Lush^3 - Share your configuration experiences

[PeterSt]

Dear people,

 

If Chris permits, It seems inevitable to have a thread for the Lush^3, similar to the Lush^2's thread.

 

The Lush^3 has 1023 configuration possibilities and the past days I did my stinkin' best to find "a best" for the first dear customers who will receive their Lush^3 tomorrow and beyond. But I am only on my own, and it is sheer impossible do to this on one's own. And therefore I sincerely hope that as many people as possible will contribute again to find that one and only very best configuration and that again we will have one "with consensus". And the fun: we will all do this for ourselves !

 

 

My first contribution (knowing that G(reen) represents the additional 4th shield - not used in this first good sounding config):

A: B-R, B:

 

For this moment I like to leave out the commercial stories (can do that later if needed), although such stories would comprise of explaining in what ways the Lush^3 is inherently better sounding than the Lush^2 in whatever configuration (of either). One hint: ... No, I will let other people tell (probably from off tomorrow).

So relative to something you don't know yet, here is my description of the configuration (A: B-R, B:) today's cables shipped with:

 

Enormously spatial (up to the impossible), with probably not the best of this seen yet (because "spatial" is one of the general properties). It combines with

A robustness of the sound, mostly found in the upper bass. Robust also seems to be a general property. But the configs I tried prior to this one never had

Realistic cymbals. 

Most configs I tried also show an enormous dose of quietness. (blackness). This one does too.

The sound is way way natural. And voices are superb (this too seems to be in place for each config).

 

The description seems cryptic, but it won't be if you first listened to the cable. And when you experiment with it, you will also find that your own descriptions will go in the direction of the way I just did it. ALL are so much better than anything you know from the Lush^2, that it comes down to finding annoyances and denoting that as a reason not to choose the config of concern. It also seems a new kind of listening. Example: if you run into the super spatial behavior (as said, this is a general property), it is quite hard to reject it because of a slightly too hard S in a voice. But you should reject, because you know it can be without it (this first config is the proof of it).

 

Thank you all so much in advance !

Peter

 

[frederick184]

Looking forward to receiving mine tomorrow.  Review to follow.

 

Thanks, Peter!

 

Colin

[Daccord]

Please move your advertising to a sponsored forum.

[frederick184]

Received my Lush 3 today, and out of the box the difference between it and my Lush 2 was quite noticeable.  It sounds very natural and unforced.  No need to turn up the volume, as I could hear background detail that was previously muffled very clearly.  Definitely very quiet.  I'd say that at least in my system the sound is quite intoxicating and draws me in.

 

I could have listened all afternoon, but put the system on mute and let it play.  I'll go back to it later.  Looking forward to seeing what comes forth after any break-in period.

 

Well done, Peter!

 

Colin

[MarkusBarkus]

The Lush^3s raised my digital chain. Literally! 40 cm is about 15 inches in new money, so I had to reorganize. 
 

To paraphrase Piazzola: It's hifi MF. You must suffer. 
 

They do sound very good out of the box, lovely detail, but they're still speaking Dutch and jet-lagged from the flight, so I'll leave them overnight babbling by themselves on low volume and "see" where we end up tomorrow. Thanks Peter.

[manisandher]

From my simplistic way of looking at things, I'd imagine that you'd want to sink as much noise at the A connection as possible (through the PC's PE?), and keep the B as 'clean' as possible. With this in mind, I'm currently running:

 

A: B-W-Y-R-G, B:

 

Sounds perhaps 'a bit in your face', but this actually suits my setup. Will stick with this config for the time being.

 

Mani.

[PeterSt]

So ... From A: B-R, B: I went to 

A:B-Y-R, B:

 

This seemed an electrically more balanced config to me. Now the two middle shields are connected at one side, but obviously surrounded by an other shield (W and G), both not connected. So do notice that with the Lush^3 there is no one middle shield any more and thus we need to work with two (Y and R).

 

Very first minute : Too quiet ? Not enough life ? … not sure yet …
Okay, if anything, this shows even more dynamic range than what already showed with the previous config(s). I suppose this is equivalent to “again more quiet”. I think that it could be so that because of this, the sound is even more natural than A:B-R, B: showed already.

 

 

After listening to the above for two days, I changed to 

A:B-Y-R, B:B-Y-R

My text about it:

Best so far !!
Or not. After the second day I was under the impression that this is too much of it for the low-end, but also that possibly there was a too large gap between nice silky highs and that rougher bottom part. Say inconsistent. I noticed that more quiet music is rendered beautifully with this (sub low is also profoundly there), but when it gets rougher, it may get too wild; too much to (brain) process.

 

 

 

[Gato]

Coming from Lush^2 and now since 6 days with the brand new Lush^3 and the "shipped" config: A: B-R, B:

Beautiful, robust but aerial, clear, limpid gushing from the black, relax, very detailed, lots of space.

This week, I'm an acoustic Jazz listener: cymbals, snare, voices, wind instruments, double bass e tutti frutti, in two words: Holala-WOW!!!

[matthias]

Did someone try the "best" configuration so far:

 

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=4250.msg44774;topicseen#msg44774

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[MarkusBarkus]

I will try to make and listen to Peter's new/best config this afternoon. I have been listening to the shipped config for a week or so. 
 

In my system I find/hear strong bass presence with shipped config. Detail is very good. Jazz selections (my primary focus) have been very, very good overall.
 

Last night I was itching for some changes, as it seemed to be missing something with music other than jazz.

Notably Dakh Daughters - Air: "Yaponske Kino" which I find to be a very dynamic track (Tidal) for testing. Seemed a little "off."
 

I always allow for the variable that it might be "me" that is actually "off." Quite likely.

 

I am new to Lush USBs.
Q: Anyone have experience/guidance re: matching configs into and out of Phoenix (or other) USB devices? Of course, I can experiment, but perhaps others have findings in this area? Cheers, Mark

[matthias]

46 minutes ago, MarkusBarkus said:

I will try to make and listen to Peter's new/best config this afternoon.

 

Hi Mark, please share your impressions :-)

Thanks

 

Matt

[MarkusBarkus]

Well, the bass is still all there in the "new" configuration. 

Tracks: 

--Isao Suzuki-Blow Up: Aqua Marine
--Brad Dutz-Drums and Bells: Wood Stick

--Lorde-Pure Heroin: Royals
--Cibo Matto-Viva! La Woman: White Pepper Ice Cream

--Billie Eilish-When We Fall...Go?: Xanny (silly bass!)

 

I listen to the above (and others) for deep bass reference. My room can get weird if you heavily overload it, although it is very well organized with traps, etc.

 

I think both configs (shipped and new) have a lot of low freq, but not over-emphasized. I have made changes that can make the subs walk with the Xanny cut, or Kryptic Minds. 
 

The Dutz CD is interesting since it has so many percussion frequencies going on. 

 

Regarding high freq: My initial take is this is "better" than the shipped config. The Dutz tracks are very vivid, but not artificial. And very fast. 
 

For example, some things like Bobby Hutcherson: Tranquility or Pastoral (Components CD) can exhibit a ringing, most notably in my left ear, which tests as slightly worse than my right.

 

I'll listen for more than an hour and update at some point. Image is NEW config.

[FileMakerDev]

On 10/3/2020 at 2:31 AM, PeterSt said:

So ... From A: B-R, B: I went to 

A:B-Y-R, B:

 

My pair of Lush^3s arrived a couple days ago. My digital chain is now...

 

VortexBox > EtherRegen (+ external clock) > ET^3 > ultraRendu > Lush^3 > ISO-Regen > Lush^3 > Lampizator Big 7

 

I've tried all the configurations mentioned so far in this thread (some of them several times), as well as a couple old favorites from the Lush^2 thread, and at the moment Peter's A:B-Y-R,B: is the clear winner on my system. Female voices and woodwinds in particular are magical in this particular config.

 

I'll keep these comments brief because I'm still acclimating but I knew within five seconds that the Lush^3 was a significant upgrade over the Lush^2... more analog/relaxed/three-dimensional/musical and ultra-revealing.

 

Congratulations Peter on a job very well done. It's early days and I look forward to further experimentation.

[PeterSt]

FileMakerDev, thank you very much for this.

 

We don't have explored many configurations yet, and I'd hope that you can dig into the one MarkusBarkus pointed out, which would be 

A: B-Y-R, B: W-Y & R-G

(also see the picture in his post)

 

I would like to have consensus about the "slam" on the snare drum (with snare on !) staying behind somewhat in your currently used config (A: B-Y-R, B:), while in the one mentioned above this is restored.

 

Per my own explanation the inherently somewhat "lacking" would be caused by the distortion level now being so low, that the "noise-rambling" of the snare does not jump out any more. IOW, we are not used to this (?).

The sheer fact that I can play way louder and only stop cranking up the volume (at 6dB higher already) because otherwise no conversations are possible any more, speaks.

 

I am not seeking for a higher level of distortion again to let the snare jump out, but merely look for that "under punch" it could need extra now to let the snare come forward a bit more.

It seems nit-picking, but with I think 4 configs tried myself so far (in what, 11 days ?) it is clear that I never can do this alone, and that more hands and ears can speed up the process of finding the ultimate.

 

Thanks !!

 

[MarkusBarkus]

@PeterSt I now better understand your point here and previously on the Phasure blog. 
 

I do often use the cymbals and snares as an indication--a reference--of good level of detail. 
 

That was a key aspect of my comments about something lacking in the shipped config. I do very much agree with your statement about those details and their relationship to volume level.  

 

I find the "new" config: 

A: B-Y-R, B: W-Y & R-G    
to be "better" for my system and my ears, although it does require a shift in thinking/assessing what you are considering a high level of detail--if that is your reference/index feature. 
 

I do not find the more "submerged" cymbal/snare effect to apply to the highs on the vibraphone, which is also an index for me, so I can still use that critically.

 

Very interesting phenomenon.

 

[PeterSt]

20 minutes ago, MarkusBarkus said:

I do not find the more "submerged" cymbal/snare effect to apply to the highs on the vibraphone, which is also an index for me, so I can still use that critically.

 

Markus, thank you.

 

Try to think like this:

The distortion we talk about (read: we'd have to talk about because I can't see it differently at this moment), is all related to speed. This is how cymbals submerge somewhat and how the snare for sure submerges more. Both exhibit while interaction of many frequencies and are inherently messy (for the cymbal I talk about splashing it). Make the speed so high (better: extend the resolution so much) that frequencies run less into each other, and the distortion (an exhibit of bandlimiting) gets lower.

 

Compare with riding the cymbal. Or your vibraphone. Or a random bell. They only sing and sing and sing now, and they do that louder on top of it. Same with the now so crystal clear voices.

 

27 minutes ago, MarkusBarkus said:

what you are considering a high level of detail--if that is your reference/index feature. 

 

In this thread about "ambient" but merely "psybient" music I'm mentioning a lot of artist which exhibit my referenced high level of detail, in 100% of albums. This is because those artist work with that. This is harder to explain, but they use instruments which are not particularly used in Jazz, Rock, Classical, Folk or commercial types of music (Jackson). All of those have become totally unrecognizable, so much has the speed increased. Or so much music came in the place of "gray sound" (referring to synthesizers would be the best in this case).

 

Someone else (possibly this was you) mentioned "Acoustic Jazz week". This is true too because the acoustic instruments play so (sooo) much more refined now. This too is an exhibit of speed (it makes it all more aerial because it leaves "space" where otherwise exists smear). So you'd not appreciate this as more detail readily, but it still is (I'd say look for the vibration of wound strings, but don't forget to listen to the nylon ones as well - I make this up but I think I will be right).

 

The detail can also be heard in the attack and envelope of voices (a bit of a clear throat effect).

 

Anyway, I'll be d*mned if we'd have found the best configuration already. I mean, what I tried to sprout in this very post is not even related to a config, but is merely the general exhibit of this cable.

 

And oh, something I did not mention yet ... talking about vibraphones ...

Watch for flageolets. They now jump out from all angles (the technique can be used by many instruments). And from about day 1 with XXHighEnd this is a kind of measure for me (it is all about making the overtones hence harmonics profound). So that this exhibits now so profoundly, is also telling. Someone over at Phasure long ago mentioned the kettle drum with similar (overtone) behavior. These too pop out now (but play the music of concern, obviously).

Try to focus on these matters ...

[FileMakerDev]

6 hours ago, PeterSt said:

We don't have explored many configurations yet, and I'd hope that you can dig into the one MarkusBarkus pointed out, which would be 

A: B-Y-R, B: W-Y & R-G

(also see the picture in his post)

 

 

When I wrote "I've tried all the configurations mentioned so far in this thread", that included Markus's. It was not a good fit for my system. Specifically the "magic" I get with A:B-Y-R,B: simply wasn't there. For me. On my system. No offense intended.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

@FileMakerDev - of course, no offense taken. Just kicking around our thoughts and experiences.
 

I quite liked the "shipped" set-up for several days, but eventually, something wasn't quite right, and I think Peter's description and insights make sense--to me.

 

I actually moved my chair from the "sweet spot" to a few feet forward to see if I could figure out some other source of the "feeling." It did not help.

 

The more recent "config" Peter suggested was more coherent and faster on my set-up (chair is back in original place).

 

BTW: the image I pasted up was Peter's and I might have done better to have cited that fact to the community. Mea culpa.

 

BTW: to contextualize my experience, I am using two Lush^3s:

 

...Aurender=>Lush^3 =>Innuous Phoenix => Lush^3 => MScaler => Wave Dual BNCs => DAVE...

[matthias]

There is a new favorite:

 

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=p3hmugoiqgq9ccr43030roa980&topic=4250.msg44822;topicseen#msg44822

 

 

Matt

[lmitche]

On 9/28/2020 at 12:08 PM, PeterSt said:

Dear people,

 

If Chris permits, It seems inevitable to have a thread for the Lush^3, similar to the Lush^2's thread.

 

The Lush^3 has 1023 configuration possibilities and the past days I did my stinkin' best to find "a best" for the first dear customers who will receive their Lush^3 tomorrow and beyond. But I am only on my own, and it is sheer impossible do to this on one's own. And therefore I sincerely hope that as many people as possible will contribute again to find that one and only very best configuration and that again we will have one "with consensus". And the fun: we will all do this for ourselves !

 

 

My first contribution (knowing that G(reen) represents the additional 4th shield - not used in this first good sounding config):

A: B-R, B:

 

For this moment I like to leave out the commercial stories (can do that later if needed), although such stories would comprise of explaining in what ways the Lush^3 is inherently better sounding than the Lush^2 in whatever configuration (of either). One hint: ... No, I will let other people tell (probably from off tomorrow).

So relative to something you don't know yet, here is my description of the configuration (A: B-R, B:) today's cables shipped with:

 

Enormously spatial (up to the impossible), with probably not the best of this seen yet (because "spatial" is one of the general properties). It combines with

A robustness of the sound, mostly found in the upper bass. Robust also seems to be a general property. But the configs I tried prior to this one never had

Realistic cymbals. 

Most configs I tried also show an enormous dose of quietness. (blackness). This one does too.

The sound is way way natural. And voices are superb (this too seems to be in place for each config).

 

The description seems cryptic, but it won't be if you first listened to the cable. And when you experiment with it, you will also find that your own descriptions will go in the direction of the way I just did it. ALL are so much better than anything you know from the Lush^2, that it comes down to finding annoyances and denoting that as a reason not to choose the config of concern. It also seems a new kind of listening. Example: if you run into the super spatial behavior (as said, this is a general property), it is quite hard to reject it because of a slightly too hard S in a voice. But you should reject, because you know it can be without it (this first config is the proof of it).

 

Thank you all so much in advance !

Peter

 

Hi Peter,

 

Is it correct to assume the black cable connects to the USB shell on both ends?

[PeterSt]

31 minutes ago, lmitche said:

 

Is it correct to assume the black cable connects to the USB shell on both ends?

 

Hi Larry - Yes. Same as with the Lush^2.

[PeterSt]

On 10/8/2020 at 11:10 PM, MarkusBarkus said:

BTW: the image I pasted up was Peter's and I might have done better to have cited that fact to the community. Mea culpa.

 

But Markus, why would that be a problem ?

The only reason to mention the source is because your photo would probably be better. 😁

Anyway, I decided that with this little project I would post photos of a mentioned configuration. Over at Phasure, but over here at A/S just the same.

Posting a newly found good sounding config over here will be something I am cautious with, because it shouldn't be too ad-hoc (while over at Phasure I feel more "free" to maybe make a mistake here or there - haha).

In the mean time I'm hoping that people report as soon as they found something of value. But this can also be about wrong-sounding configurations, because others might skip those at first (the less to try, the better it is). So here is an example of that (in red, so it hopefully looks "wrong"):

 

Oct 9, 2020 A: Y-R, B: W-Y & R-G This emphasizes even more what the previous config attempted, because W and R are now floating, are thus not interconnected and will have their own life, still extended by R and G respectively. Loud in the Mid (not the highs). Highs have no color at all (but is special somehow). Not sufficiently “interesting”. ... With this I noticed a somewhat strange effect on three Genesis albums (tracks of them) I played; Genesis always showed a a more gray-ish effect on the highs (cymbals) and for the first time I now noticed that this was way more metal than I am used to. On Genesis it gives a more firm drumkit-feeling which I actually liked. But in the end (I listened no longer than an hour to this config) I felt I was wasting my time on this one. No foot tapping. No real specialties either. And the highs of Genesis where way white elsewhere.

 

[frederick184]

14 hours ago, matthias said:

There is a new favorite:

 

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=p3hmugoiqgq9ccr43030roa980&topic=4250.msg44822;topicseen#msg44822

 

 

Matt

This is the best I’ve heard in my system so far.  All the things Peter said about A:B-Y-R B:W-Y & R-G I’m hearing here.  Tremendous clarity, gorgeous vocals. The urge to crank it up.  
 

The other way round I didn’t like it.  Something sounded not quite right.  I guess it shows there’s no best config for everyone.

 

Colin

[PeterSt]

Hi Colin - Thank you for this.

 

To get it straight, you did NOT like the config Matthias referred to for for the better, correct ?

I'm asking, because your post quotes Matthias, and starts with "This".

 

1 hour ago, frederick184 said:

This is the best I’ve heard in my system so far.  All the things Peter said about A:B-Y-R B:W-Y & R-G I’m hearing here.

 

Thus, the A: W-Y & R-G, B: B-Y-R would NOT be the better one over A: B-Y-R B: W-Y & R-G.

If so, I tend to agree with you;

I too don't come further than "with A: W-Y & R-G, B: B-Y-R something is not right". All what I could just recollect from last night's session is that the highs are too extreme for "SPL". So they are overly loud and too close to distortion because of that. It's only that individually playing instruments meant to jump out, do exactly that but in a fashion which is "too much" again ? And the danger (of wrong judgment): How can this be "too much" when it is about an instrument as a whole ? So it should be an explicitly goof feature ??

All 'n all I have not written off A: W-Y & R-G, B: B-Y-R yet. But "something is not right".

 

 

[frederick184]

11 hours ago, PeterSt said:

Hi Colin - Thank you for this.

 

To get it straight, you did NOT like the config Matthias referred to for for the better, correct ?

I'm asking, because your post quotes Matthias, and starts with "This".

 

 

Thus, the A: W-Y & R-G, B: B-Y-R would NOT be the better one over A: B-Y-R B: W-Y & R-G.

If so, I tend to agree with you;

I too don't come further than "with A: W-Y & R-G, B: B-Y-R something is not right". All what I could just recollect from last night's session is that the highs are too extreme for "SPL". So they are overly loud and too close to distortion because of that. It's only that individually playing instruments meant to jump out, do exactly that but in a fashion which is "too much" again ? And the danger (of wrong judgment): How can this be "too much" when it is about an instrument as a whole ? So it should be an explicitly goof feature ??

All 'n all I have not written off A: W-Y & R-G, B: B-Y-R yet. But "something is not right".

 

 

Hi Peter,

 

No, I’m saying I think A: W-Y & R-G B: B-Y-R is better.

 

With this configuration I hear all the things you said about the opposite configuration.  I checked to make sure I didn’t have it the wrong way around, and I didn’t.  With A: B-Y-R B:W-Y & R-G it sounds dull in my system.

 

Strange, but true 😊

 

Colin