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Post by MartinT on Apr 13, 2021 18:32:24 GMT
Goodness me, the resolution. I've played some albums that sound a bit better, a little more detail, some more ambience. And then I'll play something (just now it's Focus - Live in Concert) and the extraction of resolution makes it sound like a different recording. Incredibly palpable detail. Hawkwind, too, the album I've laughed at for years (Space Ritual) now yielding some seriously good sounds as well as, of course, wonderful music. Earlier I was playing Nils Lofgren Band Live, same thing.
The real lesson here is that purity of the clock signal is vital. Whether that's in an external clock like mine, or internal to the device (CD player or streamer, for instance), the same thing applies. It makes me look at everything differently.
We are so very far away from the "bits are bits" brigade!
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 13, 2021 19:32:16 GMT
Nice ! and mains cables don't make any difference
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Post by John on Apr 13, 2021 19:51:07 GMT
I totally get where you come from Martin I am having a similar experience with the Kefs. Sometimes the scale and speed is sensational, sounds exploding when needed yet can do delicacy when required. Hearing mid bass I did not that even existed. Long listening sessions
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Post by MartinT on Apr 17, 2021 7:09:31 GMT
Listening late last night, there is a new sense of lowered noise floor, quieter backgrounds, and music coming from darkness. Cliche it may sound, but this is what happens when you make any changes to the master clock arrangements. The worst thing you can do is turn the clock off. However, just putting in the Mini-Cicuits filters disturbed things, and of course, they had to burn in. Also, the Belden 4694R clock cables which I had hardly used previously as I had been using the Canare LV-77S which are slightly shorter.
So leaving it to 'cook' for a few days has improved things again. The good thing about a clock running constantly is that the cables and filters burn-in without needing any music to be playing.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 21, 2021 20:48:56 GMT
The inexpensive Chinese master clock has been more successful than I could ever have hoped for. Time to get serious. My first proper new bit of equipment in a year is being made for me in Hong Kong and will be winging its way over soon. An AfterDark Project ClayX GIESEMANN OCXO 10MHz Reference Master Clock (King). Bit of a mouthful! Nice discount available to Audiophile Style forum members. I still feel it's an experiment so I balanced price against performance level, finding the King to be the best value with -134dB phase noise @10 Hz, which is -9dB better than the BG7TBL. I've also ordered a Mini-Circuits splitter so that I can drive both reclockers from it with isolation from each other. Power will come from the 2nd Coherent QP-1 12.5V rail.
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Post by BilliumB on Apr 22, 2021 17:48:40 GMT
Hi Martin
What sort of price is this new master clock? (I’ve got a second had EtherRegen along with a second hand Mutec MC3 in the equipment store for trying out when I can finally get around to it).
Cheers. Bill
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Post by MartinT on Apr 22, 2021 18:44:35 GMT
4,600HKD which equates to around £428 + £60 for the power splitter + whatever slurp HMRC takes when it arrives.
Not expensive at all for the level of performance it offers. In fact, not expensive compared with any other hi-fi clock.
If I really, really, like it there are many levels above it including God Emperor of Dune (I may have made that up), which costs just short of 20,000HKD.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 22, 2021 19:38:24 GMT
Muad'dib
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Post by MartinT on Apr 25, 2021 10:40:32 GMT
Posted elsewhere but thought it might interest one or two...
Interesting experiments. In anticipation of my new AfterDark clock arriving, and knowing that the Mini-Circuits splitter will arrive later, I thought I'd check what might happen if I revert the ER to its internal clock and run just the Mutec from the BG7TBL clock. It would seem that the benefit of running from the external clock is cancelled by breaking the moat (which my setup was doing).
So internal clock plus preserved moat sounds approximately the same. Promising.
Next, with just a single clock cable, I thought I'd nail down which of the two cables I prefer. For some reason, it's easier to hear the differences now. I definitely prefer Belden 4694R over Canare LV-77S.
All good, and I'm just waiting for the AfterDark to arrive. I've ordered a King which is about -9dB quieter than the BG7TBL on phase noise and I'll report on what I hear. No point going straight for the Eva until I know what this step will provide. Always leave something else to look forward to!
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Post by John on Apr 25, 2021 10:58:28 GMT
I tried a Canare AES cable from China it did not really work in my system felt it a lost clarity in the mid I gave it a hour but just could not live with it
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Post by MartinT on Apr 25, 2021 12:01:46 GMT
Very much depends on what cable it uses, John.
The DA206 works very well for me. If it's star-quad it would be more suited to microphone use.
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Post by John on Apr 25, 2021 16:15:12 GMT
I went for the same cable you got from China but in my system a backwards step. Just goes to show how individual systems are. I still love the wireworld cable I purchased from you
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Post by MartinT on Apr 25, 2021 16:24:41 GMT
Oh I see. I got mine from Ghent Audio. Very short link cable perfect for Mutec to DAC.
Yes, systems really do vary depending on so many variables. Up to now, I had always slightly favoured the Canare LV-77S cable for my clock feed. Now I prefer the Belden 4694R, presumably because of some other changes I have made since. This is when it's good to keep a few cables around to re-test when you make other changes.
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Post by John on Apr 25, 2021 17:53:35 GMT
Yes used the same company with the smallest cables they had as I was hoping have a similar affect as it did for you
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Post by realysm42 on May 1, 2021 8:10:34 GMT
Martin, I recall you're using a Black Magic USB as well, I've been using one (two really, one inside my DAC also) for a few years.
I found the upgrade remarkable, especially for the cost. They're really rather good aren't they?! I plan to 'donut' and magic tube my system as soon as funds permit also.
I like what you're doing, picking great base products and tweaking the bejeezus out of them. If the foundations are good, you can build great things!
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Post by MartinT on May 1, 2021 10:29:39 GMT
Yes, the Black Magic USB cable is a keeper.
Several people have commented similarly and I really noticed the huge uplift with the new master clock. All that attention to the digital path and the mods to my DAC really did pay off.
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Post by MartinT on May 3, 2021 9:27:24 GMT
To try to sum up the effect of the AfterDark clock on my system as a whole:
Every piece of familiar music I've played since hooking it up sounds different. The key areas that strike me are the incredibly fluid and dynamic portrayal of voice, which is more focussed than before but pops into my room, uncannily real on some recordings. Sibilance on voice is just history now, except where it was present in a recording that's been too closely mic'd.
Very natural soundstaging and imaging that has had me looking around, thinking that someone had entered the room. Last night there was a triangle almost to the right of me. With my eyes closed, I pointed to it and then looked. It was way outside of the right-hand speaker. Most uncanny. Only Jerry speakers do this sort of thing.
The detail and delicacy within instruments is wonderful. I hear taps on cymbals and long shimmer on standard 16/44 material, never mind hi-res, that had never been apparent before.
Bass is so tight and potent that I've found air pressures in songs I hadn't realised contained much bass information at all. There is no need whatsoever to turn up the volume. Room shaking comes as standard on some material without stressing the amp unduly.
Percussive dynamics are apparent in many songs and it is this that has surprised me the most. Even great songs that contain mostly a wash of sound (e.g. Mazzy Star's Fade Into You) are full of strummed guitar and tambourine detail that make it sound like a remaster. On more blatantly rhythmic material, the boogie factor is off the scale.
All of this comes from a reduced noise floor from a low phase noise clock and attention to detail and grounding throughout the playback chain. I am ecstatic and feel that I have fulfilled my aims in just over two years of this journey. Streaming has definitely come of age.
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Post by MartinT on May 4, 2021 16:55:13 GMT
I've just taken delivery of this beast of an AfterDark Constellation ethernet link cable especially made for the B side of EtherREGENs. It doesn't bend and it doesn't twist. Thank goodness the plug orientation is right for my EtherREGEN to ultraRendu connection.
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Post by MikeMusic on May 4, 2021 17:39:03 GMT
Doesn't bend or twist ?! That must rule it out for some surely ?
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Post by MartinT on May 4, 2021 17:45:45 GMT
If you bought a 1m length, you could. A bit.
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