Ron’s New System
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
Yes what would you do with your time ?
Oh The Irony Milan …What on earth would you and Petty do with yourselves ;0}
I guess we would all be in a bind, and have to get a life !
A great deal of truism in that , In part my original point !
From what I have read the Phoenix USB re-clocker should also bring some tonal density and body/warmth to the party...if your just observing increased resolution, perhaps more play time is needed, and if I might suggest, take a look at replacing the $39.00 USB cable....that alone should yield some sonic benefits.After a confusing beginning I spent almost 5 hours listening to digital last night for the purpose of evaluating the Innuous PhoenixUSB reclocker. I put the reclocker in and took it out -- back-and-forth -- several times.
When I first plugged in this device the sudden edginess on female vocals was horrifying. It was totally unmistakable. It was unlistenable. WTF? Is this what this device sounds like? A increase in resolution accompanied by a tilted up tonal balance and terrible edginess?!?! No thank you!
Almost 100% of audio reviewers and audiophiles report positive sonic improvements with this PhoenixUSB. So my anomalous result was very confusing.
But I have had so many issues with components in my system and so many sonic gremlins that I was fully prepared to chalk it up to the evil audio poltergeists which have taken up residence in my listening room. I went to sleep flummoxed and annoyed, as I have many times from this hobby in the last two years.
I have a lot of prejudicial skepticism (arising from my amateur radio and Heathkit-building days when things could be figured out objectively using formulas) about a lot of things in our hobby, but my skepticism is subject to easy refutation via subjective listening.
15 hours later all, or almost all, of the edginess was gone, leaving only improved resolution and a bit of a sense of slightly greater energy and "aliveness." Just to make sure I wasn't deluding myself with careless volume differences towards the end of the evening I played the stereo louder than I had at the beginning of the evaluation to confirm that the edginess largely evaporated.
I am highly confident that something in the PhoenixUSB or the $39 Audioquest Pearl .5m USB cable I bought as a temporary wire, or both, "settled in" after they were plugged in for about 15 hours. Does the frequency reference "clock" in the PhoenixUSB need time to stabilize? Is there something in it that needs to warm up for a long time? I have no idea. This is a wacky hobby.
Bottom line: I am happy with what the PhoenixUSB is doing (higher resolution), and I am keeping it.
My entire digital playback leg of my source triad is very modest ($13,600 MSRP including DAC, streamer, CD transport, reclocker, power supply and cables) compared to that of almost everybody else here. I have to say digital was sounding darn good last night! (no alcohol involved)
But this reclocker episode, I am sorry to report, gave the rabbit the opportunity to start digging a hole.
Cheers.....
An increase in resolution should mean precisely improving, tonal density and body/warmth among other things. A system is not resolving if it does not present these characteristics and others in a convincing way.
Surprising question from a dealer. If you reviewed audio components in your home (rather than through visits to other people's systems) you would know that any new out-of-the-box component requires at least a 7-10 day power on break-in period -- sometimes longer -- before passing judgement.
Why? Because you don't know how it will sound until after that period. Maybe on day 10 it sounds the same as day 2, but maybe not. You don't know ahead of time. I don't understand break-in but the phenomenon is real, varies widely, and includes the component settling into a new environment after shipping. It's not how long does a reclocker take to break-in, each component is different. Often the manufacturer will give you some idea of how long a specific component takes.
in addition to keeping the clock powered at all times, vibration is a big issue as well. I'm sure you have that sorted. What footers do you use?
in this case, due to space and height limitations, and clock cable length realities, my resonance treatments are not extensive. the Esoteric GX1 chassis and stock footers are in use, which are actually pretty good. the chassis is well designed and has an intentionally loose top plate, and floating footers. i'm forced to stack the Esoteric T1 power supply and the G1X clock.......top and bottom......of a two level sub rack sitting on the Massif Audio rack. it's a stout shelf and the rack is sitting on the Nordost Sort Fut footers which is on concrete.
the clock cable and power supply DC cable both need to be short, and the turntable has to be where it is. so there you go. i did have to rearrange my (very heavy) Wadax chassis across the bottom of my racks, reverse their locations, so i could get the TEAC transport in the right spot for the clock cable and the S/PDIF cable for the dac to work with the proper length. that was on Monday.....my back is just starting to feel better now three days later.
so there are always logistical trade-offs in a system with three ultimate formats; a 5 chassis Wadax Ref digital, a digital transport, clock, two turntables, four arms, a 4 box phono preamp, two tape decks, with 4 tape preamp chassis. not complaining, just that sometimes there are small compromises we would prefer to not need to do. sigh.
Last edited:
clocks are very susceptible to resonance. think about it. they keep time related to vibration.
Think that ship has sailedI guess we would all be in a bind, and have to get a life !
I’d doubt there is anything in audio more sensitive to both the impact of vibration and RFI than the digital environment.
That underlays the basis of much of everything that I’ve found to be the case over the last few decades in exploring differences in setting a system up to optimise digital. Time spent listening through the magnepan 20.7s really brought that home for me.
Apparently a $2500 Dior bag costs $57 to make, so you might still be more normal buying audio compared to these ladiesCollecting toy trains is starting to look good to me these days, prices have not skyrocketed yet and diminishing hearing abilities are not a factor. A safe hobby long into my 90's
the window of set-up for optimal digital is much more narrow than for analog. it just is. which makes it a better tool for system adjustments, but much more exacting and sensitive to get exactly right. a little bit off is.....OFF.
a very resolving system demands a lot from digital. some decide to 'blunt' their digital to make it easier.
I am a tweak skeptic. To me it is all audiophile nervosa until I hear a net sonic improvement.
If a clock is using a crystal oscillator (I have no idea if it is, but that used to be the standard frequency reference in radio land) I can't imagine it's too susceptible to minute vibration.
But rather than debate it, this is an easy thing to test: do you hear anything untoward in the music from your clock when your woofer towers are moving in anger?
That's back to your own peculiar subjective definition of resolution. We've been through this at least three different times, I think probably five different times. We have different definitions of "resolution," so let's not re-litigate that here.
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |