Streamer upgrade advice

[Opti-cal]

Gentlemen & Ladies,

reading some spirited discussion regarding clock upgrades to source equipment recently got me thinking.

I currently use a Pioneer N30k and Novafidelity (Cocktail Audio to some) X12 for streaming duties in my systems. Unfortunately on one of my systems I cannot output to the DAC using asynchronous mode as due to my room response the streamer has to send the signal digitally (via toslink) to a digital EQ.

The digital EQ only accepts Toslink/AES inputs (no USB) so I can't use a dedicated music server like a SOtM sMS 200 or similar. Although I still may get one for the system that does not require the digital EQ. Eventually I hope to have both systems in rooms that do not require any special EQing, but for now I have to work around it.

As I'm not using the DAC's in asynchronous mode I assume all the clocking is done within the streamers. I have no idea how good the quality of the internal clocks are in either of them but logic would dictate they are not particularly great, both being towards the bottom of both of their respective brands line ups. Plus a few years old now to boot.

My question is what are my options for upgrading?

Can/should I upgrade the clocks individually or upgrade to better streamers in the first place?

Will newer more modern streamers have better clocks on board anyway (logically they would)?

Is it possible to run a dedicated music server, output via USB in asynchronous mode to the streamer which could send the signal digitally to the EQ and finally the DAC? This seems like too many links in the chain and likely to introduce more issues than it solves.

I'm afraid I don't quite understand what would happen to the signal in a chain like this regarding which equipment is in charge of clocking. I don't even know if you can input the signal to the streamer in asynchronous mode and as its then going to the EQ then the DAC, if there is indeed any point?!

I've done a bit of research into newer budget streamers like the Yamaha NP-303 and Cambridge Audio CXN and I can't really find a huge amount of information specifically about the quality of their clocks.

I did have a Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 V1 and it always sounded better than most. However I was using the internal upsampling DAC in those days rather than outputting to to an external DAC so all the processing being kept in one dedicated box may have helped.

All advice and suggestions welcome!

Cheers,

Chris

[Primalsea]

Maybe not an upgrade as such but the Rega DAC and later DAC-R have reclocked SPDIF TOSLINK and Coax passthrough outputs. I magine that there are other DACs that are “better” that also have the same feature.

Going further maybe something like a MiniDSP Dirac for DSP rather than your current unit, which I assume is something like a Behringer 2496.

[Opti-cal]

Maybe not an upgrade as such but the Rega DAC and later DAC-R have reclocked SPDIF TOSLINK and Coax passthrough outputs. I magine that there are other DACs that are “better” that also have the same feature.

Going further maybe something like a MiniDSP Dirac for DSP rather than your current unit, which I assume is something like a Behringer 2496.

Cheers Paul,

Spot on with the Behringer! To be honest I don't really know any that would do a better job for any reasonable money (under say £800).

I've actually tried the Rega in my system as my dad has one. It was a step down from my modded musical paradise MP-D1 mkII. Never heard the R but people seem to like them. That certainly is a useful feature.

I'd like to keep my DAC's as I'm really happy with their sound.

I think I'm going to try one of these which seem to have more than acceptable clocks. I can also output to the Behringer via XLR/AES which may be an improvement over the current toslink connections I'm using.

You can have them both connected at the same time so I can switch between them for A/B testing.

Here it is:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Opti-cal]

Going further maybe something like a MiniDSP Dirac for DSP rather than your current unit, which I assume is something like a Behringer 2496.

Just looking at the MiniDSP Dirac now Paul. That is one impressive box of tricks. . . .

I didn't realise it was a streamer and processor with room correction and that many connections. Thanks for the recommendation, as you say its going further but I have no doubt that would fit the bill . . . . hmmmm

Cheers