[gimmeheadroom]

Not many impressions in this thread using a reclocker in combination with DI-20. Got Ideon 3R Master Time Black Star in the house few weeks ago and been testing it before DI-20 and straight with usb to dac. Still DI-20 in the mix holds it's magic.

However with 3R Master Time my preference is now serial mode instead of parallel that is normally in use. With parallel it seems to favor leading edge of notes slightly too much. Serial nails note sustain just right, perhaps the hardest trick to pull off for digital frontend vs vinyl.



Sorry to say for wallets there is noticeable difference in audio quality with 3R Master Time added in the audio chain. Overall openness of sound, improved soundstage depth, palpable more lifelike timbre, bass accuracy and authority (some serious wow moments especially with bass). I expect effects would be similar with Innuos Phoenix as well.

LPS powered JCAT USB XE card as source, T+A DAC 8 DSD with AES/EBU XLR input. Both USB connections without 5V power lines (data only). Tested with entry level Atlas USB cable without vibration pads so even more potential to be unleashed.

My setup is wired like this (3 paths, one instance of the components):

(1) PC -> USB -> DI-20HE -> I2S -> R8 mk2
(2) PC -> USB -> DI-20HE -> AES/EBU -> Mutec MC-3+ USB -> AES/EBU -> R8 mk2
(3) PC -> USB -> MC-3+ USB -> AES/EBU -> R8 mk2

So I can compare the system with or without the Mutec in it, and also with or without the DI-20HE in it. The best clarity, sparkle, and space seem to be when using path (2) above. However since I got the cable the guys here recommended, (1) does sound extremely good.

I haven't tried running the Mutec into the DI-20HE but that would be easy enough. I was interested in your comment about serial vs. parallel mode. I don't think I played around with that much. Thanks for your post.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

You can get a 0.7 Oyaide bnc-bnc silver cable for 115 usd on ebay. I just received a 1.0m. Can't make any statement on it yet other than build quality is top notch.

What did you decide, Fred? I'm going to get a pair of cables to run my Oppo in and out of my Mutec boxes. Without spending too much time, I narrowed it down to OYAIDE DST-75R V2 Coaxial Cable RCA SPDIF 75 Ohm 102SSC Rhodium Plated 1m at audiophonics.fr or Vovox that Thomann sells, mostly out of convenience and not wanting to spend weeks researching this. Whatever I get will be an upgrade from the house brand RCA coaxials I use here and there.

 

[vgmbpty]

Well, I can report that the DI20 HE worked very well to improve the output of my Innuos Zenith MK3 into the Verity Monsalvat Pre 2 (Dad + Preamplifier).
Once I connected the external AfterDark clock (Emperor Trifecta) the PRaT, bass authority, and ease of sound were increased even more, but I was using a basic BNC cable. When I upgraded to the Blue BNC cable from Cybershaft, the clarity increased, but without high-frequency harshness.

With this configuration, the effects of Roon running from an external core or from the Innuos are clear. It is a mix of increasing noise and upsampling. So now I changed to run the music from the Innuos and the Sense App, forgetting about Roon and upsampling. I have gained a new appreciation for the NOS approach ( No oversampling) as my system is sounding better than ever.

My lessons learned: I can live without Roon ( now using the Innuos Sense App). The Audio-GD DDC made me forget about upsampling and upgrading the music server. A good external clock and cable are important. I do not need an Antipodes K50. My local dealer will not be happy, LOL.

 

[Jandu]

What did you decide, Fred? I'm going to get a pair of cables to run my Oppo in and out of my Mutec boxes. Without spending too much time, I narrowed it down to OYAIDE DST-75R V2 Coaxial Cable RCA SPDIF 75 Ohm 102SSC Rhodium Plated 1m at audiophonics.fr or Vovox that Thomann sells, mostly out of convenience and not wanting to spend weeks researching this. Whatever I get will be an upgrade from the house brand RCA coaxials I use here and there.

Just FYI, my friends RPi4b with Simple best PS can easily win against an untreated Oppo in his system.

 

[FredA]

What did you decide, Fred? I'm going to get a pair of cables to run my Oppo in and out of my Mutec boxes. Without spending too much time, I narrowed it down to OYAIDE DST-75R V2 Coaxial Cable RCA SPDIF 75 Ohm 102SSC Rhodium Plated 1m at audiophonics.fr or Vovox that Thomann sells, mostly out of convenience and not wanting to spend weeks researching this. Whatever I get will be an upgrade from the house brand RCA coaxials I use here and there.

Got a monoprice here. And the Oyaide. Not sure the Oyaide is anything special (although using it in the marked direction improves sound) . You are better off with a dhlabs aes/ebu cable if your equipement allows it. I can recommend the Acoustic Zen Silver Byte, pretty sure it beats the Oyaide.

 

[FredA]

Well, I can report that the DI20 HE worked very well to improve the output of my Innuos Zenith MK3 into the Verity Monsalvat Pre 2 (Dad + Preamplifier).
Once I connected the external AfterDark clock (Emperor Trifecta) the PRaT, bass authority, and ease of sound were increased even more, but I was using a basic BNC cable. When I upgraded to the Blue BNC cable from Cybershaft, the clarity increased, but without high-frequency harshness.

With this configuration, the effects of Roon running from an external core or from the Innuos are clear. It is a mix of increasing noise and upsampling. So now I changed to run the music from the Innuos and the Sense App, forgetting about Roon and upsampling. I have gained a new appreciation for the NOS approach ( No oversampling) as my system is sounding better than ever.

My lessons learned: I can live without Roon ( now using the Innuos Sense App). The Audio-GD DDC made me forget about upsampling and upgrading the music server. A good external clock and cable are important. I do not need an Antipodes K50. My local dealer will not be happy, LOL.

You got your Cybershaft cable from Afterdark? You think it beats the Afterdark red?

 

[vgmbpty]

You got you Cybershaft cable from Afterdark? You think it beats the Afterdark red?

I got the blue cable from the cybershaft website. Price of the blue was lower, i needed 1.5m of it. Cannot test the Red one, the ones I have are too short. Would not be surprised if the red was better, as I was told by Adrian.

 

[slazhx]

not be surprised if the red was better, as I was told by Adrian

That was the same Adrian told me.

Just FYI, my friends RPi4b with Simple best PS can easily win against an untreated Oppo in his system

Simple Best is the brand Kingwa recommended to me as well.

 

[rsbrsvp]

Is HDMI and ACSS equally good connections to a dac or is HDMI better- all assuming equal cable quality?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Just FYI, my friends RPi4b with Simple best PS can easily win against an untreated Oppo in his system.

I'm not sure what you mean but my intent for this project was just to get native support for some oddball codecs like DTS. Most of the time, I'm using the R8 mk2 rather than the Oppo, which I use now pretty much just for playing SACDs.

Got a monoprice here. And the Oyaide. Not sure the Oyaide is anything special (although using it in the marked direction improves sound) . You are better off with a dhlabs aes/ebu cable if your equipement allows it. I can recommend the Acoustic Zen Silver Byte, pretty sure it beats the Oyaide.

I much prefer AES/EBU to coax and I use it whenever I can and I make my own AES/EBU cables. Unfortunately, the Oppo doesn't have AES/EBU, just S/PDIF. Mostly I use it only for SACDs but since it supports DTS and I found a few DTS CD rips I thought I may as well wire it to use the DAC over coax.

Thanks for the data point on the Oyaide, it will be easier for me to buy the Vovox from Thomann. Interestingly, Thomann is no longer carrying the Mutec MC-3+ USB, although they still sell the non-USB version. Before this happened I asked Mutec about the difference between the USB and non-USB version since I don't necessarily need USB input if I buy another one, but I was told the reclocking in the USB version is next gen and better than the non-USB version and that there is benefit even when using it with AES/EBU or S/PDIF in, over the non-USB version.

 

[rsbrsvp]

I'm not sure what you mean but my intent for this project was just to get native support for some oddball codecs like DTS. Most of the time, I'm using the R8 mk2 rather than the Oppo, which I use now pretty much just for playing SACDs.



I much prefer AES/EBU to coax and I use it whenever I can and I make my own AES/EBU cables. Unfortunately, the Oppo doesn't have AES/EBU, just S/PDIF. Mostly I use it only for SACDs but since it supports DTS and I found a few DTS CD rips I thought I may as well wire it to use the DAC over coax.

Thanks for the data point on the Oyaide, it will be easier for me to buy the Vovox from Thomann. Interestingly, Thomann is no longer carrying the Mutec MC-3+ USB, although they still sell the non-USB version. Before this happened I asked Mutec about the difference between the USB and non-USB version since I don't necessarily need USB input if I buy another one, but I was told the reclocking in the USB version is next gen and better than the non-USB version and that there is benefit even when using it with AES/EBU or S/PDIF in, over the non-USB version.

I thought the magic of the DI-20 is the ACSS output. AES is not ACSS. Shouldnt the ACSS coax be better?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I thought the magic of the DI-20 is the ACSS output. AES is not ACSS. Shouldnt the ACSS coax be better?

ACSS has higher bandwidth than AES/EBU, yes. And I do have my R8 mk2 hooked up to my DI-20HE via ACSS along with IIS. But ACSS is not an industry standard so if you have pro gear you use AES/EBU and if you have consumer gear you have S/PDIF. There isn't any way to capitalize on ACSS for non-Audio-gd components.

But, when we were talking about coax, we were talking about S/PDIF coax, not BNC.

Edit: I was talking about S/PDIF coax, but Fred was talking about BNC. He said it plain as day and I just missed it. Several people quoted me or asked me something and in those posts, too, I totally missed it. So, sorry to everybody and my only explanation must be insufficient beer

 

[rsbrsvp]

ACSS has higher bandwidth than AES/EBU, yes. And I do have my R8 mk2 hooked up to my DI-20HE via ACSS along with IIS. But ACSS is not an industry standard so if you have pro gear you use AES/EBU and if you have consumer gear you have S/PDIF. There isn't any way to capitalize on ACSS for non-Audio-gd components.

But, when we were talking about coax, we were talking about S/PDIF coax, not BNC.

Isnt HDMI i2s the best?

 

[rsbrsvp]

My cable manufacturer believes S/PDIF can better than BNC. Why? Yes- BNC is exactly 75ohm and SPDIF may be 1/10 of 1% off of 75 ohm. But coax only allows for very thin gauge wire. Using RCA terminations in SPDIF he can make OCC sliver as thick as 12awg- and he believes this thick gauge is critical to the delivery of the signal and will make a substantial sonic difference..

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Isnt HDMI i2s the best?

The question is too general. I2S doesn't have a standard pinout and very little gear supports it.

My question to Fred was regarding his comment a while back on Oyaide coaxial S/PDIF because my Oppo doesn't support anything besides USB and S/PDIF (optical and coax).