GoodEnough

I finally plumped for the Vovox Excelsus, which has been in-system for about a month now. The improvement over the existing Grimm TPR is obvious. The balance is neutral, and the improvement in detail significant. Highly recommended.

I don't know, and to be honest it's probably not worth it for the purposes of audio

Thanks again @Kimo. I believe the TPM was replaced by the SQM

Thanks for that. I was just wondering what you mean by "loud" in reference to the Grimm. It's the first time I've seen this used when relating to a cable. Does it mean: unpleasant at high volume due to distortion?

An old thread on here compared the Grimm TPR and Vovox Sonorus interconnects. I have recently auditioned them both and liked both of them, perhaps preferring the Vovox for sounding a touch more natural. However I kept the Grimm as I could only return the Vovox. I preferred both to my over-priced existing Cardas cables. My intention now is to settle on one of the big brothers of each: the Grimm SQM or Vovox Excelsus XLR. They have both excellent reviews. I can't try both though. Has anyone tried both? Any preference?

@Superdad, your response was very dignified. I've just watched the video. I spent 13 minutes wondering when he would present the rationale behind his "BS" assertation, but all I got was a review of the Muon with added measurements. Regarding the measurements in particular did it seem odd to you that a passive device could improve phase noise?

Apologies for the off-topic question. I have a friend asking about BNC coax cabling from CD transport to DAC. Do the same considerations apply to this choice of cable as apply to a square wave clock? Namely, prioritising matched impedance and low attenuation?

I accept that there has been a lot of chat regarding the BNC cable of choice on this thread over the years (decades?). I have an AfterDark King (sine), and up to two weeks ago was happy enough with my Oyaide FTVS-510 with Furutech BNC. Though I heard huge improvements adding my AD clock I never really believed the interconnecting BNC could matter that much. Maybe a nuance there. A soupcon there.... Until that is I followed John Swenson's advice concerning semi-rigid cables for sine clocks. Cybershaft offer a very fair price if you buy from them directly - £66 delivered to the UK for the 1m 75Ohm version. I don't think I'm exaggerating, but the uplift in SQ by adding this thin and diminutive cable is probably equivalent to adding the AD King. Highly recommended. Definitely the best value upgrade I've made.

I recently had assembled for me a metre of LMR-240-Ultraflex. I really wasn't expecting it to better my existing Oyaide FTVS-510 (Furutech BNC), but thought "what the hell, I can always sell it on". But, actually the LMR is quite significantly better. I have a sine AfterDark King. Better separation of instruments, and, most critically for me, better tonality and therefore more musical. Based on John Swenson's existing advice, I've also ordered a semi-rigid from Cybershaft - the price is reasonable. Pasternak, however, to the UK is very expensive.

So, the new ER will have exactly the same inputs and outputs as the version 1? (Inc: clock, A- side SFP etc)

Did you hear benefit from the Farad? If so, I think it's likely further embellishment of your EtherRegen ecosystem will pay dividends. My experience was: Adding Plixir LPS => huge improvement Adding an SFP FMC => improvement. I'm using single mode cable from a Startech FMC (not SFP+). Of three Finisar SFPs I tried I preferred FTLX1471D3BTL (SFP+). Others were: FTLF1318P3BTL, FTLF1324P2BTL. You can get good prices on eBay (no fakes as far as I could tell) Adding an AfterDark King sine clock => biggest improvement. This is fed from an Oyaide cable. If you want to test the water here, buy a BG7TBL from AliExpress, then you can make use of AD's trade-in to upgrade if desired. I should add that both clocks will likely make the sound quite dull for the first 48 hours or so, and won't be at their best for a week. Sine/square? The common consent seems to be that the very best option is a high-end square. Though if you don't want to pay crazy money, then a mid-price sine is likely to be better.

I thought it would take longer to settle on this, but by performing a quick swap of my DC power cords on the clock I'm confident that the OCXO wasn't unsettled. I'm surprised how marked the difference in the two setups was, and the clear winner was with the Plixir feeding the EtherRegen, and the iFi feeding the AfterDark clock. In this configuration the sound is significantly un-digital, fuller, richer - without loss of detail. While conversely, the opposite setup was more digital, lighter, a touch brighter in the vocals.

I have just moved from a square wave BG7TBL to an AfterDark King (sine). The impact has been enormous - probably greater than the initial introduction of the EtherRegen, which itself transitioned my system from hard, bright, analytical digital to .... music. AfterDark also advise their sine clocks over their single square.

Thankyou, @Superdad. Incidentally, I have no RJ45 connections into the A-side. I'm only using the SFP. I'll give the clock another few days for it and my ears to settle, then try swapping the power supplies. What triggered my question was the realization that the impact of the clock on the SQ has been greater than the impact of adding the Plixir to the EtherRegen a month ago. I'll report back in a week or two.

I'm only 3 days into my new AfterDark King, and I'm thoroughly impressed by the impact its had on my EtherRegen "ecosystem". It is a huge improvement on my existing BG7TBL. I am very aware of how long the clock can take to settle - I've read up to one month - so am asking the following question to see if anyone has an opinion, as AB comparisons are tricky over such a time period. Should the better of my two power supplies be on the EtherRegen, or on the AfterDark clock? Currently, I have the better one (Plixir BDC Elite) on the EtherRegen, and an iFi iPower Elite on the clock