CD player or transport that can take an external clock signal?

[montesquieu]

I have a Mutec MC-3+USB on the way which I see has no less than six word clock outputs.

Just wondering if anyone makes a (preferably cheap) CDP or transport that can synch with an external clock?

Curious about whether it would make any impact.

Not that I'm unhappy at all at with Audio Note transport but the experiment could be illuminating.

[mr sneff]

The Linn Karik has an RCA 'sync link' to sync it to the master clock in its partnering Numerik DAC......no idea whether it would work with a different DAC.

[Spectral Morn]

Be interested if anyone can suggest a good clock that isn't mega bucks. I have both a Marantz and Esoteric that have clock inputs, and I am curious but not madly so, to see if there is an improvement.

[Puffin]

There are these for around a £100 that have good reviews, but all the blurb seems to suggest that they are for syncing recording equipment.
http://artproaudio.com/wordclock_generators/product/syncgen/

I have a Behringer Ultramatch Dac that has a BNC wordclock connection that says "use this to connect equipment for external synchronisation". It needs a 75 Ohm T connector, but I have no idea what I would do once I have this connector and whether it could be connected to the Syncgen, and if it did would it actually do anything worthwhile for digital playback.

[Puffin]

The Cambridge Discmagic transport used to sync-link with the Isomagic Dac by way of an optical connection, but whether this set up would allow it to lock to an external clock I don't know. I have a Discmagic so perhaps at some stage I could try it.

[JimC]

I think some of the CEC's have Clock inputs.

Why does your DAC have 6 44.1kHz O/P's what Transport do they make which needs them ? Seems very odd.

Jim.

[montesquieu]

I think some of the CEC's have Clock inputs.

Why does your DAC have 6 44.1kHz O/P's what Transport do they make which needs them ? Seems very odd.

Jim.

It doesn't. My DAC is by Audio Note.

The Mutec is a reclocking device / master clock, USB => SPDIF/AES-EBU converter and DSD-PCM converter all rolled into one. It has six clock outputs - a veritable digital swiss army knife.

As stated above I'm very happy with my AN transport I'm just curious as to what a transport with a master clock input might do.

[Yomanze]

I think some of the CEC's have Clock inputs.

Why does your DAC have 6 44.1kHz O/P's what Transport do they make which needs them ? Seems very odd.

Jim.

Designed for studio use i.e. syncing up multiple DACs / ADCs, DAT players etc. with a single clock source.

[JimC]

Ah I see. That makes sense.

J.

[Geoff101]

The Tag McLaren CDT20 has a clock link that can be used with the partnering AVR32.
No idea if it works with anything else though.

[Gazjam]

Logitech Transporter has master clock input.

[Stratmangler]

Logitech Transporter has master clock input.

What's the CD drawer mechanism like? :eyebrows:

[Mr. C]

Master clocks delivery a separate high quality reference square wave form signal that is used the synchronize all of the digital equipment connected to it.

Studio's use them to tie all of their DAW's etc together.

Benefits that can be brought when using a master clock, improved spatial awareness, deeper staging and tighter and more tuneful bass, again this depends on the ability of the system to resolve the detail.

Wadia first went down this route with their clock link which slaved the transport from the dac by using the recovered word clock portion of the PCM from the dac which in turn slaved the CD transport they did this via AT&T glass optic cables

I use word clock slaved components in both the studio and home system, from the streamer output to the dac and in the high end system which slaves the PC<>digital distribution box<>dac for this I used an atomic clock.

The studio we used revised fetmo clocks, jury is still out on this method, though results have been promising of late.


Do bear in mind what you tie the boxes together with is important, as the word clock signal is quite susceptible to outside influences so genuine 75 Ohm connectors and a shielded cable with help

[Gazjam]

What's the CD drawer mechanism like? :eyebrows:

non existant!
(should read thread titles....)

[montesquieu]

Master clocks delivery a separate high quality reference square wave form signal that is used the synchronize all of the digital equipment connected to it.

Studio's use them to tie all of their DAW's etc together.

Benefits that can be brought when using a master clock, improved spatial awareness, deeper staging and tighter and more tuneful bass, again this depends on the ability of the system to resolve the detail.

Wadia first went down this route with their clock link which slaved the transport from the dac by using the recovered word clock portion of the PCM from the dac which in turn slaved the CD transport they did this via AT&T glass optic cables

I use word clock slaved components in both the studio and home system, from the streamer output to the dac and in the high end system which slaves the PC<>digital distribution box<>dac for this I used an atomic clock.

The studio we used revised fetmo clocks, jury is still out on this method, though results have been promising of late.


Do bear in mind what you tie the boxes together with is important, as the word clock signal is quite susceptible to outside influences so genuine 75 Ohm connectors and a shielded cable with help

Any views on the question of what transport to use?

My Audio Note CDT 2/II is pretty decent I'm just curious as to whether there are improvements to be had from using the word clock output feature on the mutec.

[Mr. C]

Any views on the question of what transport to use?

My Audio Note CDT 2/II is pretty decent I'm just curious as to whether there are improvements to be had from using the word clock output feature on the mutec.

You would only obtain a percentage of the benefit as the key is 'slave' all of the digital components with an independent master word clock signal. However the A/N transports major on texture and three dimensional imaging a really nice solid sound, their detail retrieval, spacial cue's and bass depth and texture would benefit from a little help there.

Worth a try I feel, I did toy with the idea of clock linking the AN Dac 5 and transport 5 at one point a few years ago for a customer, though he went down a different route in the end.