Cybershaft 10Mhz master clocks, new products at various price points....

Interested in one of their clocks for my Esoteric UX-3Pi universal sacd/cd player, what would be a recommendation as I cannot understand all of their models and options? 

Unfortunately, based upon what I just reviewed in that Esoteric unit's specs, it only accepts Word clock frequencies, no master clock, i.e. 10Mhz input allowed. This means it cannot sync with any Cybershaft clock model as they are pure 10Mhz.

I have been using UPOCXO-OP20A-D External DC dedicated model
with LTPW01P External DC power supply with my Esoteric Grandioso K1 SACD/CD player for over a month.  They make my K1 instant upgrade. The sound stage is bigger. The sound is even more clear and detail.  This is a good investment  with a fraction of the cost of name brand master clock.

Which clock would you recommend for connection through a Esoteric G-03x master clock to both a K-01 and a N-01 ?   Would there be any benefit to using the Cybershaft with an EtherREGEN ?

IF you will always have an intermediate clock like the G-03X that takes a 10Mhz master clock input to provide it with a better baseline and can connect everything to it, then i would suggest driving the G-03X a good solution would be the single output OP21A from Cybershaft with the separate DC power supply for best results;

Model number: UPOCXO-OP21A-1 External DC dedicated
Model number: LTPW01P External DC power supply

I have no direct (personal hands-on) experience with the EtherRegen so you'll need to consult that product's specifications to make sure you can clock it with the G-03X.

You may also consider selling the G-03X and getting the multi-output Cybershaft however you'll want to ensure that all your equipment takes a 50-ohm or 75-ohm 10Mhz input signal.

Forget the clock. Sell the G-03X and N-01 and buy N-01XD.

Hi @brodricj 

How can you be so sure? The N-01XD is brand new. Just released and currently in backorder. Do you personally own one? Thanks 

@ zephyr24069 Can the Cybershaft clocks be used with a dCS Rossini streamer/DAC?  If yes, which do you recommend?

Good Morning @cycles2 !  From what I see on the DCS site, the Rossini DAC can only accept word clock input frequencies at 75-ohm;

"2x Word Clock Inputs on 2x BNC connectors, accept standard word clock at 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 or 192kHz.
The data rate can be the same as the clock rate or an exact multiple of the clock rate. Sensitive to TTL levels. Word Clock Output on 1x BNC connector. In Master mode, a TTL-compatible word clock appears on this output."

The Rossini DAC is a great a sounding unit, a couple of friends, on in Atlanta have it, the transport an the Rossini clock and the result sounds great used together. Unfortunately the Rossini clock does not accept a master clock input and I believe it's a VCXO, not an OCXO implementation (there is little published on it so I may be wrong so don't shoot the messenger if I am...).

Friends with DCS who have the Vivaldi clock have found that using a Cybershaft with it ups its playback quality and either use it plus Cybershaft to reclock Vivaldi or Rossini gear as follows;

Cybershaft drives -> Vivaldi clock drives -> Rossini or Vivaldi gear

All that said that may not be the feedback you were hoping for however those the limited permutations given what the DCS BNC inputs take in and what they do not.

Note: I'm not saying anything anything against DCS, just reporting what is possible.

If you go the Vivaldi clock route (or any other than can work, the best combo of Cybershaft gear is;

Model number: UPOCXO-OP21A-1 External DC dedicated
Model number: LTPW01P External DC power supply

next after that would be the OP20 level and then OP19 at lower price points.

***If you don't already own the DCS Rossini streamer/DAC, you MAY want to have a listen to the N-01XD (new with Esoteric's latest FPGA-based new DACs; they are fantastic and the N-01XD is already amazing the 3 people I know who have bought it. 

You CAN then directly use any Cybershaft with the N-01XD or Esoteric P-02X/D-02X, Grandioso K1X, P1X/D1X, etc...

I've heard the new DAC implementations in the D1X; they are absolutely world-class, even more musical than prior top Eso offerings and given FPGA use and overall design they are future-proof. Believe they also do MQA, and other popular things but I am not a server/streamer customer so what I've seen on MQA, Roon, etc... is from reading their site.

Other options; from what I've heard and read, Aurender's W20/W20SE can take in a 10 Mhz signal.

SOULNOTE's S-3 CD/SACD player and D-2 DAC can also take pure 10Mhz. Reading between the lines of a couple of communications, I think they are also working on other new things for their top offerings but have nothing concrete to state at this time.

Hope this helps...

@zephyr24069  Thanks for the info.  I already own a Rossini. I've been told by some Rossini owners that the Rossini clock isn't a noticeable improvement.  Thanks for the info on Esoteric's new model.  I figure I have another 3 - 4 years with the Rossini and by that time there should be lots of improvements to digital front-ends by several manufacturers.

Brian ...

@cycles2 There definitely will be many new things to obsess over in 3-4 years, probably 1-2 and again 2 years after that, again after that and so on and so forth!

The Rossini clock made an improvement in my Atlanta-based friend's system however his system overall is very high end and resolving in terms of speakers, amps and pre-amp spend. That stated it was not an earth-shattering improvement. If you want a Word clock that is compatible with your Rossini DAC, I'd suggest the Esoteric G-02X; it has reasonable price, better build quality and a full OCXO implementation. This is all opinion mind you.  It also allows for a 10 Mhz input 50-ohm for future upgrading. I think it will deliver a more pronounced improvement.  It's Word clock outputs at 75-ohm and have a wide varieties of WCLK frequencies to utilize to find the best match;

https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g-02x/spec

Esoterics G-01X is also an option;

https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g-01x/spec

@zephyr24069  I like the idea of the Esoteric G-02x clock if can support dCS and other DACs I may own in the future.  Do you know if it supports auto-switching of 44.1kHz and 48kHz titles by using 2 BNC cables from the DAC to the clock like the Rossini clock does?  Or would I have to manually set the Esoteric to either 44.1 or 48kHz depending on the title I'm playing?

@cycles2 I would suggest downloading the manual and reading through fully before ordering of course.  If memory serves, my G-0s and later models I owned like the G-03X all required you to set the clock frequency manually, no auto-switching; this gives the best results as the gear is not deciding for you.  I always found that 176.4 kHz and later "MCLK" word clock frequency of 22.xx Mhz were best for playback clocking; i would not want devices thinking for me on the fly and auto-switching.

@zephyr24069  thanks, makes sense.

Hi @zephyr24069 you are truly a big asset to the Audiogon community. Thanks for all you do, no strings attached.

‘Probably overtime, but the Esoteric N-01XD is an exceptional DAC, with an exceptional streamer built in. Truly SOTA

@thyname Thank you very much,...I appreciate the comments very much. Truth is, I don’t spend much time here like I used to. Watching the forums go to hell over the last few years with a lot of argumentative and trolls’ posts and too much focus on the dealer-centric ’new Audiogon’, I was missing the old days when more people helped each other out and this was a great forum. I’m going to give it another try and see if we can’t get Audiogon back to what used to make it great!

Hi @zephyr24069 forget the trolls. They will come and go. They will not replace us. We are here to stay. For the love of audio. 

@thyname  Yes,...they are forgettable LOL!  

There is a HIGH/LOW level setting of OP21A-D, for all 4 channels. Anyone compares the listening experience of setting HIGH/LOW? Thanks.

@cykeric There is no difference in audio result as far as I've heard.  It's only a matter of what matches better with your gear for acquiring and maintaining clock-sync.  For Esoteric, LOW is best.

How abt for Soulnote S-3 SACD player and Sotm sNH-10G switch?

@cykeric I do not know regarding the SOULNOTE....being an audio consumer, I can only tell you what I’ve either directly tested or what people I know of with specific gear and Cybershaft clocks have told me or written directly. On the SotM product I only know of 3 people personally (there are more but I don’t know them) who master clock SotM devices with a Cybershaft. The product you ask about seems to require an add-on adapter to take a 10 Mhz input so unsure about that one.  

You might try posting your question on the Cybershaft threads on What’s Best Forum; there are several guys from Hong Kong and other locations who try many different clocks with many different devices; it’s possible one off them have more experience with SOULNOTE and SotM.

I wish i could get my hands on a SOULNOTE P-3 and D-2; they look fantastic and at a price that is reasonable. I only wish they utilized the new Rohm Semiconductor DACs that Luxman just included in their top player or AKM’s 4497 or 4499 as used in the prior Esoteric product top-line.

For anyone interested now or in the future, I've recently been told that Cybershaft now has an "Overseas Web Shop" all in English:

[ NEW Cybershaft Overseas Web Shop ][/B]

http://cybershaft.shop

the legacy Japanese site

http://www.cybershaft.jp/

 still works and you'll find a link to the above on the "For overseas (English)" menu item...