[xkamran]

OCK2. Worth the extra money.

If you dac has no burn-in, it will get better.

But what do you get in terms of sound signature

 

[FredA]

But what do you get in terms of sound signature

I don't have the dac itself, i just know it needs time to reach full potential. A friend of mine has one. He likes it a lot.

 

[JaMo]

But what do you get in terms of sound signature

Hi, I own and use the U18 with the R26, using the LHY OCK-2. I find them a good team. The R26 is a little bit "round" in itself and the U18 fed with the OCK-2 Master clock shapen up the whole sound image. I strongly advice You go with the OCK-2 here. With the OCK-1 I think the sound should be too "cosy" and less defined. I listen the U18-R26-OCK2 in my headphone/TV rig and it is brilliant amped with Audio-gd's NFB28.38 and HE6
/Jan

 

[TheRealDz]

Aune has 2 different clocks, but they don't seem to get a lot of love here.

FYI, one of them is on sale today on Amazon for $230.

Aune seems to have a solid reputation for value, so I bought one along with a $20 LMR400 50 ohm cable.

I am eager to gear what all the fuss is about...

 

[duffer5]

Hello all,
I am anxiously awaiting the Oct-2 I continue to educate myself on external clocks. My streamer (Hifi Rose RS130) has two clock inputs, one for 50ohm and one for 75. My DAC (Audio-GD R-7HEMk3) has only one for 50hms, thus my order for the 50 ohms OCK-2 clock and two 50 ohms cables. My question is I have my streamer connected to my DAC via usb. Will I have any benefit connected the streamer to the external clock or should I only connect the DAC. I don’t like the way i2s works on my streamer so I prefer to connect the streamer to the DAC with usb but in this case am I forced to use i2s to get the benefit of having one external clock with both my streamer and DAC connected to it or will I have the same benefits if the streamer and dac are connected with USB and both devices connected to the single external clock (OCK-2). I guess where my confusion is that I know USB does not transmit clock data and i2s does. How will I be impacted?

 

[xkamran]

Hi, I own and use the U18 with the R26, using the LHY OCK-2. I find them a good team. The R26 is a little bit "round" in itself and the U18 fed with the OCK-2 Master clock shapen up the whole sound image. I strongly advice You go with the OCK-2 here. With the OCK-1 I think the sound should be too "cosy" and less defined. I listen the U18-R26-OCK2 in my headphone/TV rig and it is brilliant amped with Audio-gd's NFB28.38 and HE6
/Jan

Thank you. Forgive my ignorance but csn we put the clock directly with r26? If we are using network streaming? Plus do i get 50 ohms version? Thank you

 

[FredA]

Hello all,
I am anxiously awaiting the Oct-2 I continue to educate myself on external clocks. My streamer (Hifi Rose RS130) has two clock inputs, one for 50ohm and one for 75. My DAC (Audio-GD R-7HEMk3) has only one for 50hms, thus my order for the 50 ohms OCK-2 clock and two 50 ohms cables. My question is I have my streamer connected to my DAC via usb. Will I have any benefit connected the streamer to the external clock or should I only connect the DAC. I don’t like the way i2s works on my streamer so I prefer to connect the streamer to the DAC with usb but in this case am I forced to use i2s to get the benefit of having one external clock with both my streamer and DAC connected to it or will I have the same benefits if the streamer and dac are connected with USB and both devices connected to the single external clock (OCK-2). I guess where my confusion is that I know USB does not transmit clock data and i2s does. How will I be impacted?

Using usb, there is a benefit to connecting both device to a common clock. It likely has to do with the fact that the usb sender has little speed adjustment (or none) to send the audio data at the exact rate the receiving DAC requires. Less messaging is required to regulate the transfer, so the receiver with be less noisy. So the dac will be less noisy as a consequence (there is no perfect galvanic isolator) and sound quality will be improved.

 

[gregorio]

I am anxiously awaiting the Oct-2 I continue to educate myself on external clocks.

Then you have to be careful that you are actually educating yourself, rather than doing the exact opposite. This is because there is a more than a little misleading/false marketing in the audiophile world regarding clocking and jitter, and therefore a significant amount of misunderstanding and incorrect guessing amongst some/many audiophiles.

My question is I have my streamer connected to my DAC via usb. Will I have any benefit connected the streamer to the external clock or should I only connect the DAC.

No, the data rate of the usb transfer and the sample rate of the digital audio are unrelated and independent, so there is no benefit connecting both the streamer and DAC to the same clock. There’s no benefit connecting the external clock only to the DAC either.

Using usb, there is a benefit to connecting both device to a common clock. It likely has to do with the fact that the usb sender has little speed adjustment (or none) to send the audio data at the exact rate the receiving DAC requires.

The usb sender must have a great deal of speed adjustment. It is a requirement of the usb protocol for the sending device to be backward compatible with whichever usb transfer speed the receiving device stipulates. If it doesn’t then it is not compliant with the usb protocol and therefore isn’t an usb device. Likewise, the exact rate the receiving DAC requires is also mandated by the usb protocol and if it were some other rate it would not be a usb device and would not work.

Less messaging is required to regulate the transfer, so the receiver with be less noisy.

It doesn’t affect the messaging/data.

So the dac will be less noisy as a consequence (there is no perfect galvanic isolator) and sound quality will be improved

If that were true, then high resolution would be more noisy than lower resolution and therefore wouldn’t be high resolution, as obviously it’s a great deal more “messaging”/data.

G

 

[JaMo]

Thank you. Forgive my ignorance but csn we put the clock directly with r26? If we are using network streaming? Plus do i get 50 ohms version? Thank you

I am feeding both the U18 and the R26 with clock pulse. This because the master clock then affects all inputs. If You only feed the U18 with clock pulse You only have the Master Clock benefit on I2s (HDMI) input on the R26.
/Jan

 

[Jake2]

Using usb, there is a benefit to connecting both device to a common clock. It likely has to do with the fact that the usb sender has little speed adjustment (or none) to send the audio data at the exact rate the receiving DAC requires. Less messaging is required to regulate the transfer, so the receiver with be less noisy. So the dac will be less noisy as a consequence (there is no perfect galvanic isolator) and sound quality will be improved.

I think - from my experience there are improvements of having a better (if not necessarily common) performing clock in a device outputting digital audio as asynchronous data - an LHY switch with a tungsten cube damped OCXO in my case, the difference is marked.

In my case having a separate OCXO the benefit is nothing to do with synchronisation. Indeed even in the case of a shared master clock it is hard to think how synchronisation benefits would manifest with an asynchronous feed.

My best working theory - if totally empirically unevidenced AFAIK - to explain what I hear is the higher performing clock in the sending asynchronous device (whether ethernet or USB) is it is more precise and consistent in generating square wave pulses (nice sharply defined leading and trailing edges for consistent 0/1 triggering, which I appreciate is also a function of power supply noise levels) making the recipient device's job that much easier - a metrononically delivered sequence of clean square waves. Less rebuffering, less processor demands on the recipient. And in the case of switches in series the effect is cumulative. Certainly the sound quality effect of switches in series, better power and OCXO damping certainly is. My 10c.

 

[xkamran]

I am feeding both the U18 and the R26 with clock pulse. This because the master clock then affects all inputs. If You only feed the U18 with clock pulse You only have the Master Clock benefit on I2s (HDMI) input on the R26.
/Jan

You mean i need to bnc cables coming out of ock 2 one going to ddc and other to r26?

 

[JaMo]

You mean i need to bnc cables coming out of ock 2 one going to ddc and other to r26?

yes

 

[FredA]

I think - from my experience there are improvements of having a better (if not necessarily common) performing clock in a device outputting digital audio as asynchronous data - an LHY switch with a tungsten cube damped OCXO in my case, the difference is marked.

In my case having a separate OCXO the benefit is nothing to do with synchronisation. Indeed even in the case of a shared master clock it is hard to think how synchronisation benefits would manifest with an asynchronous feed.

My best working theory - if totally empirically unevidenced AFAIK - to explain what I hear is the higher performing clock in the sending asynchronous device (whether ethernet or USB) is it is more precise and consistent in generating square wave pulses (nice sharply defined leading and trailing edges for consistent 0/1 triggering, which I appreciate is also a function of power supply noise levels) making the recipient device's job that much easier - a metrononically delivered sequence of clean square waves. Less rebuffering, less processor demands on the recipient. And in the case of switches in series the effect is cumulative. Certainly the sound quality effect of switches in series, better power and OCXO damping certainly is. My 10c.

Better clocking can improve transmission indeed. It is likely a factor.

Asynch usb audio is not asynch if we consider things at a higher level of analysis. The receiver receives messages from the sender, telling it to slow down or to accelerate, such that in average, audio data is sent at the required rate. This
means they synchronize which each other in that sense.

Asynch usb audio is based on synch usb audio. Asynch usb audio adds these rate regulation messages to the protocol. These messages are not needed (or almost not) when both devices are clocked with the same reference. For this to work, the sending computer needs to be clocked by the ext reference. Clocking the usb card with the reference likely helps improving transmission at the lower level, but will do nothing for the synching i am refering to.

 

[gregorio]

[1] My best working theory - if totally empirically unevidenced AFAIK - [2] to explain what I hear is the higher performing clock in the sending asynchronous device (whether ethernet or USB) is it is more precise and consistent in generating square wave pulses (nice sharply defined leading and trailing edges for consistent 0/1 triggering, which I appreciate is also a function of power supply noise levels) making the recipient device's job that much easier - a metrononically delivered sequence of clean square waves.

1. Then it MUST be false/incorrect! Ethernet (and USB) exist as international protocols because they are fully empirically evidenced. If they were not, they would not work and there would be no internet.

2. As “clean square waves” with “nice, sharply defined leading and trailing edges” cannot exist, the Ethernet (USB and other) protocols do not specify such an impossibility and therefore (again) would never work. In fact, the protocols specify the rise and fall times. Less than the specified rise and fall times therefore does NOT make the “recipient device’s job easier”.

Less rebuffering, less processor demands on the recipient.

It makes no difference to re-buffering at all or to processor demands. As long as the rise/fall times are within the specification for the protocol, there will be no re-buffering.

And in the case of switches in series the effect is cumulative.

A network switch buffers, reads and retransmits the data, so the effect cannot be cumulative and if it were, then (again) the internet could NOT exist.

G

 

[FredA]

The little ali streamer features computer clocking by the ext 10M reference. A clock signal synthiser generates four different clock signals, two of which go to the computer (which is a modded CM4 board) and two others go the the audio output to clock them accurately.