Which USB reclocker is as good as the Innuos Phoenix USB?

“Holo audio Titanus.”

IME, devices like these are nothing more than Band-aids…very similar to putting a lipstick on a 🐷

As @nyev and @sns pointed out, why not buy a better streamer that negates the need for these band-aids.

@antigrunge2 

I know you employ at least half a dozen of these nifty gadgets in your system. And I’m not questioning their effectiveness, I am just advocating buying or upgrading to better gear for higher gains than minuscule ones. 

@tjag 

As an alternative to relying on USB, have you considered a Streamer/DAC like Lumin T2? I have switched to a similar solution last year and couldn’t be any happier. 

“Why spend a ton more on a Streamer or DAC to get the same performance that a low cost USB dongle gives you? ”
@vinylfan62

Except it doesn’t, I have tried and tested many tweaks in my system. Again, not saying they don’t improve the sound but a $80 USB dongle won’t magically transform a laptop to a level of well designed dedicated streamer or server.

At the end of the day, do what makes you happy!

+1@jjss49

@antigrunge2

Other than the obvious advantage of asynchronous connection you pointed out, I can think of couple of reasons why USB still considered a better option for servers. There is no standardized connector with i2S protocol, some uses RJ45 and others using HDMI. Both AES and BNC (SPDIF) has sample rate limitations (upto 192kHz) unless you’re using dual AES outputs which is very rare. Not to mention jitter which if not addressed properly can become a detriment to a bitstream.

IME, The Ethernet based DAC/Server all in one device is the way to future. The brilliant designers at Merging Technologies and Aurender has proven that you don’t need an external or separate server with ginormous processing power to run Roon Core or to run your favourite player software to hear music files. The whole separate server from end point (renderer) is a propaganda by ROON to fool people into spending money and jumping through hoops with tweaking gadgets to get data stream from Server to End Point (player or renderer). Just think about it, how many folks are benefiting from this grand scheme of running a Roon core on a separate server.

@antigrunge2 

I couldn’t agree with you anymore on the efficacy of high quality clock in a high quality DAC/server/Ethernet chain. I am using one with my Merging +player. 

The following point is definitely more in line with using devices not optimized or designed for streaming high resolution audio. 

“vagaries of USB relates both to noise from the contained 5V DC line and to ground level and RFI/EMI incursions.”.