Article: Review | Innuos PhoenixUSB Reclocker

[firedog]

1 hour ago, LowMidHigh said:

A good review.

Still, I question the premise of spending so much money on a USB recloker--especially if one is just embarking on the digit journey and the slate is clean.

Personality, I'd set an AES chain,. That format is likely to generate a cleaner signal for less money and greater simplicity.

Some will object to PMC, but one should do a thorough research whether the ear can detect anything above 192/24. There is little evidence to the contrary.

 

There are definitely devices on the market - even some expensive ones - where the AES is the best sounding input or output. 

[firedog]

6 hours ago, SackATK said:

I just reminded myself that the Kii Controller in the Kii Three system is actually a DDC. I'm not 100% sure but I believe the Kii Controller converts the USB signal to AES or some proprietary protocol.  So to answer your second question, yes I've tried Phoenix to DDC and it is excellent.  The improvements in the Kii Three system is similar to the improvements in the Benchmark DAC 3/HPA4 system although a little less so.  My Benchmark system is more revealing and this may explain why. 

The Kii converts all incoming audio to the same PCM sample rate before applying it's DSP (93.75 hz, if I remember correctly). IME, it sounds best when you simply feed it the source file without changing the sample rate, and you let it do it's thing as it's designed to do.

I haven't used it with an external reclocker, so I can't commment on that.