Master Clock for your EtherREGEN

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2 hours ago, ambre said:

That is why not only me but also many others are eagerly awaiting John's papers. As a guideline for purchasing the correct Master Clock for our Switch, Re-clocker or DAC.

Just chiming in to say ditto. Checking every day to see if said paper is out yet, for per John's advice, I'm not spending a nickle on any clock related product until I see that. Could not be more eager to read it, when it arrives. Clearly they have a lot on their respective plates right now. :-(

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4 minutes ago, Superdad said:

Thanks for your patience

Alex (and John, of course)... no. Thank YOU for your efforts. You guys made a killer product that has an ardent following. And now you are both kind enough to spend quality time to give us guidance on how to best optimize a highly technical option you provided as a part of said product. That goes WAY beyond post-sales support if you asked me. It's over the top.

 

So I'd just like to take a moment to say thank YOU guys for doing this... and pls pass some of those thanks along to your wife. ;-) I'm sure I'm not the only one on this forum that feels this way. Thanks.

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On 8/8/2021 at 12:52 PM, Qstik said:

OK - after 4 days of continuous burn-in and a chance for more critical listening, I have to modify my 4th result above.  The Mini-Circuits BLP-10.7+ 50 ohm in series with the Fairview Microwave 50 to 75 ohm Matching Pad is now my preferred combination to filter the 10 MHz clock signal going into my ER.  I now have the best combination of overall musicality, micro-dynamics, fidelity of sound staging, and tonal separation.  I'm guessing that the capacitors in the Mini-Circuits LPF responded well to the burn-in process.

Thank you for posting this. I tried one of the Fairview pads you provided the link to, and the increase in clarity and detail was immediately audible.

 

In fact, I inserted the pad between the cable and the ER (MiniCircuits filter at OCXO end of the cable) and walked away from the hifi. I’d jostled my Emperor Signature clock a good bit, and wanted to give it time to settle. But around 15 minutes later, while in the next room, someone turned the stereo on, and continued the track I had been previously playing. Though in an adjacent room, the added clarity was quite audible. Unmistakable with anything including cymbals or high hats.

 

Thank you for this excellent suggestion. Well worth the minor cost.

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IMO this is a conversation better suited for the temple of measurement worship: Audio Science Review. In this forum making decisions based on what you hear generally has merit, and comments like “if you can’t measure it, it’s not real” is just trolling at worst, but off topic at best.

 

So, can we get back on topic please? Thanks.

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OK, I’m going to weigh in on this, but not with objective measurements. All I have is subjective listening observations. Though my observations were confirmed in a series of single blind tests with a true golden eared buddy of mine.

 

You mention Ed Meitner. Not long ago I bought one of his MA-3 DACs. Wonderful DAC, but that’s beside the point. My first impression of his jitter reducing technology was that it was SO good at it that my EtherREGEN and its external clock were no longer needed. But after my ears acclimated to the vastly improved sound - vs. my old Mytek Brooklyn Bridge - I realized that the ER still helped. But now, only a little. Clearly the MA-3 was shouldering a lot of jitter reduction. That became easy to hear, and I was not concerned with substantiation of that observation. But the external clock was another matter.

 

Long story short, using my old Brooklyn Bridge DAC, use of the external clock with the ER was night and day. It helped a LOT. But with the Meitner MA-3 it only matters with the very best of material (high res AND well recorded/mastered), and even then, the difference is subtle. So I’m not even bothering with my external clock any more. Need to sell it.

 

As previously mentioned, that conclusion of the value - or lack thereof - of the external clock was subtle enough that I set up single blind tests for my golden ear buddy, who came to the same conclusion.

 

Don’t know if that helps. It is subjective. But I am 100% certain of its veracity.

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On 1/19/2023 at 9:47 PM, Superdad said:

Eric/TomJ is not a troll! He has spent countless hours on his quest to measure and understand what is going on (including with Ethernet cables and other things). He hears all this stuff. His contributions are valued and he surely can not be dismissed or likened to the head-in-the-sand folks over at ASR.

Eric/TomJ - please accept my sincere apologies. CLEARLY I misunderstood the tenure of the conversation. Sorry. :-(

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And astute observation by @superdad. But I would offer - in my limited experience - that if the cables themselves are given some freedom of movement - good cables with RollerBalls under the DAC is still a killer combination.

 

Would it be better with limber cables that still provided great shielding? How could it not? But it’s still a sonically wonderful compromise.