Reality is Cruel : Cybershaft new Ultimate OCXO 10M Clocks Shootout OP20 vs OP17

[Samsoum]

Hey Nick, I'm running a similar setup with a Mutec MC-3+USB, 75ohm Afterdark Emperor Double Crown OCXO clock and Abbas Esoteric Audio DAC2.2SE (Multibit). The Emperor Double Crown is similar in spec to the Cybershaft OP20 when powered with the Afterdark LPS, though I'll soon be changing that for a 12V Fared Super3 after reading through this thread. It should be a nice improvement.

I always thought the Mutec was an incredible bit of gear but came across a few threads were it was claimed that removing the switching power supply in favor of an external LPS improves performance though online reports showed mixed results. Anyway I have had the SMPS removed from mine and a 2.5mm DC socket installed and used a 6vdc Fared Super3 with it. I was utterly blown away by the improvement it made with it making a similar improvement to the Afterdark clock itself.

So yes, the SMPS does hurt performance of the Mutec though you're unaware of the shortcoming until it's replaced with a quality LPS.

I hope that's of some use to you assuming too much to hasn't passed since your post.

Cheers

Matt

Hi matt,
I m in the same boat as you.
I have abbas 3.1 se dac,feeded by a modded sinxger su1 thru lps1.2.
The singxer is a friend one ,who wants to sell it for me for a good price.

The future plan is: to start with this su1,with my server wich is usb out only,then upgrade to the highly claimed audio gd di20 he,then go for afterdark clock to clock my etherregen and the di20 he.

I have another option wich is turn my server to spdif output thru pink faun spdif bridge ultra oxco wich also can be optionally clocked .

Not decided yet,and would love to know more about the double emperor clock,sound,price,bnc cables used in your system...

Btw abbas dac is here since a month,very good dac,upgrading the tubes this coming month..
Thks

 

[MattyW]

Mmm, interesting I need to read up on the Audio-GD unit. I wasn't aware of it. Does it also handle sampling? I ask as I found letting Roon output at the native resolution of the file it's playing and letting the Mutec handle downsampling gives a far better result than having Roon downsample to 16bit 44khz with my DAC. I don't know why but it does. At this stage the Mutec is the only unit I can imagine running though it definitely needs to be converted to an external LPS to get the best from it.

The 3.1 would be a lovely sounding unit. Congratulations on your purchase.

I'm running a custom clock cable using vintage Western Electric wire. I found it a far better match for the Abbas house sound than my previous Tchernov Special clock cable. Far more natural sounding. I'm getting another made up using Furutech CF-BNC connectors so it maintains a better connection vs the cheap Canare BNC connectors on my current cable. Even with the Furutech connectors it will be less expensive than my Tchernov Special.

The Afterdark range of clocks has far more choices than Cybershaft to cover every price point. The Geiseman EVA is the equivalent to the OP21 in terms of specs.

Cheers

Matt

 

[aubreyBobb]

MATTYW

"I'm running a custom clock cable using vintage Western Electric wire"

May I ask where you ordered this from?

Best wishes

 

[MattyW]

MATTYW

"I'm running a custom clock cable using vintage Western Electric wire"

May I ask where you ordered this from?

Best wishes

Bills Cables, as found on Stereonet. Uses stands removed from WE power cables. Co-incidentally I'm now running a different cable I had custom made for me by Geoff of Aurealis Audio.

A 1m Duelund oil impregnated cotton covered pure silver solid core 26awg wire in a foamed teflon tube, conductive carbon shield over that and copper shield over that (double shielded), 75ohm silver plated BNC connectors.

I've been extremely impressed with this as it combines the warmth and naturalness of the WE cable with superior insight and transparency of silver without sounding Hi-Fi as the Tchernov Special clock cable does. Basically the perfect cable in my system.

 

[aubreyBobb]

Bills Cables, as found on Stereonet. Uses stands removed from WE power cables. Co-incidentally I'm now running a different cable I had custom made for me by Geoff of Aurealis Audio.

A 1m Duelund oil impregnated cotton covered pure silver solid core 26awg wire in a foamed teflon tube, conductive carbon shield over that and copper shield over that (double shielded), 75ohm silver plated BNC connectors.

I've been extremely impressed with this as it combines the warmth and naturalness of the WE cable with superior insight and transparency of silver without sounding Hi-Fi as the Tchernov Special clock cable does. Basically the perfect cable in my system.

Many thanks. I'm familiar with NOS tinned copper cabling, which similar. Love it and am using lots of it in my system. Didnt realise it could be used for clock cables too.

 

[MattyW]

Many thanks. I'm familiar with NOS tinned copper cabling, which similar. Love it and am using lots of it in my system. Didnt realise it could be used for clock cables too.

No, the WE wire used was straight copper. I s incorrect in saying it was tinned copper.

 

[aubreyBobb]

Apologies, so noted. Meantime I meant to ask, what did you upgrade the Tchernov from? Since I am not familiar with that brand, maybe I knew your earlier cable.

 

[MattyW]

The original cable was what my After dark Emperor Double Crown came with. A Belden clock cable I believe.

 

[aubreyBobb]

Many thanks. That gives me a very good reference point. Adrian shipped me the same cables with my Emp double crown.

 

[MattyW]

Many thanks. That gives me a very good reference point. Adrian shipped me the same cables with my Emp double crown.

The Belden has a very pleasing sound, but it's not particularly detailed. It certainly holds these wonderful clocks back.

 

[aubreyBobb]

Also thank you for for agreeing to let Geoff have some of the silver cable for me.

 

[MattyW]

Also thank you for for agreeing to let Geoff have some of the silver cable for me.

Hey, no worries. Be interested to see what you think of these custom cables. I think they're something special.

 

[aubreyBobb]

MattyW.

Your/Geoff's cables been in my system for about 3 hours and I am surprised by the improvement. I am still trying to figure out how 2 small 30 cm cables can make such a difference.

It seems to me now that clock cables are the most critical cables in a system. Who would have thought that. Thank you again for the recommendation. Am thinking of replacing one other clock cable in my system, if you have any more you can spare and geoff is up for it.

 

[MattyW]

MattyW.

Your/Geoff's cables been in my system for about 3 hours and I am surprised by the improvement. I am still trying to figure out how 2 small 30 cm cables can make such a difference.

It seems to me now that clock cables are the most critical cables in a system. Who would have thought that. Thank you again for the recommendation. Am thinking of replacing one other clock cable in my system, if you have any more you can spare and geoff is up for it.

It will continue to improve yet.

The thing that impressed me is how it has the body and warmth of copper combined with the improved detail, transparency and detail of good silver. I was so impressed with mine that I got a SPDIF cable built up using it. Not as great a difference s the clock cable funnily enough.

I don’t have any more of that wire left unfortunately so you’d either need to see if Geoff can source more or order some on his behalf. I think you can agree that the results speak for themselves with these cables….. Or indeed any current Aurealis Audio cable.

I highly recommend his Duelund 50 RCA’s (the mixed silver copper is excellent too though I prefer the Duelund 50), his Litz mixed silver & copper speaker cables and also his not yet released Spiral 8 speaker cables. I was lucky enough to get the original Duelund 50 RCA cable and the second one made, also the second Spiral 8 speaker cable.

 

[SCAudiophile]

Suggest that all posts regarding cables, other clocks, etc.... can move to another thread.

 

[Kirbyfel]

Hi there

I am new here and please help.

I have both CH C1. 1 and D1. 1 and dcs vivaldi one. I bought a OP13 as a try out. The issues are
When i plug OP13 directly into dcs it does not work there is no clock signal. So i have bought a 2nd hand eso clock G02 and plug OP13 into clock input of eso G02 and then eso clock out 44.1 ( 48 and others also work but not 10m) to dcs. Then it works and sounds . But when i switch to 10M on my eso g02, Dcs dont work.

Also i have tried feeding direct from OP13 to dcs it doesnot work must pass through eso g02

On CH, OP13 to eso g02 and switch to 10m. Eso g02 clock out to CH clock input then it works and shows frequency is 10m on both C1. 1 and D1. 1 and sounds good

Can you anyone please advice how i may configure properly
Many thanks

 

[TLi]

Hi there

I am new here and please help.

I have both CH C1. 1 and D1. 1 and dcs vivaldi one. I bought a OP13 as a try out. The issues are
When i plug OP13 directly into dcs it does not work there is no clock signal. So i have bought a 2nd hand eso clock G02 and plug OP13 into clock input of eso G02 and then eso clock out 44.1 ( 48 and others also work but not 10m) to dcs. Then it works and sounds . But when i switch to 10M on my eso g02, Dcs dont work.

Also i have tried feeding direct from OP13 to dcs it doesnot work must pass through eso g02

On CH, OP13 to eso g02 and switch to 10m. Eso g02 clock out to CH clock input then it works and shows frequency is 10m on both C1. 1 and D1. 1 and sounds good

Can you anyone please advice how i may configure properly
Many thanks

dCS Vivaldi system only accepts 44.1 MHz and 48 MHz or the multiples of them, not 10 MHz. The correct way to use external 10 MHz reference clock is to feed OP13 to the reference input of Vivaldi clock and the clock feed 44.1 and 48 MHz to Vivaldi One.

 

[Kirbyfel]

dCS Vivaldi system only accepts 44.1 MHz and 48 MHz or the multiples of them, not 10 MHz. The correct way to use external 10 MHz reference clock is to feed OP13 to the reference input of Vivaldi clock and the clock feed 44.1 and 48 MHz to Vivaldi One.

Yes this is the way i am doing.

OP13 - - - ESO -G02 - - - DCS

Sounds good though
Just wonder if the same happens to CH ( i. e. Directly feed from. OP13 to CH) without using Eso G02
I am waiting for my new clock coming.

Exciting

 

[SCAudiophile]

Which clock do you have on order?

Is the OP13 clock you refer to a Cybershaft, if so, what model? If not, what clock is it?

For the CH C1.1 and D1.1, do you have the SYNC I/O CLOCK SYNC board?

 

[SCAudiophile]

dCS Vivaldi system only accepts 44.1 MHz and 48 MHz or the multiples of them, not 10 MHz. The correct way to use external 10 MHz reference clock is to feed OP13 to the reference input of Vivaldi clock and the clock feed 44.1 and 48 MHz to Vivaldi One.

This is true as long as the 10 Mhz clock output is 75-ohm or switchable from 50-ohm to 75-ohm like newer Cybershafts and other clocks.

From the DCS Vivaldi Clock manual; it does not seem to take a 50-ohm input on the Reference Input BNC. I'd be surprised if it syncs at all if you tried to send 50-ohm into that 75-ohm input however if by some chance it does sync, I don't think I'd trust the results.