Is there anything to be gained by using a reclocker?

I have a Schiit Bifrost Multibit being fed by a Tascam CD 200. I’ve often wondered if a reclocking device has much or any real benefit. Any experiences appreciated.

 

I would guess that a re-clocker would only have any benefit if your source was relatively noisy or jittery.

 

Understood. But how could know if my source is jittery or noisy? My transport/DAC sounds really good to me. Could a reclocker be a benefit? It’s hard to know. I’d hate to buy one and find it offers no improvement and then get a refund.

 

In my opinion, if your system sounds great now, you’re likely not to notice the difference.

 

Frankly, if your source already sounds really good to you, then the odds that a reclocker will make a significant difference seems unlikely to me. Nor would I be inclined to think that a quality CD transport is going to generate an excessive amount of jitter, or noise.

FWIW: I have personally considered trying a re-clocker for my PC as a source. But I am only considering this because my PC sounds lousy when streaming to my DAC when compared to using my Oppo as a source for my DAC. Both sources feed the exact same DAC bit-perfect data-streams, so the DAC is not the difference here. Nor are the mastering the difference here since I am only comparing only accurate-rips of my CDs to the exact same CD's which the rips were taken from.

 

I appreciate the input guys.

 

A couple of years ago, I added a Mutec MC-3+USB reclocker between my stream renderer (Auralic Aries) and preamp (Classé CP-800). I posted my impressions on a forum about Classé products, as follows:

Although I really like the CP-800, I have felt at times that the DAC might not be quite as good as my previous Auralic Vega. That feeling was cast aside when I added a Mutec MC-3+ USB reclocker to my system. What I've noticed is better image specificity and stability, plus a more transparent feeling of being in the recording environment. The Mutec also converts DSD to 176/24 PCM and serves as a USB-AES3 converter. It has many glowing reviews in the Pro Audio and Audiophile press. I think it's worth a try by anyone . . . who is not entirely convinced by [their] DAC.​

I am not removing it. As always, YMMV.

 

Most modern DAC chips already reclock the signal.

 

I tried a relatively cheap reclocker and was mightily impressed immediately with my DAC.
Didn’t want a resampler and saved me $200 for another digital cable.
I believe iFi offers a 30-day trial or something.
My fullish review:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...=cm_cr_othr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01KKFTM5S

Haven’t even tried via SPDIF with my CD player/transport as it currently sounds so good and serves my local streaming needs.
Set myself up with the Ultracap LPS 1.2 in the event I want procure a SoTM or UltraRendu or something, but not feeling the need.

BTW, my DAC never indicated a “BBG” light with the Sonos Connect by itself... clearly doesn’t mean it can’t be bettered.

 

Certainly. Despite that, it's still an open question, which of them benefit from a better signal going in.

 

Looks promising

 

Are you using the Mutec with an external atomic clock or are you using it with its internal clock?

 

Unless you're trying to synchronize a device with known problems or have a need for additional SPDIF outputs, there's no reason to use an external master clock because they typically create inferior results.

Here's a link to the Sound On Sound tests of ten master clocks. The reviewers weren't impressed at all.

Does Your Studio Need A Digital Master Clock? |

A quote from the review conclusion: "Overall, it should be clear from these tests that employing an external master clock cannot and will not improve the sound quality of a digital audio system. It might change it, and subjectively that change might be preferred, but it won't change things for the better in any technical sense. A‑D conversion performance will not improve: the best that can be hoped for is that the A‑D conversion won't become significantly degraded. In most cases, the technical performance will actually become worse, albeit only marginally so."

 

Mr. Darko's head just imploded.

 

@Agitater : You may well be right, there typically is no need for reclocking. Indeed, the whole thing may be placebo effect, like cables.

Still, more recently than the article you linked, some pro audio reviews have reached other conclusions:

Tik Tik Tik: Four audio engineers hash out the merits of Mutec's new MC-3+ Master Clock
Mutec MC3+ Smart Clock |

and a user review:

MUTEC MC-3+ USB - User review - Gearslutz

I guess what I believe is that we still don't know exactly how jitter correlates with what we hear. In that sense, it's like distortion; different people seem to be sensitive to different amounts and types of it.

 

I'm using it with its internal clock. I've considered trying it in conjunction with the Mutec REF 10, but the price has put me off so far.

 

In a multiple digital device system, a Master Clock can make a very significant difference.

I have a system that uses a master clock source to all devices. If you reboot one computer that uses a Audio Sciences sound card, it sometimes locks to internal time rather than the external input clock. When it does, the audio is there but it just has a wrong, different than normal sound. Hard to put into words. I can, and one other guy around, can readily hear it and know we need to go in and reset to the clock input just from hearing the audio result. Others, not tuned to what music can sound like I guess, don't hear it. Once you get it, you get it.

I would never run a multiple device digital system without.

CJ

 

The cost of an external clock would be difficult to justify for home use unless you also happened to have a studio and needed the clock for the studio.

Here's some measurements of two systems with Mutec MC-3+ and an external clock

System #1 and measurements

System #2 setup
System #2 measurements and Schiit Eitr measurements

The Mutec MC-3+ does well on its own. But adding the external clock does have some measured improvements. This does get into overkill territory. But exploring overkill territory is how you find out what may matter or not.

 

But not all DAC provide proper galvanic isolation of the USB connection. That is where I found the biggest improvement. Once I moved to a DAC with proper isolation my Jkenny MK3 SPDIF converter moved to collecting dust.

 

Years ago, and I mean many years ago, I made one of those impulse bids on ebay for a Monarchy Audio Super DIP. The bid won and I've been using the piece ever since. It's been in my system for so long now it's hard for me to say what affect it has. The only time I'm sure I heard a definite difference was when I installed my Mac Mini using the optical out.

The issue with this old piece is it only does 48/96.

 

I purchased a used Wyred 4 Sound Remedy reclocker as I felt that the sound from my DVR (via Toslink, only choice) into my UDP-205 could be improved.

And it was. Some might call it subtle. . . it's more than subtle to me. Less digital sounding, and more dynamic sound as a result. Tonally a bit warmer in hue. I'm quite happy, and next I'll try adding a better power supply, the iFi.

 

Agreed - although the next paragraph in the article sums up my experience with building a reliable and stable network among different brands of digital consoles & recording gear:

"Having said all this, the use of a master clock may well make a digital audio system much more convenient and stable to operate — and that may well be a very desirable benefit in its own right, easily outweighing any minor performance compromises of slaved A‑D converters. Or it may ensure the required synchronism between sample rates and video frames is achieved, which is absolutely vital in any video‑related work."

Far afield from the original topic of re-clocking but to the OPs question; if you are not having any issues then there is not reason to change anything.

 

Wow. I added the iFi power supply and that did improve the sound. Very happy with the Remedy and iFi combo--listening to TV just got better--especially the Spectrum jazz channel.

 

Which media player?

 

Foobar running with multiple different types of USB drivers. I don't know if this is still the case today though since I recently upgraded my Media PC's motherboard and proc in the hopes that it might finally sound respectable. But I haven't had the time to play around with this new hardware yet to see if this was successful.

I've had much better luck with hardware streamers overall, and the sonic-gap between my modified Oppo 103 when used purely as a transport and my Marantz ND8006 is distinctly smaller than it was with the Media PC.