Audiocom Superclock 4

[Mr. C]

I would agree with Mark, the space inside the touch is some what limited, however a slaved master clock input would solve the immediate issue of this. Some what easier to engineer too.
Taking the performance further you then slave up the dac to the touch too.
Prehaps Mark could design a dedicated master clock generator around his ultra clock, trick psu, bybees, decent cabling, sure helps.

[Ali Tait]

I was going to suggest a separate box connected with an umbilical.I thought this might be a problem,hence the question.

[Mike]

I use a Superclock 2 in my Denon 2900, and it sounds pretty nice actually. How does the Superclock 4 compare to the 2 and would it be worth an upgrade I wonder?

Cheers.

[Audiocom AV]

I would agree with Mark, the space inside the touch is some what limited, however a slaved master clock input would solve the immediate issue of this. Some what easier to engineer too.
Taking the performance further you then slave up the dac to the touch too.
Prehaps Mark could design a dedicated master clock generator around his ultra clock, trick psu, bybees, decent cabling, sure helps.

Hi

Yes, an external master clock would be a neat solution.

Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio makes the Pacecar reclocker;
http://www.empiricalaudio.com/produc...-car-reclocker

I will get one across and see what can be done.

Best;
Mark

[Rare Bird]

Can i just ask would it be wise to fit a new Clock & Power supply in an outboard case or is it important to keep the wires as short as possible from CDP's PCB to new clock board?

[Mr. C]

Mark,

We have been using the Black lion unit for a few years very good for the outlay for those clients who wish to chase a decent upgarde.

Black Lion Master clock

For those looking towards to one of the very best then the neat studio clocks from the UK guys Drawmer are a very worth while choice.
We have compared them abx with the Apogee big ben, the UK versions is some what more coherent sounding and has improved bass and stage depth too. The Apogee gives a more mechanical feel to the sound. (IMHO)

High quality master clock

Our reference systems use Rubidum ( 2nd level atomic clocks) to slave, the Sever<>Puremusic tarnsporter<>Dac or S/D transporter<>dac.
Do not under estimate the the importantance in an all digital system of 'slaving' all the clocks from a central master, the more pieces of equipment in the chain the more critical it is they all talk at the same time.
The differences are quite something when implimented in a full sorted system.

[Rare Bird]

High quality master clock

Our reference systems use Rubidum ( 2nd level atomic clocks) to slave, the Sever<>Puremusic tarnsporter<>Dac or S/D transporter<>dac.
Do not under estimate the the importantance in an all digital system of 'slaving' all the clocks from a central master, the more pieces of equipment in the chain the more critical it is they all talk at the same time.
The differences are quite something when implimented in a full sorted system.

Hi Mr C

The Drawmer factor Coleman Street is a 5 mins from where i live

http://www.drawmer.com/c_drawmer.php

[Mr. C]

Hi Andre,

It is very good equipment and for once British lol!

[Rare Bird]

Hi Andre,

It is very good equipment and for once British lol!

Yes i used to use a lot of Drawmer outboard gear during my Studio Engineering courses years back. Brilliant gear..

[leo]

Hi Leo

Thanks for your feedback on the Superclock 4.

An important factor with clocks is the method used to generate the ‘square wave’ output and the ‘phase noise’. We feel that the oscillator used in Superclock is the most ideal because it generates a Pure Sine Wave (analogue) which is then converted to square. Using a Pure Sine Wave oscillator allows circuit and parts to be optimised for lowest phase noise (jitter). This is different to the method used by a TCXO, or canned oscillator which digitally generates the clock signal.

Also, we realised with earlier generation of Superclock that it is the low frequency noise which is crucial to audio performance. This is the sub 10 Hz noise, even as low as 0.1 Hz! The problem with this band of noise is that no commercially available regulator can provide low noise below 10 Hz. The Superclock 4 uses a MAX6126 at the heart of the regulation, this with some circuit tweaking gets down to 1.3µV @ 0.1 to 10 Hz.

OK, enough technical talk; great that you like the sound.

I purchased a Squeezebox Touch for the purpose of evaluation, both with the stock PSU and Teddy Pardo power supplies. The Touch was running for a week 24/7 before I did any serious listening. Used only via the S/PDIF out to a few different DAC’s I was not overwhelmed with the sound quality.

Certainly compared to a fully modified Duet the sound of the Touch playing the same files was tonally harder, grainer, with less depth and flatter sound-stage. I must buy another and try again, perhaps 1 week of burning-in was not enough.

Best,
Mark

Hi Mark,

No probs, I think any upgrade which brings more than a worthwhile improvement to a product deserves its own thread for others to see. I've tried a lot a stuff and only post about things which I feel is worthwhile .

Its a shame the Touch may make modding more awkward because of space etc, one of the things I like about the Duet is that its pretty easy to work on.
Majority of my music is 44.1 so the Duet after the mods for me is the best way so far for playing most of my music collection from the pc .
If the Touch was capable of 24/176 and 24/192 I'd be more tempted, for higher res I may wait or just get a Hi-face sometime and mod it .

BTW I for one like to see some tech details for the Superclock so thanks for sharing them , it then provides plenty of info for everybody
The Superclock still seems to be benefiting from more run in

Regards,
Leo