2. digital
  3. 180437-106038

Is a femto clock important if you aren't using asynch USB?

I am considering buying a used Wyred 4 Sound DAC2 DSD se for streaming from my Bluesound Node 2i, and the seller told me that this DAC2 se is one of the early ones that does NOT have a femto clock.  My Bluesound does not have USB output, so I won't be using the USB input on the DAC2.  My understanding is that the femto clock is mainly useful to sync up the digital stream from a computer; is it likely to make much difference if my source is a streamer and the input is SPDIF?

128x128cheeg

Showing 1 response by mahler123

mahler123
3,083 posts
 

My guess is that the OP is correct, that since usb is the most jitter prone interface, the lack of the femto clock isn’t so important. I remember looking at the W4S DAC a few years back and they were offering the non Femto for about $1900 and the Femto for about $2600. Later I learned that the price of the Femto chip to the manufacturer was $10.

As to @lordmelton point, the DAC in the Node2i is a significant improvement over its previous DAC. The OP may not actually get much of an improvement using the older W4S DAC. If the W4S is going for a low price it might be worth it, but not if the seller wants more than $500 or thereabouts

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