Lush^2 - Share your configuration experiences

[lmitche]

31 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Your feedback makes me feel happy that I don't have a second Lush2. My life is simpler.

And trust me when I say there are lots of other puzzles here.

[hykhleif]

i got the lush2 to use with my hugo tt2, what an amazing cable one of the best purchases

 

i have an intona usb isolator but I can not make up my mind after getting the usb lush if I still need it with hugo tt2

 

any thoughts on this

[robocop]

Well I own an Intona isolator MKI and in the end I removed it for good. It does have a cleanup effect but not without taking something away from the music. I would leave it out and get used to the Lush2 which has three settings you should try. Certainly get used to default setting before trying others.

 

In the light of the HugoTT2 this already has a well designed isolated USB input negating the need for the Intona. In my view Intona fills a need with Dac's that don't have isolated USB inputs and these would be older Dacs by definition.

[hykhleif]

11 hours ago, robocop said:

Well I own an Intona isolator MKI and in the end I removed it for good. It does have a cleanup effect but not without taking something away from the music. I would leave it out and get used to the Lush2 which has three settings you should try. Certainly get used to default setting before trying others.

 

In the light of the HugoTT2 this already has a well designed isolated USB input negating the need for the Intona. In my view Intona fills a need with Dac's that don't have isolated USB inputs and these would be older Dacs by definition.

thanks for the reply

 

is there a general summary of how the 3 settings differ from each other

[robocop]

Check previous page 34 for comments on Lush 2 settings.

[Peti]

Guys, I need advice here, please. What variation/combination of this wonderful usb cable would you suggest with more bass and warmth for a system that has highs that could be at times piercing? I don't mind if I lose some openness or clarity, I just want to see how it'd work out in my system. I used to follow this thread regularly but it's been a while and I don't have time going through all the pages again. I hope someone can chime in. Thank you.

[simonp]

How is your system, wich setup is used?  

[Peti]

Win10 -> JRiver26 -> Fidelizer Pro -> Lush2 USB cable -> Woo WA8 with Sylvania 6021 black plate D-getter 3 mica from 1956 -> Cardas Clear Cable -> Sennheiser HD800SDR headphones

[TheAttorney]

On 2/24/2020 at 5:13 AM, Peti said:

Guys, I need advice here, please. What variation/combination of this wonderful usb cable would you suggest with more bass and warmth for a system that has highs that could be at times piercing? I don't mind if I lose some openness or clarity...

 

I suggest you try JSSG360cubed (WYR  WYR, all colours connected together other than black) for more bass and warmth.

However, a single cable can only do so much if there are weak links in the rest of the system...

 

I see you have a PC or laptop directly connected to your DAC/AMP. In the past, I've also had a W10 laptop with JRiver and Roon and Fidelizer Pro (and more recently a NUC) directly connected by USB to a DAC. And IMO you can't completely get rid of that "digital glare" without doing more significant signal cleaning - by an endpoint like microRendu and/or a USB cleaner/regenerator like ISORegen. Or get a fundamentally better source to start with. The downside to these recommendations is a never ending spiral into madness, but such is life for an audiophile 🙂.

 

So try the above Lush config first, and hopefully that will be enough to stop you going mad.

 

 

 

 

[lmitche]

1 hour ago, TheAttorney said:

I suggest you try JSSG360cubed (WYR  WYR, all colours connected together other than black) for more bass and warmth.

I second that suggestion. Even better try adding another (4th) layer of shielding with the ends tied to the other three.

 

Yesterday a MuMetal braid was added to my .4 meter Lush 2 cable. It was initially configured as two jssg360s. That was an improvement, but something was missing. Tying all 4 ends together fixed that, and the results is more image weight and clarity across the spectrum.

 

[Peti]

3 hours ago, lmitche said:

I second that suggestion. Even better try adding another (4th) layer of shielding with the ends tied to the other three.

 

Yesterday a MuMetal braid was added to my .4 meter Lush 2 cable. It was initially configured as two jssg360s. That was an improvement, but something was missing. Tying all 4 ends together fixed that, and the results is more image weight and clarity across the spectrum.

 

 

4 hours ago, TheAttorney said:

 

I suggest you try JSSG360cubed (WYR  WYR, all colours connected together other than black) for more bass and warmth.

However, a single cable can only do so much if there are weak links in the rest of the system...

 

I see you have a PC or laptop directly connected to your DAC/AMP. In the past, I've also had a W10 laptop with JRiver and Roon and Fidelizer Pro (and more recently a NUC) directly connected by USB to a DAC. And IMO you can't completely get rid of that "digital glare" without doing more significant signal cleaning - by an endpoint like microRendu and/or a USB cleaner/regenerator like ISORegen. Or get a fundamentally better source to start with. The downside to these recommendations is a never ending spiral into madness, but such is life for an audiophile 🙂.

 

So try the above Lush config first, and hopefully that will be enough to stop you going mad.

 

 

 

 

Great advice, thank you. Yes, I have a laptop as source and I have been thinking to get a usb isolation device but the fact that the usb section of my dac is galvanically isolated kept me from pulling the trigger on one such device. However, I would like to ask for a little elaboration regarding the WYR WYR setting on the usb cable. How does it look like in real life? Thank you

[TheAttorney]

1 hour ago, Peti said:

 

... I have been thinking to get a usb isolation device but the fact that the usb section of my dac is galvanically isolated kept me from pulling the trigger on one such device. However, I would like to ask for a little elaboration regarding the WYR WYR setting on the usb cable. How does it look like in real life? Thank you

 

Just about every DAC  designer in the universe will give a great explanation as to why their super design is totally immune from upstream issues. And you can have a whole series of galvanically isolated devices in the chain, each one of them apparently perfect.

And yet.... they're simply not perfect. I think it's more a case that the better the source (the server/streamer with specialist audiophile USB boards, clocks, power supplies etc), the less gain there is to be had from external reclockers/cleaners.

 

I don't have a diagram of WYR to hand, but just connect the White, Yellow and Red wires to 3 of the of 4 pins that are close together (nearest the red dot in the 4 + 2 pin block), and leave the black wire dangling in air. Do the same at both ends.

[mikey8811]

2 minutes ago, TheAttorney said:

 

Just about every DAC  designer in the universe will give a great explanation as to why their super design is totally immune from upstream issues. And you can have a whole series of galvanically isolated devices in the chain, each one of them apparently perfect.

And yet.... they're simply not perfect. I think it's more a case that the better the source (the server/streamer with specialist audiophile USB boards, clocks, power supplies etc), the less gain there is to be had from external reclockers/cleaners.

 

I don't have a diagram of WYR to hand, but just connect the White, Yellow and Red wires to 3 of the of 4 pins that are close together (nearest the red dot in the 4 + 2 pin block), and leave the black wire dangling in air. Do the same at both ends.

 

@TheAttorney I was also reading your earlier post and mistook TANF for Blaxius 2D as [W]BY [W]BY .

 

I guess it should be A:[W]Y  B:[W]YR .

 

Did you not like TANF on the Blaxius 2D ?

 

I am not using Blaxius 2D from Chord Scaler to DAC but instead from CD transport to DAC.

 

Thanks

[TheAttorney]

24 minutes ago, mikey8811 said:

 

@TheAttorney I was also reading your earlier post and mistook TANF for Blaxius 2D as [W]BY [W]BY .

 

I guess it should be A:[W]Y  B:[W]YR .

Did you not like TANF on the Blaxius 2D ?

 

It's not possible to get TANF on Blaxius 2D because of the fixed white wire.

So I settled for [W]BY [W]BY as best sounding to me for Blaxius 2D, but it has nothing to do with TANF, which is only suitable for Lush2 (and maybe the non-D version of Blaxius2)

[mikey8811]

@TheAttorney if the white wire is always connected, then can't you replicate TANF on Blaxius 2D as:

 

A:[W]Y  B:[W]YR

 

Since on the Lush 2 it is:

 

A:W-Y     B:WYR

 

unless I am  misunderstanding the notation.

 

I tried [W]BY [W]BY but it was too boomy in the bass and fat sounding.

 

Is there something else you can suggest for Blaxius 2D ?

 

Thanks

[TheAttorney]

13 hours ago, mikey8811 said:

@TheAttorney if the white wire is always connected, then can't you replicate TANF on Blaxius 2D as:

 

A:[W]Y  B:[W]YR

Since on the Lush 2 it is:

A:W-Y     B:WYR

unless I am  misunderstanding the notation.

 

I tried [W]BY [W]BY but it was too boomy in the bass and fat sounding.

Is there something else you can suggest for Blaxius 2D ?

 

As I understand it, "White always connected" means that White is in effect always connected to signal ground, i.e. black.

Therefore it is impossible to do TANF on Blaxius2D because TANF has none of the shields connected to signal ground.

 

Anyway, this is a moot point for me now, as I have recently moved on to different cables. Sorry about that Peter, but even though the Blaxius and Lush remain great value giant killers at their price points, it is possible to do better still, albeit at higher prices - much higher prices in some cases.

 

For other suggestions for Blaxius 2D, see my old post #644 here.

However, if you found my favourite to be "boomy and fat sounding", then I'm not sure that my other recommendations will be of much use to you. There must be some variables with our different systems that are skewing the results.

 

[mikey8811]

7 hours ago, TheAttorney said:

For other suggestions for Blaxius 2D, see my old post #644 here.

However, if you found my favourite to be "boomy and fat sounding", then I'm not sure that my other recommendations will be of much use to you. There must be some variables with our different systems that are skewing the results.

 

@TheAttorney thanks for your feedback.

 

The reason I asked was because I liked TANF on the Lush 2 with my streamer to DAC and wanted to replicate the same or something similar on Blaxius 2D.

 

I guess the CD transport on SPDIF coaxial has somewhat different sound characteristics which may have led what you perceived to be close enough to TANF on the Lush 2 to have a little too much of a bass bloat in the context of my setup.

 

Thanks for the detailed listing of different configurations.

 

I will try them out.

 

By the way, what cables did you move on to?

 

Thanks again

 

[Jiffi32]

On 2/26/2020 at 8:45 AM, TheAttorney said:

 

As I understand it, "White always connected" means that White is in effect always connected to signal ground, i.e. black.

Therefore it is impossible to do TANF on Blaxius2D because TANF has none of the shields connected to signal ground.

 

Anyway, this is a moot point for me now, as I have recently moved on to different cables. Sorry about that Peter, but even though the Blaxius and Lush remain great value giant killers at their price points, it is possible to do better still, albeit at higher prices - much higher prices in some cases.

 

For other suggestions for Blaxius 2D, see my old post #644 here.

However, if you found my favourite to be "boomy and fat sounding", then I'm not sure that my other recommendations will be of much use to you. There must be some variables with our different systems that are skewing the results.

 

@TheAttorney I'd also be interested to know which cables you moved on to after blaxius

[mikey8811]

By the way, does anyone use the Lush 2 as a USB regeneration link?

 

If so, does the length matter or is it still the shorter the better?

 

I ask because I preferred using it with another USB cable rather than the USPCB connector or USB connector. It just sounds better.

[TheAttorney]

I've had Lush 2 on both sides of my ISORegen.

Between IR and DAC, it replaced a USPCB hard connector, and the Lush sounded better.

 

My 2 Lush's are 0.4M and 0.8M long. I haven't done direct A/B comparisons, but my overall impressions over time is that they both sound about the same. So length is not something to worry about. One unexpected downside of the USPCB is that it is unforgiving if you accidently knock the IR sideways - the total lack of flexibility of this short hard connector means that there is more chance of damaging the USB sockets of the components it's connected to (borne from direct bitter experience). For this reason, I'd go for a longer cable that can absorb accidental knocks better.

 

Regarding my new cables, I'm not ready to post about them yet, as I'm still doing some tests on both BNC and USB.

But in a few days time, I'll post something in the "Chords new M -scaler" thread in the DAC forum, as it directly relates to others' earlier posts in this thread.

 

 

 

[atxkyle]

Hi all - continuing my quarantine tinkering... received a Lush^2 today to compare with USPCB for the connection between microRendu 1.4 and a Chord 2Qute DAC.

 

After inserting the Lush^2 (shipped configuration) I’m hearing a distinct decrease in bass volume and quality. Did any of you that compared to USPCB experience this?  Was your preference Lush^2 immediate, or did it take some time?

 

At first I thought this might be due to having to power down the streamer and  DAC for a few minutes to rearrange to accommodate the cable (clock warmup time, etc.). However it’s been a few hours now and no change.

[alice]

Hi All,

 

I recently bought a second hand Lush 2 Cable, could someone advise on the common -  more tried and tested jumper settings that everyone seems to like.

What would be also helpful is to know what the sound signature was for these recommended settings.

 

Thanks in advance all.

[alice]

Seems that this thread has been abandoned !

[lmitche]

Alice,

 

No, not abandoned, it just that this whole thread is about "more tried and tested jumper settings that everyone seems to like. "

 

It is tough to know what else to say.

[matthias]

7 hours ago, lmitche said:

Alice,

 

No, not abandoned, it just that this whole thread is about "more tried and tested jumper settings that everyone seems to like. "

 

It is tough to know what else to say.

 

This USB cable is a cable for masochists.

 

Matt