Master Clock Talk

[Jake2]

For the tweakers amongst you all, I've made a few mods to my OCK-1 that have all been worthwhile -

#1 - Changed the feet to improve mechanical isolation. I used Audio Serenity ISO-9H and have use these before with good results. Link - Audio Serenity ISO-9h

#2 - Fabricated an aluminum RF shield to go between the transformer and incoming AC and the DC & clock stages. The OCK-2 has this kind of isolation. There's a photo of this below. It's attached to the chassis using a vacant hole.

#3 - Changed the main PSU caps from 1000uF to 2200uF Panasonic FC and the two 100uF OSCON style caps on the regulator output to 1000uF.

Was it all worthwhile?

#1 - absolutely, especially as it was an easy mod.
#2 - again, yes, if you're able to fabricate the divider plate.

#1 & #2 positively reinforce the "OCK-1" sound that JaMo so accurately described in his review. Less grain and more clarity in the top end, notably better imaging and perhaps a bit more bass.

#3 - yes, also worthwhile if you're handy with a desoldering tool and soldering iron. This mod changed the sound somewhat to be closer to the OCK-2 sound that JaMo described - the bass leaned out and tightened up a bit (not in a bad way) and the sound signature moved a bit away from the organic end of the spectrums to slightly more analytical. This mod probably hasn't settled down yet though as the caps only have a few days time on them so far. My experience with recapping devices where the caps are at relatively low voltages is that they take a bit longer to settle down. I may change the Panasonic FC caps to my preferred Nichicon KA series, but I had the Panasonics on hand so I went with that as a first step.

I suspect that I may have invalidated my warranty too

Like a few of you here, I started the 10Mhz clock journey with a Morion clock and linear PSU. It's been a hugely satisfying upgrade to get the OCK-1 and it's a massive bargain given that the Morion is now selling for about the same price as the OCK-1, and that's before adding a decent PSU.

Nice work on the mods, that aluminum RF shield is very neat and OCK-2 like. Not sure I have the ability to do #2 & 3 but certainly interesting to read about.

Had been considering #1, so must try this, along with maybe some bituminous resin butyl rubber vibration damping sheets like Afterdark use (Dynamat extreme IIRC). And maybe a fuse and power cable.

 

[mivarpet]

Good job as always. These are 15VA transformers used in both OCK-1 and OCK-2. For the Talema 70050K 15VA tranny (OCK-2) Talema recommends minimum 0 .125A fuse at 230V. (0.25A at 115V) So 500mA should give plenty of margin.
https://talema.com/wp-content/uploads/datasheets/70000K-72400K.pdf

What did you use to bend the aluminum for the shield? Looks like a pro!

Thanks @DACLadder for checking on the fuse. I'm going to try my spare 3A Gustard fuse over the weekend to listen for a change. The "problem" with tweaking the clock is that it seems to take about a day to stabilise before I can assess the benefit of any changes. It could be less than that, by I tend to make changes in the evening and then the next chance I get to listen is the next evening.

I have a large vice in my garage (as opposed to the larger "vice" in my music room ) so I just used that to bend the aluminum and then a tapping with a hammer to sharpen the corner up. I'll paint this plate black in the coming weekends.

I did a similar mod to my Singxer SU1 and had a similar improvement.

 

[mivarpet]

Nice work on the mods, that aluminum RF shield is very neat and OCK-2 like. Not sure I have the ability to do #2 & 3 but certainly interesting to read about.

Had been considering #1, so must try this, along with maybe some bituminous resin butyl rubber vibration damping sheets like Afterdark use (Dynamat extreme IIRC). And maybe a fuse and power cable.

That's a great idea @Jake2 with the damping sheets. Looks like I have another mod to try! I have some spare dynamat type sheeting left over from when I did my car doors, so I will be giving that a go for sure.

 

[OCC7N]

For the tweakers amongst you all, I've made a few mods to my OCK-1 that have all been worthwhile -

#1 - Changed the feet to improve mechanical isolation. I used Audio Serenity ISO-9H and have use these before with good results. Link - Audio Serenity ISO-9h

#2 - Fabricated an aluminum RF shield to go between the transformer and incoming AC and the DC & clock stages. The OCK-2 has this kind of isolation. There's a photo of this below. It's attached to the chassis using a vacant hole.

#3 - Changed the main PSU caps from 1000uF to 2200uF Panasonic FC and the two 100uF OSCON style caps on the regulator output to 1000uF.

Was it all worthwhile?

#1 - absolutely, especially as it was an easy mod.
#2 - again, yes, if you're able to fabricate the divider plate.

#1 & #2 positively reinforce the "OCK-1" sound that JaMo so accurately described in his review. Less grain and more clarity in the top end, notably better imaging and perhaps a bit more bass.

#3 - yes, also worthwhile if you're handy with a desoldering tool and soldering iron. This mod changed the sound somewhat to be closer to the OCK-2 sound that JaMo described - the bass leaned out and tightened up a bit (not in a bad way) and the sound signature moved a bit away from the organic end of the spectrums to slightly more analytical. This mod probably hasn't settled down yet though as the caps only have a few days time on them so far. My experience with recapping devices where the caps are at relatively low voltages is that they take a bit longer to settle down. I may change the Panasonic FC caps to my preferred Nichicon KA series, but I had the Panasonics on hand so I went with that as a first step.

I suspect that I may have invalidated my warranty too

Like a few of you here, I started the 10Mhz clock journey with a Morion clock and linear PSU. It's been a hugely satisfying upgrade to get the OCK-1 and it's a massive bargain given that the Morion is now selling for about the same price as the OCK-1, and that's before adding a decent PSU.

Nice looking shield. I would paint it with some none conductive black paint just to be sure

 

[DACLadder]

Day 3 of OCK-2 burn-in and better sound. More low level detail. Music very liquid and balanced. Dynamic. Vocals good and no ear burn. Thumbs up so far!

Setup: Audio GD R7HE mk2 DAC, internal USB, PC, old Jriver player., Hifiman HE1000 v2 phones, McIntosh MHA100 amp.

 

[ChJL]

Hi @ChJL
Those SFP's are former used in a fiber channel situation in a storage solution. They are not made for audio traffic specific.. The importance is that the SFP's are of good quality and in my setup Multimode 50 micrometers wavelength. The TP-Link MC220L doesn't seem to be too picky with compability. The speed in the fiber link is 1 Gbit/s so the SFP's must be able to go down to it.
/Jan

I'm looking into network hardware due to the probable nasty mark-up of ADOT/Melco...

The rate is not important. 1Gbits/s is more than enough for audio.

One claim is that lower 100mbit/s should be even better. So Melco went for that rate for their switches an converters/SFPs.

https://www.hifistatement.net/suche...Adot+audiophile+grade&moduleId=125&Itemid=138

Although I have the feeling that the author favors the latest, more expensive products. An industry player so to speak... he has reviews on switches with SFP input (SotM, Melco) and different multimedia converters (10GTek) also experimenting with different Sfp modules (startech).

@JaMo which SFPs are of good quality, are you using?
What do you mean with 50 micrometers? I only see - single or multimod - 850 or 1310 nm glassfiber cables/hardware!

@OCC7N
thank you for the Tipp! Will check it out later!

The answer is maybe here for finding good SFPs:
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...work-switch-group-buy-for-audiophilestylecom/

the Ethernet port should also be of good quality, right? plus clean LPS power...

Still the plan is to save on the ADOT which is 2xconverters, 2xSFPs, a 1.5m cable and granted one presumably decent LPS for both 5V converters for €830, imagine that.
On the other hand, Buffalo specializes in hardware

 

[OCC7N]

I'm looking into network hardware due to the probable nasty mark-up of ADOT/Melco...


One claim is that lower 100mbit/s should be even better. So Melco went for that rate for their switches an converters/SFPs.

https://www.hifistatement.net/suche...Adot+audiophile+grade&moduleId=125&Itemid=138

Although I have the feeling that the author favors the latest, more expensive products. An industry player so to speak... he has reviews on switches with SFP input (SotM, Melco) and different multimedia converters (10GTek) also experimenting with different Sfp modules (startech).

@JaMo which SFPs are of good quality, are you using?
What do you mean with 50 micrometers? I only see - single or multimod - 850 or 1310 nm glassfiber cables/hardware!

@OCC7N
thank you for the Tipp! Will check it out later!

The answer is maybe here for finding good SFPs:
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...work-switch-group-buy-for-audiophilestylecom/

the Ethernet port should also be of good quality, right? plus clean LPS power...

Still the plan is to save on the ADOT which is 2xconverters, 2xSFPs, a 1.5m cable and granted one presumably decent LPS for both 5V converters for €830, imagine that.
On the other hand, Buffalo specializes in hardware

I have a simple setup now with ethernet cables and baaske mi1005 going into my NAS(Synology) it connects directly to my ddc/di20he. I could not be more happy.

(My NAS is tweaked with iFi Elite 12v psu, and JCAT USB Enhancer)

 

[gimmeheadroom]

100 M/b NICs are a bottleneck for a normal network. Cannot be recommended.

 

[Jake2]

I'm looking into network hardware due to the probable nasty mark-up of ADOT/Melco...


One claim is that lower 100mbit/s should be even better. So Melco went for that rate for their switches an converters/SFPs.

https://www.hifistatement.net/suche...Adot+audiophile+grade&moduleId=125&Itemid=138

Although I have the feeling that the author favors the latest, more expensive products. An industry player so to speak... he has reviews on switches with SFP input (SotM, Melco) and different multimedia converters (10GTek) also experimenting with different Sfp modules (startech).

@JaMo which SFPs are of good quality, are you using?
What do you mean with 50 micrometers? I only see - single or multimod - 850 or 1310 nm glassfiber cables/hardware!

@OCC7N
thank you for the Tipp! Will check it out later!

The answer is maybe here for finding good SFPs:
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...work-switch-group-buy-for-audiophilestylecom/

the Ethernet port should also be of good quality, right? plus clean LPS power...

Still the plan is to save on the ADOT which is 2xconverters, 2xSFPs, a 1.5m cable and granted one presumably decent LPS for both 5V converters for €830, imagine that.
On the other hand, Buffalo specializes in hardware

You raise some good questions I’d be interested in the answers to also.

I recently got the LHY SW-8 switch which after running in for two weeks makes a great difference in combination with my LHY Ock-1. Significantly deeper soundstage, sense of acoustic space, decay is extended, more and blacker space around instruments, vocalists. The two are synergistic and greater than the sum of the parts - everything snaps into place with terrific focus. It becomes clear when AB’ing one without the other, eg reverting to my stock wifi router with stock PS. Yes comparing and I know. And/or toggling ext clock on/off.

I have not tried fibre converters yet but am interested in how they might compare to or add to the effect of the switch.

This might be of interest to you and others. Alpha Audio blind live test comparing a lot of switches including the LHY and a Delock fibre convertor.

https://www.youtube.com/live/8HNMMksiD_Q?feature=share

 

[Jake2]

the Ethernet port should also be of good quality, right? plus clean LPS power...

Still the plan is to save on the ADOT which is 2xconverters, 2xSFPs, a 1.5m cable and granted one presumably decent LPS for both 5V converters for €830, imagine that.
On the other hand, Buffalo specializes in hardware

Here’s an intriguing middle ground ‘budget audiophile’ fibre convertor. The Teradak T-S211 with built In linear PS and TCXO for USD150 or OCXO for $250. To say I’m not a little tempted would be fibbing. Brief chat on this the R26 thread, no one has it yet but one guy has just ordered it.

https://kamaudio.com/TeraDak-T-S211-media-converter

 

[ChJL]

100 M/b NICs are a bottleneck for a normal network. Cannot be recommended.

Yes but still, the new S10 has 4x100mbit and 4x 1G bit ports...

 

[sajunky]

100 M/b NICs are a bottleneck for a normal network. Cannot be recommended.

Not a botleneck on the downstream port. Lot of spare bandwith for dedicated audio transfers.

 

[dougms3]

Here’s an intriguing middle ground ‘budget audiophile’ fibre convertor. The Teradak T-S211 with built In linear PS and TCXO for USD150 or OCXO for $250. To say I’m not a little tempted would be fibbing. Brief chat on this the R26 thread, no one has it yet but one guy has just ordered it.

https://kamaudio.com/TeraDak-T-S211-media-converter

That looks interesting. Is it meant to replace something like a verizon box or work in tandem with it?

 

[OCC7N]

That looks interesting. Is it meant to replace something like a verizon box or work in tandem with it?

Looks weird. Two different PCB. The green pcb looks like it has a DC port. Like it belongs to another box. Also the cables that connects the boards looks thin and very cheap. It looks a little sus to me

 

[dougms3]

Looks weird. Two different PCB. The green pcb looks like it has a DC port. Like it belongs to another box. Also the cables that connects the boards looks thin and very cheap. It looks a little sus to me

Its a very specific device, its converting a fiber optic signal to ethernet. I didn't even know that an aftermarket option existed.

I assume it would replace the existing digital converter? I don't know enough about this type of equipment.