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Showing results for tags 'clocking'.
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It has been mentioned by others that clock cables are becoming of increasing interest, but posts on the subject are being spread through a number of different threads, notably the Mutec REF10 thread, SOtM threads and the infamous "A novel way...." thread. So this is an attempt to to try to bring existing and future clock cable knowledge together, and with a bit of luck we should be able to identify some top performing clock cables that do not cost $1000's. To start this thread off, I would like to pick up on the issue raised by @zoltan on the "A novel way...." thread. Two things. For one, if you are in the EU, anything from outside the EU will cost 30-40% on top of the list price. In this case SOtM cables will be close to $1000 (I am almost sure that they will be sold around 800 euros) which makes them equally expensive as Habst. Shunyata is much more, needless to say. Second, I bought a tx-USB ultra the other day as the last piece of the puzzle. I opened it to change the voltage to 12V. I noticed that the clock cable that goes from the input connector (inside of the BNC) to the board is curled up. I measured it and it is 40cm. By looking at it, it looks like more industrial than something in the league of high-end clock cables. I wonder how much our effort (both keeping short lengths and high quality) matters in this case when the last 40cm is something like that. Then again, given that SOtM is as good as it is (both products and as a company), my only conclusion is that they don't think that this matters that much. But why do they sell the first 1m for $700? As you can see, I am a little confused here. OK, I have to say that I was a little disappointed when I saw this post. I have just purchased both a sMS-200Ultra and tX-USBultra and have spent some time and money buying custom made clock cables to optimise (minimise) clock cable length. I then find that I probably have half a metre of cheap clock cable curled up in the case of the SOtM kit. The addition of a reference clock connection is £200 when bought from the UK distributor for SOtM, or £400 in my case for the two units. So this is not a cheap addition. I guess my main frustration is that it seams to me that it would not take much additional effort to minimise the cable length from the connector to the board, oh well... So this leads to a number of questions. Firstly, does it really matter? If so, what is the best way to resolve. Could the units be sent back to SOtM for a more optimal solution? Could users modify themselves, or would this invalidate warranty? What would be the optimum solution anyway? Simply shorten the cable? Or maybe terminate the existing cable with a male connector, and use the cable to the board direct to the reference clock. It occurs to me that you could simply disconnect the female from the case, pull the cable to the outside of the case, and connect direct to the reference clock with a female to female adaptor. Is no (additional) cable better than a Habst cable? I did demob my tX-USBultra from the system and took a look through the case vents. Mine has the 75ohm connector, and it looks like the clock cable is a little different for the 75 ohm, it is copper coloured, but still appears to be over length. I must admit that I was not prepared to open the unit, it is brand new with full warranty, so if I inadvertently broke something, it would be bad. Some have mentioned that SOtM are fairly relaxed about users opening the kit, to adjust jumpers etc., but is this official policy, what about people shortening or replacing clock cables or whatever. Maybe @MayfromSOtM would be kind enough to provide some good advice here?