HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

I have been usng an Audio DG - DI20 for the last six months. Have to say it does make a positive difference - bigger sound stage cleaner and more relaxing to listen to. Purchased from Magna HiFi - cost of €500 - customer service was very good. There is a thread on Head-Fi about the DI-20 - generally good feedback - but some reported compatibility problems - for me it was plug and play.
Incidentally I chose the DI-20 because it would clock a 352KHz signal which is the max I can get from the MScaler with just a single BNC output - so after reclocking the DI-20 feeds my PS audio Directstream DAC at 352Kz - A number of other re-clockers I checked max out at 176 KHz. My preference for 352 Khz is not based on any technical or theoretical justification - it just seems to be the sweet spot for my ears. Certainly worth a try.

Have been doing some Internet research on this and my conclusion is that the need for and effectiveness of a reclocker depends on the DAC. If the DAC does the job there is no point. It is a path I will not be pursuing.

CN211276 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:40 am Have been doing some Internet research on this and my conclusion is that the need for and effectiveness of a reclocker depends on the DAC. If the DAC does the job there is no point. It is a path I will not be pursuing.

But isn't the Mscaler in your rig already doing something similar ?

Fretless wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 11:36 am

CN211276 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:40 am Have been doing some Internet research on this and my conclusion is that the need for and effectiveness of a reclocker depends on the DAC. If the DAC does the job there is no point. It is a path I will not be pursuing.

But isn't the Mscaler in your rig already doing something similar ?

Apparently not, it only upsamples. It is the Qutest. From what I have read the Qutest has a very good clock. I think this goes a long way to justifying the price as reclockers are not cheap.

As with all things the original design and implementation of the DAC will have a relevance to what happens to when you add a DDE . But even if I read that I had a DAC with the very best FEMTO clock etc I would still either borrow a DDE or pick up one at a cheapish used price that would mean i could hear it for myself in real situation and then if it is not for me move it on . The only drawback with this is that if you get something like the Audio GD unit I have then you will know that it can be bettered with a much more expensive DDE . over the years I have managed to control this and can forget that there is much better which I am not able to afford and just enjoy the increase quality I have.

I bought a Denafrips Iris DDC at the same time as my Ares II. I have only listened to the Ares once without the Iris in place. While there was a difference in SQ, I wouldn't describe it as night and day. That said, the chain from my Roon server is pretty good, so I suspect there isn't a huge amount for Iris to do.

P.S. It sucks Ares has no I2S inout.

@George Hincapie Looks like you'll have to upgrade to a Gustard R26

George Hincapie wrote: ↑Sun Oct 16, 2022 3:03 pm P.S. It sucks Ares has no I2S inout.

The Pontus and Terminator do.

CN211276 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 8:40 am Have been doing some Internet research on this and my conclusion is that the need for and effectiveness of a reclocker depends on the DAC. If the DAC does the job there is no point. It is a path I will not be pursuing.

My understanding is that the DDC is more to assure the consistancy and timing of the inbound data stream , as well as to allow feeding that stream to your DAC over a connection type that may not otherwise be available.

As you say, if the DAC clock is of a high enough quality, then a DDC will make little impact (e.g. T+ and Gaia).

Fretless wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 1:25 pm

George Hincapie wrote: ↑Sun Oct 16, 2022 3:03 pm P.S. It sucks Ares has no I2S inout.

The Pontus and Terminator do.

Cheeky

Thread to follow.