Clocking your CD player/transport

Dan - I also like Audience Au24 digital cables and coincidentally, have some in my system. I've been studying the BB issue for a while now. As you may know, I have a Genesis Digital Lens in my system also, and recently been doing blind A/B comparisons between the Lens and the BB. One issue is that I believe the BB is adding about 1-2 db of gain.

I'm reading all of the accounts of BB AND Power Supply upgrades with some skepticism. I think we all have our biases....and see very little objective testing going on. I'm sick of reading...."I plugged this in and heard immediate improvement".....or "This modification will change your life." To me, that's cause for skepticism...although i've probably done it myself on occasion.

I believe people, like myself, who spend $1500 on a BB have to be very careful not to have a biased slant WANTING to hear improvement.

Similarly, I believe those who are deeply involved in structurally modding equipment (like yourself and others) will be biased AGAINST hearing substantial improvement from a box tweak like the Big Ben.

That's why I'm sending a unit to my friend Steve, because I trust his opinion. But I believe he starts with some basic biases as well. I'm actually looking forward to having one of the BB out of my system for a couple of weeks, because I think this will help sort out this issue also. We'll see how much I miss it!!!

Anyway, I'm learning a lot about my system as we sort through these issues...and greatly appreciate your contributions.

Harry- I know you're a dedicated audiophile with excellent
equipment. I just think you get more bang for your buck improving the power supply path in digital equipment than
internal or external clock circuits. Most of the internal
clocks I've seen, recommend a separate power supply for their clock circuits for maximum performance.

I not disappointed with the BB's performance in my system,
because I didn't expect it to do much. Audience Au24 digital cables(AES & SPDIF) made a bigger improvement.

Kana-
As you know...i'd NEVER use a BB before a decent power supply. But once you have the lab grade PS fired up....move to the BB and you will NOT be disappointed.

Homer- It really depends on the type of power supply in your units- linear or switch mode, but do some research the Black Gate website. They have a number of tech reports which deal with this subject.

Also, go to some of the various professional modifier's
websites and see what they do to power supplies.

Kana; how would you suggest i proceed about cleaning up the power supplies?

Homer- with all due respect to my friend Harry, clean up
the power supplies in your units before messing with clock
devises. The major cause of jitter in digital equipment is power supply noise. All these clocks are bandaids not solutions.

I modded a Marantz SE67 with a XA3 by Guido Tent. It's almost the best digital source I've heard. The only thing that beat it was a dbx Quantum mastering processor in bypass mode used as a de-jitterer. (I haven't heard any of the ultra expensive transports so can't comment on how they compare)

Before you get a clock mod, I suggest you check out an Apogee Big Ben. These things are amazing. www.apogeedigital.com