Async-USB 24/768 Phasure NOS1 DAC

[glory]

Alan,

 

I have both units here with me and the Phasure has some 40 hours on it. 200 seems to be the time for real critical listening

 

Have had L3 L4 and L5 DSD the past 2 years.

 

Please give a detailed feedback on both dacs.

[alan_un]

Will do Glory. Just need to find some time over the holidays as I invited the entire family to Hong Kong and not all of them appreciated hi-end music and equipment.

[Geardaddy]

Alan, any updates?

[alan_un]

Well, I finally managed two hours ago to get the Lampi going and listen to DSD. Too many people around for some serious listening. The Phasure is running since yesterday. Took me a couple of days to decide where to put my system, and the location is still under discussion. I guess I can give some feedback by early January. Sorry, but my entire family is in Hong Kong now and that requires my full attention.

[wisnon]

Happy holidays Alan!

 

The holiday food must be spectacular there. I love mets cantonais!

[Geardaddy]

Well, I finally managed two hours ago to get the Lampi going and listen to DSD. Too many people around for some serious listening. The Phasure is running since yesterday. Took me a couple of days to decide where to put my system, and the location is still under discussion. I guess I can give some feedback by early January. Sorry, but my entire family is in Hong Kong now and that requires my full attention.

 

Alan, its high time to send the meddlers on their way and focus on what's important.....

[alan_un]

Sorry, nobody leaves this place before 7 January.

Ok, here is the good (?) news - and I am bloody righting this now for the second time, don't know what happened to the first post - I managed to make a very quick and dirty comparison with two or three tunes from Steely Dan's Goucho, the Lampi playing the DSD files and Lampi and Phasure also the respective PCM files. PCM was played back on XXHighend and DSD through HQPlayer 3.1. It appeared, and not only to me, that the Phasure was very hard to beat. Now this is taken with a big grain of salt, as the Lampi still requires some burn in time. And it was by no means a serious listening environment, as we did it just for fun in between a coffe and cake.

I will report again later when I have better environmental parameter control and the Lampi had some burn in time. Until then, happy New Year.

[Geardaddy]

Thanks Alan. Happy new year to you and yours. That Lampi will take several hundred hours to sounds its best due to those Dueulunds......

[alan_un]

Finally, back behind my desk I have some peace of mind to reflect on the two very brief sessions comparing the Lampi and the Phasure. It is clear to me that the Lampi needs much more burn in time, which I simply did not have as my PC crashed. I wasted too much time to get things going again. The Phasure with the latest XXHighend software (version 1.186a) is quite spectacular and indeed hard to beat. The Lampi, though, was incredibly musical, but slightly veiled at the top end, which is a clear indication that it needs burn in time. I think I would venture to say that the Phasure is quite cerebral and very detailed, whereas the Lampi is wonderfully musical. It's a bit like the difference between tubes and solid state. All this, however, is really only a starting point as I need to spend much more time with the Lampi. This will likely happen in March and I will report back then.

[PT7]

I was looking and reading many reviews about total dac from lampi,msb,chord..etc

I read many many many reviews for more than 1 month..

now after all of that hard working I was about to spend 12k$ and order dave or lampi 7.

but at the last moment I read a post who had Msb and replace it with Phasure NOS1 DAC,after that I kept searching and reading about this dac,so I change my mind,I think I'll order this dac and give it a shot .

and the guy who suggest the price of No1 to be 12k$,I really hope he fade away

we are trying to bring reference sound at loweer price .

I remember marketing being good in 2 ways:1- make every audio websites review your products and give it a positive at it can be with that full 5 stars and product of the year or century or whatever they call it .

2- OR go and put it in head fI community and spread the word : this is the best dac ever made regardless of the price and make 4 or 5 respected ppl review it and tested against their reference dac .

look at what Hugo did, I know it's not the best at 2k$ but you have to be smart.

 

I want to ask but I'll post my questions here ,I just need to read more ..

Thanks wish you the best Peter

[esimms86]

If you're looking to buy a Phasure NOS1a(yes, it's been upgraded) then I'd suggest you also purchase an XXHE PC. There are maybe 8 left(after those 8 sell there won't be anymore) and Peter has dropped the price to 975 euros for the PC. With the PC you can tweak the software as you like or you can make it essentially plug and play(just tell it where your music folder resides). And, of course, it goes without saying that your next stop should be to check out the forum at XXHighEnd - Index

 

Esau

[PT7]

maybe there is new dac .shoudl I wait ?

I have my pc and it's huge and new .

[manisandher]

Hi Peter, you're not Dutch, are you? It just seems that 99% of Dutch guys seem to be called Peter, and they're all a PITA in my experience ;-)

 

... I read a post who had Msb and replace it with Phasure NOS1 DAC,after that I kept searching and reading about this dac,so I change my mind,I think I'll order this dac and give it a shot.

 

You may need to reconsider "giving it a shot". I know what you mean of course, but I just want to say that getting the NOS1a to perform at its best can take quite a bit of effort. Pretty much everything you need to know is on the Phasure website, but the info is sometimes... how shall I say?... not the easiest to comprehend. (Mind you, if you do happen to be Dutch, you should have no issues whatsoever.)

 

And of course you have PeterSt at the end of your keyboard (you wouldn't want him any closer). I've never come across ay designer/manufacturer who is more accessible and willing to help out. And what amazes me is that this isn't even his 'day job'.

 

2- OR go and put it in head fI community and spread the word : this is the best dac ever made regardless of the price and make 4 or 5 respected ppl review it and tested against their reference dac

 

Well that's kind of what I did with the NOS1 (not 'a' back then). But I don't think people realise how excruciatingly painful it was admitting that the NOS1 was significantly better than my reference at the time - the piece of kit that I still adore above any other even to this day, the Pacific Microsonics Model Two.

 

Mani.

[PT7]

Ok I know , I have a good audio pc, win 10 I think this should be enough .

Can I use NOS to play music ,watch movies , youtube plating games...etc ?

[PT7]

can you compare your previous dac and NOS1 ? what's the main difference btw NOS1 and NOS1a ?

[manisandher]

PT, if you're looking for a general purpose DAC I would strongly recommend you look at other DACs and not the NOS1a - it's really been designed purely for the highest quality audio replay and requires a software player with the best filtering options. XXHighEnd is the obvious choice, though I've used it with HQ Player too.

 

HTH.

 

Mani.

 

(Writing this 37k ft in the air. Can check emails, use the internet and even make calls if I wanted - how cool is this?)

[Jud]

Mani.

 

(Writing this 37k ft in the air. Can check emails, use the internet and even make calls if I wanted - how cool is this?)

 

The great thing is you can work on the plane.

 

The bad thing is you can work on the plane.

[manisandher]

Nah, planes are for pleasure only, surely? (Yeah I know, don't call me Shirley...)

 

Mani

 

[Now on the ground... but only for a short while]

[PT7]

so it can't play movies,youtube like any other dac...it's very limited

I know most dac can play pure music and allow you to enjoy watching movies with your family

why he didn't update the software and solve the problem ?

[Jud]

so it can't play movies,youtube like any other dac...it's very limited

I know most dac can play pure music and allow you to enjoy watching movies with your family

why he didn't update the software and solve the problem ?

 

If you are asking whether it will accept 48KHz sample rate and multiples, as well as 44.1KHz sample rate and multiples, the answer is yes.

 

If you are asking whether it can be connected directly to an amplifier, the answer is yes, because the XXHE software has digital volume control.

 

If you are asking whether you can route video signals through it like a home theater receiver, the answer is no.

 

If you are asking something else, please explain in more detail what you want to know.

[PT7]

is it possible to watch movies with nos1a

can it play inmany ways like any other dac,general purpose

or is it only play audio format . can i use other software like jplay

[Jud]

is it possible to watch movies with nos1a

can it play inmany ways like any other dac,general purpose

or is it only play audio format . can i use other software like jplay

 

It only plays audio formats.

 

I believe you can use jplay, but frankly XXHE has all the computer activity minimizing capabilities of jplay and many more besides. It also brings the ability to use PeterSt's "Arc Prediction" filtering, which jplay does not have.

[PeterSt]

Ehm ...

 

I myself watched 1000+ movies through my own NOS1a ?

Ok, true, it does not show pictures.

 

If you are asking whether you can route video signals through it like a home theater receiver, the answer is no.

 

So literally that would be correct. Haha.

 

So Peter, of course it plays all what is Audio and of course all playback software can use it. Or movie software. Or youTube. Or Tidal, or ... The DAC is just a DAC.

No worries. And if you like to know more, drop me an email at

sales at phasure com

I won't lie to you but a bit of double dutch is guaranteed.

 

Regards,

Peter

[PT7]

I am looking to upgrade from my old dac, and it looks like your dac can't play video format .

if there is a way then I'm all ears to your expla.