Clocking: again!

@discopants,

it‘s not that your clock is cheap: with the right cable it‘s still better than the one built into the Etherregen! Clocking in digital is primordially important.

@lordmelton,

agreed, slight addendum: if connecting the server to the DAC via USB it actually matters to synchronise clocking between Etherregen and DAC. The server is addressed by the DAC‘s slaving its clock under the asynchronous protocol. Better clocking, better sound, it really is as simple as that. Fully agreed on using an LPS instead of the wallwart for the Etherregen

What you get from the switch is foremost a lowering of the noise floor with resultant increase in blackness and impulse. In addition there seems to be less spurious noise affecting the DACs conversion and analogue stage, leading to higher resolution and better rendition of instruments‘ attack and reverb, thereby rendering them more 3-dimensional. The impact of the LPS is though lesser compared to the improved clocking

I am afraid a TXCO clock, possibly with a generic BNC cable in most cases will be inferior to the internal clock of your DAC resulting in a very pointy and ultimately unpleasant sound. As I said in my original post superior cables are needed if you go to an external master clock and that clock has to be OCXO or Rubidium to be better than the Dac‘s own. The idea is not to add more but better clocking, both in terms of accuracy and phase noise.

@djones51 

Get some help, mate

@doufthebiker,

Afterdark in HongKong has a whole range of performance packages including cables, other good clocks (albeit much more expensive are Cybershaft from Japan, Antelope Audio and Mutec. I concur with @lordmelton on at least reclocking the Dac and -if not using asynchronous USB the server. Obviously 10m clocks only work if your equipment has masterclock inputs. Wordclock inputs require stepping down the masterclock signal, eg Mutec. I use BNC cables from Shunyata (expensive) and Sommercable in Germany.

In addition to supporting the Etherregen with LPSU and masterclock I have now introduced an Ocxo clocked swith with LPS from China. The further tightening and blackening of the sound is very worthwhile for the $300 spent. This is purely to improve the Ethernet connection without using the master clock, yet results in a further significant improvement.

Chinese Ocxo Switch->DXE ISO PLUS->Etherregen on Antelope Audiophile Clock and LPSU->InnuOS Zenith Mk3.

@fastfreight,

to my knowledge the Tambaqui has neiter word-nor master clock inputs. So all you can do is reclock the Etherregen, which with a good clock should nevertheless prove worthwhile doing

I cannot comment on your specific setup but would advise against your suggested approach: not only will even minute differences in the impedance of the connecting cables create divergences in the clock signal transmission but the method chosen for stepping up or down the clock signal in your Rossini may in turn equally introduce timing differences. A better way to proceed might be to add a higher quality 10m clock such as a Mutec Ref120, a Cybershaft Op20/21 or Antelope 10m clock to your setup. In any case only use very high quality BNC cables.

This is the reference to the Chinese Ocxo switch, it is now fully broken in after 4 days and the effect on the Etherregen is remarkable: 

@fastfreight,

sorry, can‘t help there. However, the above switch lifts up the Etherregen performance on its own clock considerably and may be a good first step.