Esoteric K-01x - would you add an Esoteric Robidum clock to this player ?

Garebear,

Here is another way to look at. Yes the clock will make an improvement, is the level of refinement necessarily worth that kind of investment vs putting the same money to work elsewhere.

We are big proponents of running flac based files through a high performance server, Innous, or a Baetis which can run Jriver or Roon and you can now take your 16 bit 44k digital red book CD and magically upconvert that data stream to DSD or high resolution PCM.

Yes you can use the internal filters in the K01X to run at a higher data rate but it still doesn’t sound the same as doing the conversion in the server and then feeding the Player a higher bit rate sample.

In our tests the best sounding digital playback is occuring this way and usually the server feed playing of the same file from the server sounds signigantly better then the CD or SACD.

Maybe a better power conditioner, or an improvement in a power cable.

One really does need to weigh all the possible improvements that you can do with the same amount of money to see what will bring you to the next level. I would look at a server, if you don’t have one which aside from the ability to store and easily access all of your CD’s you may also now get the ability to stream Tidal and Mqa playback is you don’t have that capability currently.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Have had a few Esoteric front ends .... they have all,improved with addition of clock ! If its a budget concern , might not be a good value .... but if it is an audio concern , it’s a no brainer .... you won’t look back ! 

@garebear …………………

There is one for sale here today and I believe the person is asking around 11K or so for it.

Thanks Stereo 5 - but my question was about adding Esoteric's Rudidium clock which is different than the others that have the OCXO clock. It really is personal call but looking to se if anybody has done this and is it worth the cost.     

Thank you fellow members......so Mr. dgarretson ; I have read about the Stanford Research master clock which is similar to Rubidium clock ? …...but you could actually hear a sonic improvement on the Esoteric K-01x ? Please let me know in what ways and was it a very noticeable difference or more subtle as time went on and you listened to your system. Some are saying …..not a big difference. Thank you in advance.      

Alas, spelled Rubidium, not Robidium. I’ve been using a Stanford Research Systems 10mhz master clock to time a K-01X. It’s a significant improvement at a fraction of the price of an Esoteric clock.

IMHO, I think that would be overkill.  I have an Esoteric UX-3 which I love and I tried the Esoteric clock that was going to cost me 3K.  I tried it for a few days and really couldn't tell the difference.  At times I thought I did hear a difference, then I would change my mind.  I sent it back to Spearit Sound. (this was 5 years ago)