Master Clock for your EtherREGEN

[FileMakerDev]

2 hours ago, Exocer said:

Awesome.

 

Did yours come with the FE-180 clock or DAPU?

No idea. My gear is hard to get to once installed, so I'm going leave things alone (assuming the only way to know is to open up the unit). To quote the great Irving Berlin... "Heaven, I'm in Heaven..."

[MartinT]

Mine came with a DAPU OCXO.

[jamesg11]

55 minutes ago, MartinT said:

Mine came with a DAPU OCXO.

Will they respond to requests for the DAPU version when ordering, or you get what you get?

[Superdad]

13 minutes ago, jamesg11 said:

Will they respond to requests for the DAPU version when ordering, or you get what you get?

No, you get what you get. The specs for the FE-180 are essentials the same as the DAPU. -125dBc/Hz at 10Hz offset (which, when corrected for 10MHz versus 25MHz Crystek 575 performance equals about 6dBc/Hz @10Hz better performance than the EtherREGEN's internal clock).

 

But unless someone is putting those clocks on a proper phase-noise analysis station we really don't know for sure if those surplus DAPUs or FE-180s (pulled from cell-tower boards) are meeting their specs, sample-to-sample.

[PYP]

It is interesting how quickly the clocks that use cell-tower surplus have a positive effect.  My Cybershaft took a while to warm up-- probably two weeks (vs. a few hours for the cell-tower-based gear) before a real difference and then a month to complete the process.

 

Why might that be?  

[Exocer]

2 hours ago, Superdad said:

But unless someone is putting those clocks on a proper phase-noise analysis station we really don't know for sure if those surplus DAPUs or FE-180s (pulled from cell-tower boards) are meeting their specs, sample-to-sample.

 

Speaking of tests...has yours arrived yet? Still planning to test it? 

 

It would be interesting to see measurements of at least one of these clocks.

[Superdad]

11 minutes ago, Exocer said:

Speaking of tests...has yours arrived yet? Still planning to test it? 

 

It has--and I have been too busy to even give it a listen. 

 

11 minutes ago, Exocer said:

It would be interesting to see measurements of at least one of these clocks.

 

I'd need to send it up to @JohnSwenson for him to graph it on his fancy Jackson Labs Phase-Station.  Such tests take time to set up properly--and he is pretty busy on our other development projects this month.

 

[MartinT]

3 hours ago, PYP said:

It is interesting how quickly the clocks that use cell-tower surplus have a positive effect.  My Cybershaft took a while to warm up-- probably two weeks (vs. a few hours for the cell-tower-based gear) before a real difference and then a month to complete the process.

 

Warm-up time for the DAPU is only a few minutes.  Settling time from cold to the full effect is less than 24 hours.  I guess they are designed that way for fast recovery if a cell tower loses power.

[R1200CL]

On 9/3/2020 at 11:22 AM, FIndingit said:

This is a picture of the 50 ohm board. The output pin of the clock module is on the right and goes to c32. If someone could take a picture of the 75 ohm board now, because we only have a word from an alibaba seller. 

I received mine yesterday. And no doubt it’s different from the 50ohm board.

(Edit: Maybe not... I notice only a small wire added). 

 

I haven’t decided how to power it up yet, as I should have two LPS-1 with a special Ghent cable to make 12 VDC in series, but I can’t find one of them. 
 

I will probably use either my LPS 1.2 that’s now powering my EtherRegen or a Gophert CPS-3205 ll supply. (Or visa versa). My Paul Hynes SR4T should stay powering the opticalRendu. 
 

However maybe I should take the other LPS 1.2 that’s powering my Singxer SU-1 (at 5V) and have the LPS-1 take over. 
 

The clock was also delivered with a small SMPS 12V 1A. 
 

What’s your advice ?

 

[R1200CL]

[R1200CL]

17 hours ago, jamesg11 said:

Will they respond to requests for the DAPU version when ordering, or you get what you get?

You will get same as mine. Not DAPU. I had that discussion with seller when I ordered mine. 

[R1200CL]

So the clock has ben up for more than 48 hours. Power is dual LPS 1 in series with spesial made Y-cable from Ghent Audio. 12V. 
 

Now time to experiment with cables. Present only using an no-name 50cm 75ohm cable. 
Like to order 50 cm of the Belden 4694R. 

 

Don’t ask me if or how much the sound has improved. But it’s for sure not degraded.

This is after all a $100 experiment 😀

 

 

[Exocer]

@R1200CL , I can tell you that the LPS 1.2 and this clock are a winning combo.

[R1200CL]

@Exocer I don’t think dual LPS-1 or one LPS 1-2 really matter either used for the etherRegen or the clock. (And my old SMPS from Uptone has the JSGT implemented). Just ordered 30 cm cable. 

[Exocer]

1 hour ago, R1200CL said:

@Exocer I don’t think dual LPS-1 or one LPS 1-2 really matter either used for the etherRegen or the clock. (And my old SMPS from Uptone has the JSGT implemented). Just ordered 30 cm cable. 

Good data point to have. Thank you.

 

What are your early impressions of the clock? 😀

[sakso136]

Very interesting thread.

I recently received gpsdo clock and cybershaft bnc 50 ohm top of the range cable to clock er.

Improvements are real and very nice! More air more real sound.

I would like to try dapu clock now,where should I order it and should I use the same bnc 50 ohm cable or I should use 75 ohm bnc?

Thks

[R1200CL]

@sakso136

Link is one or two sides back. 75 ohm if your etherRegen is a standard one. 

[Exocer]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:03 AM, R1200CL said:

@Exocer I don’t think dual LPS-1 or one LPS 1-2 really matter either used for the etherRegen or the clock. (And my old SMPS from Uptone has the JSGT implemented). Just ordered 30 cm cable. 

For the sake of my understanding, are you saying that the use of LPS 1 or LPS 1.2 for the clock or ER vs an SMPS would not make for an audible difference? Or were you comparing the LPS 1 to LPS 1.2 when power the ER or Clock?

[R1200CL]

28 minutes ago, Exocer said:

For the sake of my understanding, are you saying that the use of LPS 1 or LPS 1.2 for the clock or ER vs an SMPS would not make for an audible difference? 

As you probably know both Uptone ultra caps powers is supplied with SMPS. 
So I’m not saying that at all 😀
 

28 minutes ago, Exocer said:

Or were you comparing the LPS 1 to LPS 1.2 when power the ER or Clock?

Yes. So I’m saying there shouldn’t be any difference those two power supplies when it come to be used in that application. Especially the clock. But I won’t test this. One reason is the clock shouldn’t ever be switched off once powered up. (JohnS made a comment on that recently).

 

I had two LPS 1.2 not in use. As well as the necessary serial cable to obtain 12V. So I could put them back in service. 
 

I think purchasing a Paul Hynes SR4T or a Uptone LPS 1.2 (plus maybe a Ghent DC cable) just for a $92 clock is an overkill.
(Unless that clock really is so fantastic. And we know the difference already).  

[Exocer]

1 hour ago, R1200CL said:

As you probably know both Uptone ultra caps powers is supplied with SMPS. 
So I’m not saying that at all 😀
 

Yes. So I’m saying there shouldn’t be any difference those two power supplies when it come to be used in that application. Especially the clock. But I won’t test this. One reason is the clock shouldn’t ever be switched off once powered up. (JohnS made a comment on that recently).

 

I had two LPS 1.2 not in use. As well as the necessary serial cable to obtain 12V. So I could put them back in service. 
 

I think purchasing a Paul Hynes SR4T or a Uptone LPS 1.2 (plus maybe a Ghent DC cable) just for a $92 clock is an overkill.
(Unless that clock really is so fantastic. And we know the difference already).  

 

Thanks for clearing that up. You said neither mattered so I just wanted to be sure you meant what I thought you meant. You have confirmed this ;). The LPS 1.2 has made quite a positive impact on the performance of my system through my experimentation with it.

 

As for the clock, I totally agree there may not be much of a difference between the LPS 1 and LPS 1.2 due to low current requirements and how clean both of these LPSUs are. Powering the ER, I haven't tested the LPS 1.2 vs LPS 1. I will say that I prefer the stock SMPS in my system on the ER vs the LPS 1.2. I do not know if this is because I use an SFP module or not (which would theoretically require some additional current). But the preference for me is the stock SMPS with the ER.

 

So yes, my repurposed LPS 1.2 ended up powering this clock as well, although this was not the original plan.

 

Keep in mind, the core OCXO (Either DAPU or FE-180) of this $92 clock provides performance one would have to pay much more to achieve if purchasing new, per some of @Superdad's earlier posts on the topic. Let's see if the measurements stack up. 

[Superdad]

3 hours ago, Exocer said:

For the sake of my understanding, are you saying that the use of LPS 1 or LPS 1.2 for the clock or ER vs an SMPS would not make for an audible difference? Or were you comparing the LPS 1 to LPS 1.2 when power the ER or Clock?

Just to be clear: The original UltraCap LPS-1 can not be used to power either an EtherREGEN or a BG7TBL clock. The current generation UltraCap LPS1.2 can be used with either.

This is because while both UltraCap models are capable of delivering up to 1.1A at any of their output voltage settings, the highest output voltage setting for the original LPS-1 was 7V. And:

a) The BG7TBL clock requires 12V;

b) An EtherREGEN run from 7V draws about 1.35A—a bit over the limit for out UltraCap units (whereas at 12V the EtherREGEN draws just 0.8A).

 

[And yes I saw that @R1200CL said he his is using a pair or original LPS-1 units in series (one set to 5V, the other to 7V) to obtain 12V.  But that seems to be getting lost in the shuffle of these posts today.]
 

 — Alex C.

 

[Exocer]

6 hours ago, Superdad said:

Just to be clear: The original UltraCap LPS-1 can not be used to power either an EtherREGEN or a BG7TBL clock. The current generation UltraCap LPS1.2 can be used with either.

This is because while both UltraCap models are capable of delivering up to 1.1A at any of their output voltage settings, the highest output voltage setting for the original LPS-1 was 7V. And:

a) The BG7TBL clock requires 12V;

b) An EtherREGEN run from 7V draws about 1.35A—a bit over the limit for out UltraCap units (whereas at 12V the EtherREGEN draws just 0.8A).

 

[And yes I saw that @R1200CL said he his is using a pair or original LPS-1 units in series (one set to 5V, the other to 7V) to obtain 12V.  But that seems to be getting lost in the shuffle of these posts today.]
 

 — Alex C.

 

Acknowledged. Thanks for clearing up the confusion. Happy listening all. 😎

 

 

[sakso136]

19 hours ago, R1200CL said:

@sakso136

Link is one or two sides back. 75 ohm if your etherRegen is a standard one. 

My etherregen is standard one .

The guy on starkaudio,hk told me go for 50 ohm bnc

I told him I m going for gpsdo clock first then may be for cybershaft.

I mentioned that I m using it with er also.

So will you confirm I need bnc 75 ohm?

Really thankful for answering...

 

[MartinT]

Before you decide, think about whether you need a GPSDO unit. The BG7TBL is not GPS disciplined and features decently low phase noise. You will not improve that with the GPS, you will be adding complexity and more noise, all for long term drift improvement which is not required for music playback.

[JohnSwenson]

18 hours ago, sakso136 said:

My etherregen is standard one .

The guy on starkaudio,hk told me go for 50 ohm bnc

I told him I m going for gpsdo clock first then may be for cybershaft.

I mentioned that I m using it with er also.

So will you confirm I need bnc 75 ohm?

Really thankful for answering...

 

If you have a standard ER then you definitely want a 75 ohm one AND a 75 ohm cable.

 

When we were getting close to releasing the ER we did a pole and almost everybody said they wanted 75 ohm, so that became the "standard" ER. Alex makes a few 50 ohm versions every now and them for people that specifically order 50 ohms.

 

John S.