter,

After reading this thread I definately need to buy the Clarixia!

Pls advise delivery terms for (approximately) 3m length.

[PeterSt]

Hi there pedal,

There's some cable left for you and if needed we can make and ship it on Monday.

Price is 260 and 45 for the shipping to Norway.
No shipping costs if it is combined with the upgrade of your NOS1 to NOS1a of course. Just saying ...

Best regards !
Peter

[pedal]

Hi there pedal,

There's some cable left for you and if needed we can make and ship it on Monday.

Price is 260 and 45 for the shipping to Norway.
No shipping costs if it is combined with the upgrade of your NOS1 to NOS1a of course. Just saying ...

Best regards !
Peter

Great!
I hereby confirm the cable order. The formalities we take by email.

I will for 100% sure update my NOS1 DAC, but not right now. After dusting off and firing up the Hi-Fi (after a 15 months hiatus - can you imagine THAT???) my wife got so happy that she invited lots of friends to our house for dinner & concert on the 7th November. So have to keep the DAC in service till after that, at least.

Besides, I prefer to do one change at the time, and I really want to investigate deeply into this Silverstone soundcard issue once and for all.


 

UPDATE: The Silverstone (ground-lifted both ends) lasted only 5 songs in my system, before I went back to the usual USB3 from the PC MOB.

First impression is that the Silverstone emphasizes the presence/treble, while at the some time (or as a function of), the bass is less prominent.
 

[PeterSt]

Here's how we brand-mark Clairixa today :

Regards,
Peter

[Stanray]

 

What is the planning and procedure?

Regards,
Stanley

[AlainGr]

Super cool !

Alain

[PeterSt]

What is the planning and procedure?

Hi Stanley,

Maybe there's a misunderstanding somewhere, but what do you mean ?
And just saying : might you have gotten the idea that we are now going to "re-brand" all the existing cables ... No (haha). Of course we can (for free) if you like that, but this isn't what you meant, or ?

Regards,
Peter

[Stanray]

Hi Peter,

I was referring to the 20(?)cm Clairixa for the Intona.
Did I miss something?

Regards,
Stanley

[PeterSt]

Stanley,

It looks like I have been missing something, or very maybe you. This was all "happening" the past few weeks and yesterday all shipped. You were not on my list.

The confusing part possibly is because this was dealt with in the Intona topic plus most people ordered by email. So I guess it was easy to miss. And to be honest, I can have missed "you: just the same of course.

Do you want one ?
Easy to ship it today so you'd have it tomorrow. But let me know soon of course.

Best regards,
Peter

[Stanray]

Hi Peter,

I've sent an email.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Regards,
Stanley

[PeterSt]

Stanley, no problem at all; I had made one extra for myself, so I too have the same length as you all have. But I didn't connect it yet and now it is on its way to you ...
   

Regards,
Peter

[Tintin]

Hi Peter, just having joined the forum, could you tell me how I would buy a Clairixa USB?

Cheers Martin
(had a quick search, couldn't see how, or pm mechanism or such like)

[PeterSt]

Hi Martin,

Sorry for your troubles finding me. PM as such is a matter of going into My Messages at the top of the screen you're looking at right now.
I just sent you an email to the address you used for the forum.

Kind regards,
Peter

[ciccio1112]

Hi Peter he profited one from 30 cm length for my usb isolator intone, what should I do? Thanks.

[PeterSt]

Hi Peter he profited one from 30 cm length for my usb isolator intone, what should I do? Thanks.

This was dealt with via email (because I could not understand ).