Popular Post DarqueKnight Posted June 4, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted June 4, 2021 1 hour ago, John G said: I recently got a dCS Bartók DAC, which I'm enjoying a great deal. The company also makes an external clock (the Rossini) which, at US$ 8,500 is no small investment and I've been tempted by it, although I really don't understand the function of a clock in a digital music system. I came across this thread from a post on the Tidal forum and it make me wonder: would the Afterdark Master Clock serve the same function as the dCS Rossini master clock? The Rossini is a word clock, which clocks each digital sample of the devices connected to it. The AfterDark clock is an external 10 MHz reference clock, which replaces the less accurate internal clocks of the devices attached to it. The word clocks made by dCS and the 10 MHz reference clocks made by AfterDark serve different functions and are not interchangeable. To use a word clock, a device must have a "word clock" input, or be able to synch to the word clock via some other connection type. To use a 10 MHz reference clock, a device must have a 10 MHz reference clock input. Having digital components synched to a single clock source reduces jitter and phase noise. You can think of a master clock as a single conductor for an entire orchestra, rather than each section of the orchestra having their own conductor. I have dCS's previous generation Debussy DAC and previous generation Puccini word clock ($5,500). Digital samples from my Bryston BDP-3 digital player are clocked by the Puccini word clock via USB connection. Digital samples to the Debussy DAC are clocked by the Puccini word clock over a coaxial cable connection. The Puccini clock resulted in a lower noise floor, greater musical detail, and better stereo imaging. I also use an AfterDark Emperor Double Crown 10 MHz reference clock to replace the internal clock of the EtherREGEN Ethernet switch that is between the NAS and BDP-3 digital player. Again, use of the AfterDark EDC clock resulted in a lower noise floor, greater musical detail, and better stereo imaging. Superdad, Mjw21a and John G 2 1 Main Stereo System Equipment List Link to comment
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