[Exocer]

@Jake2

This is one new product . There is a sft version coming as well . I'm really keen as I've never tried optical to my server and have a few unused outs on my ock-2

https://www.adark.co/en-au/collecti...ellation-giesemann-x1-ethernet-server-adapter

I spoke with Adrian about these. There will be two versions of each card. One with onboard 10mhz to 25mhz synthesizer on Pcb, another which will accept a direct 25mh clock input (from something like the sclk board) and no onboard synthesizer.

The external power input only powers the clock synthesizer. The cards with direct 25mhz input will not use external power.

Also, price of SFP card will be similar to the Ethernet card.

 

[JaMo]

Hi all,
A bit OT maybe but it is closely related to clocking, so I will continue to write anyway.

This morning I decided to change the impedance of my DI20HE. As You know the DI20/HE is sold with a 50 Ohm impedance as default on the 10MHz EXT XO input.

I have the Mutec REF10 SE120 in my main rig and it has 2 x 50 Ohm and 6 x 75 Ohm outputs. I have too many gears as some of You may know. I had the chance to get a R7HE Mk2 digital board with 75 Ohm 10MHZ input. Beside that one I have:
1 x DI20HE - 50 Ohm
1 x Mutec MC3+USB - 75 Ohm
1 x Gustard U18 - 75 Ohm (custom)
1 x Gustard X26 Pro - 50 Ohm

So as You can see the two 50 Ohm outputs are populated. And only three out of the six 75 Ohm outputs are populated. I always want to have margins so I wanted to free up one 50 Ohm output on the REF 10, for something else.

Said and done. The DI was in focus. I spotted the impedance resistor. It is marked "062" and is a SMD resistor of just below 50 Ohm. I had a high quality 75 Ohm circuit board connector laying. It had the same connector pinning but a wider diameter through the back plate and a thick distance "heel" before the thread started. I used the lathe to cut down the heel to the other BNC connectors heel-thickness. Brotched up the hole in the back plate to make a good fit.

On the DI I removed the top lid and back plate. Unscrewed the nuts and washers on all the coax connectors. I also unscrewed the corner pole near the power inlet to get better access to do the work. I disconnected the two cables that connect the back plate to the circuit board. Then I loosened the circuit board, flipped it up and covered the surrounding electronics with a towel. Pretty high temperature ~420 grC (80W Weller pen) and I use copper braid with flux to sifon up the melted solder tin from each pin (5 of them).

Pretty high temperature (375-400 grC) also on the SMD resistor to remove it safely.

Now to the fun part. I soldered in the 75 Ohm BNC connector and gathered out/selected the best measured 75 Ohm resistor I could find and it measure 75,000 Ohm (!) so I can't complain.

I soldered it in on the bottom, between the pins of the "new" BNC connector. I then put back the circuit board with loose screws (board floating). Then put the corner pole back with loose screws. Then the backplate. Washer and nuts for the coax. Tighten up when everything is in place. When the top lid is back on the screws for the backplate and side can be tightened as well.

It works like a charm and I am pleased to have one 50 Ohm output and two 75 Ohm outputs free on the REF10
/Jan

ps. If You are about to give this treat I attached a pic of the location of the "062" impedance resistor. In the yellow ring./J

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Hi all,
A bit OT maybe but it is closely related to clocking, so I will continue to write anyway.

This morning I decided to change the impedance of my DI20HE. As You know the DI20/HE is sold with a 50 Ohm impedance as default on the 10MHz EXT XO input.

I have the Mutec REF10 SE120 in my main rig and it has 2 x 50 Ohm and 6 x 75 Ohm outputs. I have too many gears as some of You may know. I had the chance to get a R7HE Mk2 digital board with 75 Ohm 10MHZ input. Beside that one I have:
1 x DI20HE - 50 Ohm
1 x Mutec MC3+USB - 75 Ohm
1 x Gustard U18 - 75 Ohm (custom)
1 x Gustard X26 Pro - 50 Ohm

So as You can see the two 50 Ohm outputs are populated. And only three out of the six 75 Ohm outputs are populated. I always want to have margins so I wanted to free up one 50 Ohm output on the REF 10, for something else.

Said and done. The DI was in focus. I spotted the impedance resistor. It is marked "062" and is a SMD resistor of just below 50 Ohm. I had a high quality 75 Ohm circuit board connector laying. It had the same connector pinning but a wider diameter through the back plate and a thick distance "heel" before the thread started. I used the lathe to cut down the heel to the other BNC connectors heel-thickness. Brotched up the hole in the back plate to make a good fit.

On the DI I removed the top lid and back late. unscrewed the nuts and washers on all the coax connectors. I also unscrewed the corner pole near the power inlet to get better access to do the work. I disconnected the two cables that connect the back plate to the circuit board. Then I loosened the circuit board, flipped it up and covered the surrounding electronics with a towel. Pretty high temperature ~420 grC (80W Weller pen) and I use copper braid with flux to sifon up the melted solder tin from each pin (5 of them).

Pretty high temperature (375-400 grC) also on the SMD resistor to remove it safely.

Now to the fun part. I soldered in the 75 Ohm BNC connector and gathered the best measured 75 Ohm resistor I could find and it measure 75,000 Ohm (!) so I can't complain.

I soldered it in on the bottom, between the pins of the "new" BNC connector. I the put back the circuit board with loose screws (board floating). The put the corner pole back with loose screws. The the backplate. Washer and nuts for the coax. Tighten up when everything is in place. When the top lid is back on the screws for the backplate and side can be tightened as well.

It works like a charm and I am pleased to have one 50 Ohm output and two 75 Ohm outputs free on the REF10
/Jan

ps. If You are about to give this treat I attached a pic of the location of the "062" impedance resistor. In the yellow ring./J

Incredible! I wish I had those skills. I was ok with through-hole in the 1970s and 1980s and that's about it...

 

[MartinWT]

I really dislike working with SMD. I did it with my previous Beresford SEG and LKS DACs but I'm too old for that kind of stress now. It's too easy to mess up a circuit board.

 

[JaMo]

Incredible! I wish I had those skills.

I am sure You should do fine with a balanced bloodsugar level, a steady hand and good tools. I use a lens lamp and always "make room" for the work.

I really dislike working with SMD.

It is not my favorites either. But.. "-No risk no fun".. right?!. Today there are good SMD soldertips for the solder pens out there so it isn't that hard. But the tiniest SMD components are not funny to work with. I agree with You on that.

/Jan

 

[piguetpolo]

Received my second M&P Hyperflex 5 today for my Silent Angel switch. I had been using the Canare L3D2V as a holdover. The first one was connected to the U18 DDC. With both components connected to these 2 M&P cables, the sound is very mature, balanced, super detailed but not harsh, and overall, very refined. It came crazy fast from Italy.

In a quadruple blind test, I'd think I was listening to a high dollar audiophile cable.

The counterfeit Aliexpress LMR400 I was using before was just too fat inflexible and unwieldy; super detailed but a bit too etched and sharp in the treble regions. I can't say if an authentic Times Microwave LMR400 exhibits this same treble harshness.

Mostly though, I didn't feel great about using/owning a counterfeit product, thus the move to try the M&P Hyperflex 5.

 

[MartinWT]

The counterfeit Aliexpress LMR400 I was using before was just too fat inflexible and unwieldy; super detailed but a bit too etched and sharp in the treble regions. I can't say if an authentic Times Microwave LMR400 exhibits this same treble harshness.

I am certainly noticing, with approaching 200 hours on my two Harmonic Technology Digital Copper III 50Ω cables, that there is a definite smoothness and lack of a slight top end harshness compared with my AliExpress LMR-400 cables. The latter were themselves quite a lot less bright than my previous Belden 4694R cables.

The HT cables don't lack treble, far from it. Their resolving power is excellent, they just avoid overdoing treble brightness which is perfect since my Usher beryllium tweeters don't need any help in that department. Superb clock cables for not a lot of money.

 

[Highfive99]

I ordered LMR-400 from an Ebay reseller who advertised and had pics of TMS LMR-400. What I got was Anatel CNT-400. Wasn't happy with the bait and switch at first and I let the seller know he's falsely advertising and picturing LMR-400. In researching the Anatel, I found that most cable sellers sell an equivalent to the TMS LMR-400. So it comes as no surprise that the Aliexpress sourced ones are not TMS. The Anatel is sold as an ultra low loss coax and it's specs were pretty much the same as the TMS and for the price I paid for the Anatel it wasn't worth sending them back. After a few weeks of daily use I am happy with the Anatel. No treble harshness and much better than the Belden RG-58 I had on hand and used when I first got my clock.
Let's face it, any LMR-400 type cable is not manufactured for audiophile use. And any use for which it is primarily intended, an equivalent of the TMS 400 is fine. The equivalents are less costly than the name brand TMS. Although I suspect there may be better equivalents than others. Especially those with no identifiers printed on the cable. In my case the Anatel has the brand and cable type identifiers so I could research them and find the specs. They made a nice difference and I am very happy with the overall sound of my rig and have no desire to go down a coax rabbit hole in search of the holy grail coax. When my ears are happy, I'm happy.

 

[MartinWT]

If anyone is interested, I reviewed the Harmonic Technology Digital Copper III cable here:
https://theaudiostandard.net/post/252049/thread

 

[ray12345]

For anyone using LMR400, please try the cable in both directions and see which is better. Unlike some owners of LMR400 here, mine actually has writings on the cable, TIMES MICROWAVE. At first I used the cable in the direction of the writing, from clock to DDC and burned it in for 100 hours. It sounded a bit wierd on some songs. I changed the cable direction to opposite direction, and despite the 100 hours run-in in the other direction, this direction sounds better right away.

 

[Jake2]

If anyone is interested, I reviewed the Harmonic Technology Digital Copper III cable here:
https://theaudiostandard.net/post/252049/thread

Nicely written review thanks Martin. My Harmonic Technology Digital Copper III finally arrived last week. Still burning it in but I concur with your observations. I find it a substantial improvement over both the Gustard C2 and the LMR400 style cable I got from the same Aliexpress seller as you. It has the bonus of being beautifully built and far more flexible than the LMR400 which to be frank was/is a bit of a rigid plastic hose of a thing that put an undesirable amount of lateral pressure on the BNC connectors of my clock and DAC.

 

[PeterCraig]

Nobody out here using the RG400 coaxial. It's survived three contenders so far.

Somebody must be using it?

Cost me $20 on Amazon.

 

[DACLadder]

I started my 50 ohm cable habit on the RG400 cables. Then moved up to RG401. And progressed to LMR400. The LMR400 (fake) is the best sounding in 0.6m lengths. Have Harmonic Technology on order and awaiting delivery. The LMR400 UF (ultra flex) is supposed to be less stiff but you still have to allow large bend radius and equipment placement changes to line up how the cable wants to lay. Hoping the HT cable is more flexible.

 

[MartinWT]

Hoping the HT cable is more flexible.

The HT is way more flexible!

 

[PeterCraig]

The LMR400 (fake) is the best sounding in 0.6m lengths.

I think my Aliexpress LMR400 was not up to par. May have to try again. I don't mind too much that it's not flexible but it is a pain.