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I've never really understand the purpose of these kinds of products.
Would you use this where you had a poor digital source?
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them just are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
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The interface receiver IC in your DAC has a limited ability to reject jitter - generally, the jitter attenuation doesn't start until a frequency of 10kHz (for the CS8416) which is defined by the PLL. To attenuate jitter at a lower frequency, the DAC will either be vulnerable or require additional strategies such as sample rate conversion (which is usually marketed as "reclocking" to cope.
The purpose of "jitter reduction" products is basically to provide your DAC with a better quality of data than might otherwise be possible from your source - eg TOSLINK output from a PC.
The product you quoted looks to be relying on a SRC as the output is fixed at 96kHz - it is probably relying on that to decorrelate the output data from the input jitter. No specifications are given, so as far as such products go, it is more of a toy. It may improve things a bit but can introduce its own problems to the DAC. Transmitting data at 96kHz now puts greater demands on the output driver, the quality of the digital cable and DAC receiver. The Monarchy DIP is a similar device, but at least has a proven track record having been around for years.
Done properly, such products really can turn a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Apogee's Big Ben or Grimm CC1 would be examples. They cost many times the W4S product, but they really do have a noticeable improvement even with good sources.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
for the relocker looks excessive unless there is novelty and innovation. If it is asrc then the price should not be that much.
This product hasn't even been released yet and you seem to have totally discounted it.
I might try one in my system before I pass judgement on it.
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them just are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
Go right ahead! It sounds like you have your heart set on it but I would wait for technical reviews first and not rely on subjective opinions on the perceived sound quality. You may be surprised at how incredibly high levels of jitter can still get praised in a subjective sonic assessment.
I'm not saying it won't work, but on the other hand any company that cannot publish preliminary specifications or provide any technical detail on what makes their product stand ahead of the competition makes me suspicious about the technical capabilities of the product as they probably don't have the test instruments required to verify the product performance.
Many DACs that advertise "reclocking" don't actually do true reclocking by reclocking the bit clock from the receiver; instead they rely on a sample rate converter. This one clearly uses one as the output is fixed at 96kHz. They also don't say if the output bit depth is identical to the input or whether the data is 24 bit. This makes a difference as an additional dithering step is required when reducing the bit depth.
Transmitting 24bit,96kHz requires a much wider bandwidth capability for the transmission line than at 16bit, 44.1kHz. It's generally a bad idea to transmit upsampled data - for lowest jitter it should be done within the DAC. The worst idea is to upsample TWICE as you errors in each process are made worse; which is what you are potentially doing if you have an upsampling DAC combined with that device.
If you want the absolute best product for jitter reduction, the Grimm CC1 is IT (but very expensive). The Apogee Big Ben is a close second but not as robust with high jitter sources. The Perpetual Technologies P-1 is a step above the Monarchy products, but definitely not in the same league as Big Ben which uses a DDS clock reference to reclock the data stream.
I have a lot of experience with these devices and as an electronic engineer I know what is involved to make a good one.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
I thought it read "capped at" 96K which I took as that was the max. I thought if it were fed 16/44.1 that's what would come out of it. All that said I don't expect a lot at that price. Was the Genesis Digital Lens a reclocker? I remember that back in the day, nearly $2K.
ET
The page simply says: " 96kHz output sampling frequency " which implies a fixed value regardless of input.
My guess is they are simply using a BB SRC4392 which is an all-in-one IC solution that integrates a receiver, src and transmitter. This enables them to make the claims of functionality (in terms of "reclocking") and is also the reason they can't specify effectiveness of the jitter reduction since it will be defined by the frequency of the input jitter from the source. If the source already has low jitter, it will have no effect. It is even possible that it ADDS jitter if the source jitter is less than the intrinsic jitter of the product.
With such gadgets, it is important to establish the Intended Use (as determined by the designer). They have designed this product for use with network streamers, and other "garden variety" sources which most likely may only have a TOSLINK output to turn them into something better for a hifi DAC. I'm sure it will work admirably in this respect. However, with high quality sources it is unlikely to have an effect and may even degrade the performance of the high quality source.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
If it's really good, which it should be, for that price, then I would think that it would help many sources.
I'd let you know what I think when it gets here.
If you follow my posts you'll know I'm not an 'Emperors new clothes' kinda guy - if I don't hear an improvement I don't say I do.
I could give a flying f*ck about 192, I want my 16/44 rips (and my 24/44, 24/96 downloads) to sound their best.
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them just are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
Also thinking of purchasing one for Touch. DAC is Bryston BDA-1.
Probably wait until your review, then decide.
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