[colonelkernel8]

It is my belief that upgrading your master clock can be the most rewarding upgrade you can make on your CD player.

Kwak-Clock is the best DIY option, outperforms many of the other commercially offered solutions.

Audiocom Superclock 3 - $330

Effective Audio Mod Clock Module II - $115-$180

LC Audio LClock XO3 - $170

NewClassD (Dexa) Reference Audio Clock - $230

TentLabs XO-2 - $120

Trichord Research Clock 2 and Clock 4 - $145-$290

Please add to the list or modify the list

 

[Assorted]

I can't seem to find a guide to do that, mind if you post a link to a thread, or even another site?

 

[Advil]

Call me dumb but...what exactly does that do?

 

[Epicurean]

Nooo! Don't listen to him! A discrete output stage is more worthwhile!

 

[Vicomte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Advil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Call me dumb but...what exactly does that do?

Tells time. Perhaps?

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Advil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Call me dumb but...what exactly does that do?

Staying true to the defined sample rate of the digital stream/DAC I'm guessing..

 

[ezkcdude]

This post should be put in the DIY forum. Folks here have not much of a clue (sorry, but it's true).

 

[Advil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif This post should be put in the DIY forum. Folks here have not much of a clue (sorry, but it's true).

I don't like you

 

[milkpowder]

All I know is that better master clocks allow better synchronisation of the clocks in the DAC and the transport. That's what the Esoteric salesman basically said when I asked what the G-0s did

Is that true? The one in my X-03SE is accurate to 3ppmillion whereas the one in the G-0s is accurate to 0.5ppbillion

 

[colonelkernel8]

Well, here is the lowdown:

A separate high quality master clock such as those reduce jitter. Jitter is exactly that, a "jitter" or inconsistency in the digital data on its way to the DAC. Now, most modern CD players have really high tolerances for jitter, meaning that there is plenty of it. This in turn jumbles and muddies up the sound after it is converted to analog by the DAC. Reducing such jitter to extremely low levels will result in the purest sound your CD player has ever made. It will vastly improve clarity, imaging, it will widen the soundstage, improve bass, treble, and everything in between. In short, a master clock will improve every aspect of the sound your CD player makes, drastically.

Sounds enticing now, doesn't it?

 

[DarkAngel]

I have had both dacs and CDPs modded with Audiocom Superclock in the past, but for different view I found one well regarded mod guy at Audiogon who advises against aftermarket clock upgrades and says they add noise back into your CDP.......read why:

Clock Upgrade

He also thinks tubes are bad upgrade option for CDP vs carefully selected solid state part upgrades.

 

[Herandu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by colonelkernel8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Reducing such jitter to extremely low levels will result in the purest sound your CD player has ever made.

What if I just bought a new deck to the equivalent of my current deck plus the cost of the clock? That aside, I really can't quite imagine how it would give better bass etc.

 

[colonelkernel8]

Thats not true at all. That is such a ridiculous thing to say. They are completely ignoring the much bigger problem of jitter by saying that any and all chips that you put in your CD player causes EMI interference and its a "sonic jackhammer". I am listening to it right now. There is no ringing, no smearing, and it certainly sounds better than stock. If everything is properly isolated and filtered (like a separate power supply for the clock) then there can be no problem like they say. The kwak clock has ferrite beads to clean out any EMI in the wiring.

 

[colonelkernel8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herandu /img/forum/go_quote.gif What if I just bought a new deck to the equivalent of my current deck plus the cost of the clock? That aside, I really can't quite imagine how it would give better bass etc.

No. You can buy a $500 cd player, install a fine clock for $200 and it will sound better than a $2000 cd player stock because the stock one still has a significant amount of jitter.

It gives better bass as well as all other frequencies because the data your DAC it is receiving is precise and clean there is no muddied data stream. It won't give you more bass, but it will tighten and clean it up. Same goes for highs, say bye bye to glare.

 

[Nerull]

Indeed, I echo the above comments about jitter and jitter reduction as it should have a profound effect on the signal. You can read about the details here:

http://www.nanophon.com/audio/jitter92.pdf

Here, there are multiple papers on jitter and it's effects on the data and audio streams.

http://www.essex.ac.uk/ese/research/...lications.html

Yes, there is a lot of math (I love math though, it's amazing), but the information there is worth looking at anyway.

Gotta go though, hope that helps.

~Tom