Do you hear any difference if you use a external Clock?

I use a Mutec MC-3+ and an atomic clock on my DCS Debussy. Definitely an improvement. I wouldn't do without it.

Consider that even DCS' Vivaldi stack includes an external clock as one of its components.

Joel

The only time an external clock makes a difference is if you are using 2 or more converters at a time. I have NEVER, had an external clock make a single converter sound better, unless the unit was either broken or poorly engineered...

External clocks seem like a good marketing ploy to get more money out of your pocket. Why not just use a better clock in the DAC to begin with? Are more boxes and cables really better if the DAC is designed well with the best parts?

audioarcher said:

Why not just use a better clock in the DAC to begin with?

Click to expand...

Like MSB with their Femto/Galaxy clocks.

Bruce B said:

Like MSB with their Femto/Galaxy clocks.

Click to expand...

Yes among others. In the Exasound e20 DAC I just bought it comes with a 130 femtosecond clock. I ugraded to a 80 fs clock for $100.

audioarcher said:

Yes among others. In the Exasound e20 DAC I just bought it comes with a 130 femtosecond clock. I ugraded to a 80 fs clock for $100.

Click to expand...

Did you experience an improvement?

I did not get to hear the difference between the two. I just ordered it that way. I guess the marketing worked on me as well.

audioarcher said:

I did not get to hear the difference between the two. I just ordered it that way. I guess the marketing worked on me as well.

Click to expand...

for $100 for 80fs clock this is no brainer. I paid $5K for a 140fs clock - that takes a more sophisticated marketing approach.

audioarcher said:

I did not get to hear the difference between the two. I just ordered it that way. I guess the marketing worked on me as well.

Click to expand...

edorr said:

for $100 for 80fs clock this is no brainer. I paid $5K for a 140fs clock - that takes a more sophisticated marketing approach.

Click to expand...

Indeed

I have a Weiss Jason and Medea combo. I put a Grimm CC1 clock between both and the resolution, the speed, the delineation of instruments, tightness of bass and treble all improve. I think the clock in the Jason and/or Medea are specced so many years ago and the world has moved on, of which the Grimm is a clear example although it is not a rubidium or other exotic clock neither, just a very good one I like to think .

How do I connect the drive and the DAC? well, the CC1 has the unique feature that it not only allows to connect in either master or slave to the wordclock ins/outs of drives and DAC's (which the Weiss don't have) but it also has a reclocking function whereby you enter with an AES cable and go out with the same (converter for RCA/AES exists as well) accepting signals all the way to 196/24

So far my experience...

oh, and in case you might ask, no, there isn't any loss in dynamics or veilness (quite on the contrary).

audioarcher said:

External clocks seem like a good marketing ploy to get more money out of your pocket. Why not just use a better clock in the DAC to begin with? Are more boxes and cables really better if the DAC is designed well with the best parts?

Click to expand...

External clocks can have a real advantage if you have a system with different units, such as transport and DAC, as they will be synchronized to the some box. Also putting the clock in an external box with separate power supply can make it less sensitive to the noise of the digital systems that will use it. Weather it really results in sound improvement is surely open to debate, and until some generous fellow allows me to borrow a DCS Vivaldi stack I can not have an opinion!

I had my e20 MK III for about a month with the 130 Clock and then had George at exaSound do an 82 Clock for me. It was an obvious improvement. It was even more quite, there was more air, body and harmonics. For a $100 bucks it is more then worth it and the best bargain for the improvement in sound it brings. I told George he should just make the e20 MK III with the 82 Clock and just up his price a $100.

I recently purchased the new Esoteric D1XSE mono dacs and I already had an Esoteric P-02X transport. I demo’d the G1X clock as well although I knew if I liked it I’d have to wait and save a few more pennies before pulling the trigger on it. Without the clock these new Esoteric dacs are truly amazing and the best I’ve heard in my system. With the G1X clock, the cd playback benefited the most as in this setup there is real value to syncing the clocks between the transport and the dacs. While listening to hirez files from my Aurender W20SE via USB there was still a small improvement but not near the level of improvement I heard while listening to the transport. That actually made sense to me because over USB the clock from the source is ignored so that tells me that the clock in the dac is very close in quality to the clock in the G1X and that the main benefit it brings is in syncing multiple devices to the same signal. That said the best sound quality with the W20SE was over dual AES being clocked via the G1X. So, I think it all depends … if I were primarily using a streamer connected to these dacs via USB then I probably wouldn’t spend the additional dollars on the clock. Seeing how much of my digital listening is still via the transport the clock will be here as soon as my piggy bank is full again. Best to demo in your system and decide if a clock makes enough of a difference to justify the cost.

George