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Post by covenant on Jul 21, 2020 10:42:10 GMT
The manufacturers of the Soncoz say there is no difference between any of the inputs so easy to switch to USB-just need to get a cable. Didnt realise that the external clock was before the dac. The price of the Oelbach would mean that if it made little difference I wouldnt be too upset.
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Post by covenant on Jul 30, 2020 10:20:36 GMT
So I bought the oehlbach reclocker and received it yesterday. Initial impression is very positive-a greater sense of space and separation between instruments. Some of that sparkle I got with the upgraded Beresford has been restored, however the Sabre chip in the Soncoz takes no prisoners and shows up recording faults. For the price paid its a no brainer however I wish the power supply had a switch. A pain to pull the plug out. ATM using a cheap Belkin USB cable so looking for a decent second hand one to replace it.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 30, 2020 11:56:40 GMT
The Soncoz SGD1 uses the ESS9038Q2M chipset, which is a cut-down full ES9038. I guess it has similar characteristics of very hi-res and detail which I hear in my LKS. Yes, it can sound fierce if you just put it in place of the Caiman, the same thing happened to me.
However, this is not the fault of the 9038 chipset, as I discovered. By paying attention to clocks, power supplies, footers and cables, you can tame it to the point that spacial depth and width are tremendous but you still get the wealth of detail that the Sabres are so capable of.
The Blue Jeans USB is good for its low price, otherwise an AudioQuest Cinnamon or Carbon would fit the bill.
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Post by covenant on Jul 30, 2020 13:18:31 GMT
Thanks Martin, I will look out for one of those.
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Post by covenant on Aug 13, 2020 11:50:55 GMT
I got a second hand Supra USB cable and was surprised about the improvement it brought about. Do you thing replacing the tiny cable from SB Touch to reclocker is worthwhile? its only about 100mm long and has gold plated plugs. Will be looking through all the improvements you have done Martin but really pleased with the sound quality atm.
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Post by MartinT on Aug 13, 2020 11:58:33 GMT
That's great news! The cable into the DAC is the most sensitive as you have discovered with the Supra and I recently discovered with the Wireworld.
However, the input to the reclocker can also give benefits (remember, the less noise passed into the reclocker the less noise out). I'm not sure about a 100mm cable and whether you'd hear improvements, though.
Are you using the SMPS supplied with the Oelhbach reclocker? Although more expensive, it might be worth looking at upgrading it to a linear power supply. I believe it requires a special voltage around 7 or 8V, perhaps an Oehlbach user can confirm?
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Post by julesd68 on Aug 13, 2020 12:20:53 GMT
I ditched the SMPS with the Oehlbach and am now using it with my 5V powerbank that feeds the Tinker. Can't comment on sound quality just yet.
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Post by covenant on Aug 13, 2020 14:22:49 GMT
I ditched the SMPS with the Oehlbach and am now using it with my 5V powerbank that feeds the Tinker. Can't comment on sound quality just yet. Very interested in this. I use an Anker lithium battery to give a 5v supply to the Touch. I was wondering if I could get a cable made up to feed both the Touch and the reclocker. I suspect it wont make a lot of difference as the Oehlbach's power supply is a high quality one.
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Post by julesd68 on Aug 13, 2020 14:38:25 GMT
Nothing to lose - I picked up a suitable USB to DC cable for a couple of quid on eBay ...
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alp
Rank: Trio
Posts: 161
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Post by alp on Aug 13, 2020 17:13:59 GMT
I use a 6V LifePO4 battery which is very good, lasts a long time and is reasonably fast to charge - you can use a 6V lead acid battery charger. The batteries are around £20 each.
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Post by Slinger on Aug 13, 2020 17:26:00 GMT
Just an FYI: The Oehlbach XXL is on sale again, at €74.00, and their "Pure Clock" Jitter cleaner and USB power filter Jitterbug-type-thingy is €29.23. This looks quite interesting too, if you've got a MM setup and €120.00 going spare. Their sale stuff is actually rather interesting all round, like this little item.
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Post by covenant on Aug 17, 2020 12:54:12 GMT
Just wondering what the thoughts are on this comment taken from another forum:
"If there is a benefit to the Oehlbach, it doesnt come from reclocking the usb signal. It gets buffered and reclocked on the xmos section of the pcb which is under clock control of the OSC section of the Ess chip. If it sounds different its because the Oehlback does some filtering of the 5v line in the usb. If you feed a perfect jitter free signal to a final reclocking stage the jitter at the point of conversion is that of the final stage, its additive at the last step, what comes before doesnt matter. You could add ten stages of perfect reclocking together, its still only the quality of the last one that counts as long as the buffer never empties or overflows".
Dont feel qualified to comment myself but I am sure the manufacturers are subject to the German equivalent of the Trades Description Act!
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Post by MartinT on Aug 17, 2020 14:25:51 GMT
The common myth about reclocking is that it achieves nothing because of buffering further down the line.
Although, intuitively, reclocking would appear to address only jitter, it does in fact address phase noise. This means that less noise and hash are passed down the line to the DAC where it can cause problems with the analogue conversion.
Reclocking, power supplies and good cables are all aimed at transferring the least possible noise into the final input to the DAC. This is where a large part of the final sound quality is determined.
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Post by covenant on Aug 17, 2020 15:16:33 GMT
Thanks Martin, After using the reclocker for about 10 days I removed it. I only tried one album and a couple of favourite tracks before putting it back and its staying.
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Post by Firebottle on Aug 19, 2020 6:59:37 GMT
Are you using the SMPS supplied with the Oelhbach reclocker? Although more expensive, it might be worth looking at upgrading it to a linear power supply. I believe it requires a special voltage around 7 or 8V, perhaps an Oehlbach user can confirm? The Oelhbach supply is 6-8V, there is a 5V low dropout regulator on board (I looked). So I would say you can't feed it with 5V and get correct operation, I may be wrong. I use 6V using a 7806 regulator, the psu supplied is way way over spec for the current, it only needs about 35mA.
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Post by covenant on Aug 19, 2020 10:27:26 GMT
Are you using the SMPS supplied with the Oelhbach reclocker? Although more expensive, it might be worth looking at upgrading it to a linear power supply. I believe it requires a special voltage around 7 or 8V, perhaps an Oehlbach user can confirm? The Oelhbach supply is 6-8V, there is a 5V low dropout regulator on board (I looked). So I would say you can't feed it with 5V and get correct operation, I may be wrong. I use 6V using a 7806 regulator, the psu supplied is way way over spec for the current, it only needs about 35mA. Thanks Alan, The Oelhbach booklet states it is a 5 volt supply with a separate voltage regulator fed by "an extremely safe and high quality class 1 power supply unit" although it says 6-8v on the master clock by the plug socket. Do you think a linear power supply would be justified in this situation?
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Post by Firebottle on Aug 21, 2020 7:25:38 GMT
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Post by covenant on Aug 21, 2020 10:14:40 GMT
Thanks Alan, Much appreciated.
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Post by John on Sept 24, 2020 6:44:24 GMT
You can upgrade the Oehlbach Master Reclocker by adding a IFi silencer or Audioquest Jitterbug In my system adds more detail and better bass I got more from this upgrade than a better power supply
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