Prima Lunacy? (SuperTubeClock)


I am planning on upgrading my tube amp when its current set of tubes start to go.  So I've been doing a bit of perusing online, and was really considering the Prima Luna integrated amps until I read about "the world's first tube-based data clocking device: the SuperTubeClock™"

Did I missing something or is this just about the most obvious snake oil sales job?  For what I am understand the Prima Luna Engineers are using a tube-based oscillator in lieu of a quartz crystal to generate the DAC chip clock signal.  Their blurb lists reduced jitter and noise as the advantages.  AFAIK the noise in a timing signal should be superfluous since it has two values 1 and 0, and anything in between (noise) is ignored.  If the clock signal "noise" is leaking into the final analog output, then there are big problems with the DAC chip.  With respect to jitter, I would expect the inaccuracies of a high-quality crystal oscillator to be measurable only in the nanosecond or picosecond range.  Can an analog-style oscillator really do better (and does it really matter)?

Another thing that stuck me is that the clock triode is soldered in, and there is mention of it lasting 5 - 10 years.  When it goes bad, do owners have to send their DACs to Prima Luna to be refitted with new - and possibly rare and otherwise unavailable - clock tubes?

Thoughts, anyone?
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Showing 1 response by djones51

Here’s two DACs similar in price. 
 the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge

Maximum output level / Impedance. 9.6Vrms / 73ohm
A-wtd S/N ratio (S/PDIF / USB) 112.9dB / 112.8dB
Distortion (1kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) 0.0003% / 0.00017%
Distortion & Noise (20kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) .0005% / 0.00035%
Freq. resp. (20Hz-20kHz/45kHz/90kHz) +0.0 to –0.0dB/–0.4dB/–1.9dB
Digital jitter (48kHz / 96kHz) <5psec / <10psec
Resolution (re. –100dBFs / –110dBFs) ±0.1dB / ±0.5dB
Power consumption15W (1W standby)

The Prima Luna EVO 100

Maximum output level / Impedance. 2.15Vrms / 2.35-12.2kohm
A-wtd S/N ratio (S/PDIF / USB) 104.9dB / 105.0dB
Distortion (1kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) 1.07% / 0.025%
Distortion & Noise (20kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) 1.03% / 0.026%
Freq. resp. (20Hz-20kHz/45kHz/90kHz) –1.6 to +0.1dB/–0.5dB/–7.4dB
Digital jitter (48kHz / 96kHz) 160psec / 80psec
Resolution (re. –100dBFs / –110dBFs) ±0.6dB / ±3.5dB
Power consumption 53W

Specs from Hi Fi News

It mentions in the review the Prima Luna uses a crystal as the Master clock the tube is used in he side bandwidth oscillator.