I'm forcing myself to wait till Christmas. I can do it. I know I can. There's no way I buy this thing now.You're welcome.
I don't need it now (*audiophile consoomer voices living rent free in my head*: "but Doug on headfi said it could dramatically improve sound quality", "it's not THAT expensive anyway, you won't starve, it's ok bud, you can buy it, come oooon"
... the second guy sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Just imagine the clock could lift your experience another notch up... from the already exciting improvement the DDC made...
I couldn't live with this nagging thought in the back of my head, that I am wasting precious days of listening to music without unwrapping its true beauty in immaculate sound quality.
That's the problem, that I think they're reasonable
. Jokes aside, what's your experience with external clocks?
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My experience is, that I was able so far to procrastinate.That's the problem, that I think they're reasonable
"Unfortunately" my lowly DAC does not support an external clock input, only the DDC. That makes it easier for me to withstand the temptation:
Buying the clock would inevitably lead to the purchase of the top of the line DAC with clock input (Terminator+).
This expense... is very unreasonable.
Joking aside:
I recently made big progress in my digital chain. Key to success is good cables on the analog side from DAC to Amp onwards;
The digital input can be improved my reducing jitter as much as possible.
The DDC helped; what else helped:
* use LAN instead of WiFi on my streamer (cleaner USB out)
* plug a Jitterbug onto the streamer's USB out
* grounding: all components (excluding DDC so far.... hmmmm) are connected to a Puritan Routemaster + Citymaster. Highly recommended.
* use the streamer's "display off" function... every little bit helps
After these experiences with less jitter --> more sound quality I believe, that an external clock will be beneficial. In the end it attacks the same common problem: Jitter/noise right at the DAC's door. By DAC I really mean the very last stage before analog-out -- either chip-based, or R2R.
BTW, I briefly borrowed the not-so-cheap Aurender A200 -- this 7k$ device too show positive impact on SQ by applying the same techniques (display off, grounding).
I think they're smart ways to tackle the noise floor/jitter issue and eventually improve sound, yes 
I genuinely don't know what kind of input to use for the external clock, I mean, what would be my chain sequence with an external clock added?
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I guess it depends - don't know about the devices you use.
With my Denafrips stuff I could add an external clock, that would "override" the DDC's internal clock. As far as I understand.
That would make sense IF the external clock + interconnect would still lead to a better clock signal at the digital out of the DDC.
What really makes sense to me is to have a master clock of very high quality feed all other digital components in the chain -- streamer, maybe DDC, DAC. This would remedy the DAC from having to reconstruct the clock signal from the digital input. /edit: or to rely on its own clock in case of asynchronous USB input
Makes sense, so if I understand correctly the Dac ignores its own clock and uses the one inside the DDC in i2s connection. At that point the question is: do I need to plug an external clock via the DI-20 clock in I suppose?
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This is how I understand it: The i2s carries an "explicit" clock signal on its own line.
Probably not... it would make to use the DDC's clock out if now separate master clock (with enough outputs) is availabe.
Other use-case might be to use feed the DDC's clock signal into a DAC, when the DDC outputs via SPDIF to the DAC.
Maybe I need to study the subject a bit more... I thought I got it but it seems I did not...
Ok
Looking at Doug's chain (PC > JCat USB > LHY Audio OCK-2 Master Clock > Audio-GD Di20HE > AVPLAY HDMI i2s > Audio-GD R8EC (silver i2s upgrade) > Robertson Audio ACSS Interconnects > Audio-GD Master19 > Loxjie P20), he connects the USB to the ock 2, which is then connected to the di20 he, that is connected to the Dac etc ... My question is, how is it possible to connect the Femto USB to the ock 2, what does he use? @dougms3
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Wild guess:
The USB does not connect into the the Clock. It's a forum signature formatting issue...
USB goes into the DDC; clock goes into the DDC on a separate line.
... now I expect to be corrected soon.
This is what I think too... I need to understand clock, clock cable, its connection to the chain etc.Wild guess:
The USB does not connect into the the Clock. It's a forum signature formatting issue...
USB goes into the DDC; clock goes into the DDC on a separate line.
... now I expect to be corrected soon.
I need to research and understand the whole subject
And btw, it sure can't go from USB to the external clock... Maybe Doug illustrated the chain that way for convenience... I think both the USB and clock goes in the DDC input as you say on separate lines
Sorry the usb goes to the di20he. The ock2 connects to the dac and ddc.
I need to fix that.
The clock in both the ddc and dac are very good but the point of the master clock is to sync them in timing. The difference could be in femtoseconds but our human ears can still perceive the difference. Those of us who are not the crying snake oil type anyway.
With music having so many combinations of sounds, every tap on the drum, pluck of a string, electronic sound, etc, delays in timing add up and becomes noticeable even if it is in femtoseconds.
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