[dougms3]

Regarding the LMR400 cable, I went over the connectors with a magnet and the whole thing is magnetic, its basically steel and probably acting like an antennae for EMI.

As per decentlevi's experiment, I placed 3m copper tape over the connectors and this made a huge improvement in the sound quality.

Highly recommend trying this.

 

[Jake2]

An very good sounding alternative is to get a previous owned Mint condition VRDS player from TEAC (from model 10 and up to get the best drive mechanism). Reclock it with an Audio-gd DI20 HE or a Mutec MC3/MC3+USB timed by the OCK-2. DI20HE is 50 Ohm and the Mutec MC3/MC3+USB is 75 Ohm on their master clock inputs.
If You find an old but working VRDS player, it may need some service (drive belt changes), but is totally worth that money if You don't have the confidence to do it Yourself. The belts are cheap but a bit fiddly to change them. I have done it, but I am a risk taker guy. High end performance for small money
/Jan

TEAC make some beautiful stuff.

Their just released VRDS-701T transport has a 10Mhz clock input though at over $2k it may be more than @mooster1223 wants to spend. Still it looks pure quality, a piece of audio jewellery, I’m kinda tempted even though I can’t recall the last time I listened to a CD. It’d be a perfect match for the TEAC UD-701N network player/DAC also with 10Mhz input. What a stack that would be.

https://teac.jp/int/product/vrds-701t/top

 

[sajunky]

I reckon replacing BNCs with screw style connectors would be beneficial, for sine at least (might cause impedance mismatch fun for square), as BNCs are not as RF-tight as a screw connection so almost certainly the shielding weak spot in end to end clock to DAC connection.

I doubt it is RF ground connection issue, as RF finds its way due to a large surface area (capacitance), so RF signal is properly terminated even if DC contact is poor.

BNC type has a poor DC connection that cause low frequency fluctuations of ground loops. It will affect clock jitter, especially in the low frequency range (up to kHz) and a sinewave clock will more degrade than a square.

You can confirm it by linking devices with a separate grounding wire, but it has to be placed in parallel, very close to the BNC cable to not allow EMI convert to a ground loop. A separate ground wire should have the same effect as a copper tape method.

Copper tape tweak is so simple, highly recommended.

 

[Jake2]

I doubt it is RF ground connection issue, as RF finds its way due to a large surface area (capacitance), so RF signal is properly terminated even if DC contact is poor.

BNC type has a poor DC connection that cause low frequency fluctuations of ground loops. It will affect clock jitter, especially in the low frequency range (up to kHz) and a sinewave clock will more degrade than a square.

You can confirm it by linking devices with a separate grounding wire, but it has to be placed in parallel, very close to the BNC cable to not allow EMI convert to a ground loop. A separate ground wire should have the same effect as a copper tape method.

Copper tape tweak is so simple, highly recommended.

Interesting, thanks. I guess I was thinking of it more simplistically from a continuity-of-shielding angle rather than effectiveness of grounding-the-shield-between-the-two-components per se. As I’d read that even say a 1mm hole in a coax cable shield can lead to tens of dB reduction in shielding effectiveness. So the imprecise fit of BNC plug and sockets, often with many mm of play, suggested to me a likely shielding weak spot for ingress of external sources of RFI/EMI. Particularly critical for sine per John Swenson of Uptone. But whatever the exact mechanism(s) of action (better shielding continuity and/or shield grounding) the addition of the copper foil definitely makes a positive difference even with a really good cable like the Harmonic Tech.

 

[MartinWT]

I tried the copper foil tape hack on outside of BNC connectors

Good grief, I had some self-adhesive copper foil left over from a previous project and just tried it at both ends of my HT and Neotech clock cables. I hear greater depth than before, with slightly better delineation of fine detail. Amazing tweak that cost nothing!

 

[Jake2]

Good grief, I had some self-adhesive copper foil left over from a previous project and just tried it at both ends of my HT and Neotech clock cables. I hear greater depth than before, with slightly better delineation of fine detail. Amazing tweak that cost nothing!

Awesome! Not just us then

 

[OCC7N]

Regarding the LMR400 cable, I went over the connectors with a magnet and the whole thing is magnetic, its basically steel and probably acting like an antennae for EMI.

As per decentlevi's experiment, I placed 3m copper tape over the connectors and this made a huge improvement in the sound quality.

Highly recommend trying this.

But its still magnetic after the copper tape?

I do have coppertape. Hmm

 

[OCC7N]

Question regarding earth and continuity on Server/PC

I did not think about that the Afterdark X1 card with Clock/BNC input has continuity with the casing and other pci devices earth.

Should I isolate the bnc with som thin tape on the threads?

If you all look at the threads on ock2 they are isolated from each other the negative/earth on the bnc has no continuity. = plastic threads

 

[JaMo]

Question regarding earth and continuity on Server/PC

I did not think about that the Afterdark X1 card with Clock/BNC input has continuity with the casing and other pci devices earth.

Should I isolate the bnc with som thin tape on the threads?

If you all look at the threads on ock2 they are isolated from each other the negative/earth on the bnc has no continuity. = plastic threads

I would definitely try to isolate the BNC connector, infact all the intefaces on the PCI card. I think of a hard plastic like pertinax and a few minutes with a drill and a Dremel-like tool to cut for the holes. The plastic should have the same shape and the full length as the metallic. The bent metallic part should be used for the fixing with the screw to the chassi. Just a thought ; )

/Jan

 

[OCC7N]

I would definitely try to isolate the BNC connector, infact all the intefaces on the PCI card. I think of a hard plastic like pertinax and a few minutes with a drill and a Dremel-like tool to cut for the holes. The plastic should have the same shape and the full length as the metallic. The bent metallic part should be used for the fixing with the screw to the chassi. Just a thought ; )

/Jan

Green tape helped!

Anybody that wants this card. Look at the strips. I screwed the allenscrew out because they were blocking another pcie slot.

Strips are lifesaver!

 

[JaMo]

Green tape helped!

Anybody that wants this card. Look at the strips. I screwed the allenscrew out because they were blocking another pcie slot.

Strips are lifesaver!

Brilliant! Very easy fix and good enough. Afterdark should do a better solution for this before coming deliveries
/J

 

[mooster1223]

TEAC make some beautiful stuff.

Their just released VRDS-701T transport has a 10Mhz clock input though at over $2k it may be more than @mooster1223 wants to spend. Still it looks pure quality, a piece of audio jewellery, I’m kinda tempted even though I can’t recall the last time I listened to a CD. It’d be a perfect match for the TEAC UD-701N network player/DAC also with 10Mhz input. What a stack that would be.


https://teac.jp/int/product/vrds-701t/top

That's a nice looking unit but would I be getting all the benefits of the master clock without an I2S output?

And where would you suggest the best deal could be had on one of these?

 

[Jake2]

That's a nice looking unit but would I be getting all the benefits of the master clock without an I2S output?

And where would you suggest the best deal could be had on one of these?

No idea on the best deal sorry. Not sure where you live but if outside the EU, perhaps a European vendor where VAT gets deducted for export and may not get added back at the same level in your own country.? I found some sharp pricing on their TEAC UD-701N from some Italian and German online vendors back when I was considering it last year (fiscal prudence won and I went with the R26 which has worked out pretty well).

Re the s/pdif output, yes I noticed that too. Well as CD doesn't have high sample rates it doesn't need more than s/pdif, and the low-jitter word-clock signal courtesy of the external clock will be passed via s/pdif, which will hopefully be implemented to a high standard. But yes, perhaps not as on-paper ideal as AES/EBU or I2S.

 

[dougms3]

For those that have the ock 2, how do you have the dip switches for gnd / iso set?

I believe I currently have the connectors that have plugs in them set to gnd and the ones that are empty are set to iso. Is this correct?

 

[welldonehd]

Regarding the LMR400 cable, I went over the connectors with a magnet and the whole thing is magnetic, its basically steel and probably acting like an antennae for EMI.

As per decentlevi's experiment, I placed 3m copper tape over the connectors and this made a huge improvement in the sound quality.

Highly recommend trying this.

Do we need to place the cooper tape on the Bnc connectors of the master clock? Or should this tweak just apply for the cables only?!