Which USB reclocker is as good as the Innuos Phoenix USB?

I found very helpful information here Musician Phoenix DDC Review

Sandu Vitalie compared the I2S vs USB on the Musician Aquarius DAC.

II. Musician Phoenix + Musician Aquarius via I2S

The audible difference wasn’t only immediate and apparent as it was with a Singxer SU-6, the difference was actually bigger to my expectancy levels.

On its own, Aquarius is a mighty fine sounding DAC, certainly up there with some of the nicest R-2R DACs I’ve tried to this point, but when locking the signal via I2S from the Phoenix, there was a serious jump in resolution and ultimately, dynamic range.

I would never call the Aquarius as muddy, grainy or soft sounding via USB, but it felt that way when I started my comparisons. 

I2S is better than USB in the Aquarius.

Through the discussions in this thread I started thinking that the Aquarius implemented the I2S port better than the USB, since it was said to be designed by the same group that designed the Denafrips DACs. I believe it is the case now.

Sandu  also  compared the Musician Phoenix DDC vs the Singxer SU-6

Musician Phoenix ($1699) VS Singxer SU-6 ($750)

When Phoenix replaced it, I have felt a massive intake of fresh air, like I opened windows towards my music. Micro-details hopped on board and I could better see the contour of the notes compared to the SU-6.

Leading edges appeared by a tiny bit sharper and I could easier follow their trail from inception to decay.

With Phoenix, the key word was focus, as it was moving the spotlights towards the smallest nuances and what was already impressive on SU-6, felt by a hair clearer on the Phoenix.

In my case, Phoenix changed the fate of three high-performance DACs, some were only marginally improved, while others felt like listening to higher tiered versions of themselves.

Besides repelling all types of noise and improving the pace, rhythm and timing, Musician Pegasus became highly energetic, Chord Dave a lot smoother and relaxed than ever before and Aquarius a lot clearer and 3D sounding.

Apparently if I want the best results then I can't get away with using the cheaper Singxer, or the Mano ULTRA mkIII Farad Music Streamer. 

The best solution in my case is to buy the Musician Phoenix DDC or an equally competent DDC.

Just for laughs check this 😂

This is the Gaia

And this is the Phoenix

Musician Phoenix? Must be a Chinese Gaia knockoff… This thread was supposedly about the InnuOS version

There was an update due to this: Musician Phoenix DDC Review.

This is an update specific to my dac (Aquarius), basically it states that I2S is the best for the Musician dacs. I wrote about it 3 posts up.

By the way Musician and Denafrips DACs/DDCs are developed by the same team, hence share many similarities.

I thought that was it, the best performance for my dac is achieved by a good DDC using I2S and not the PhoenixUSB.

But then I noticed something a reviewer called Blake wrote, which brings the ball back to the PhoenixUSB court.

According to Blake and another reviewer on this thread the best performance of the Terminator Plus is achieved using I2S from a good DDC clocked by the Terminator’s clock-out signal. However, the issue with the Musician line of DACs is that they don’t have a clock-out signal. Hence, Musician DACs can’t satisfy the first condition in Blake’s list.

I wrote about it in this thread: musician aquarius r2r dac any good?

Here is a curved ball.

The Musician Aquarius/Pegasus DACs don’t have a clock out for syncing like the Terminator. Therefore, " if " the ranking Blake wrote (below) were correct, then:

Aquarius/Pegasus + PhoenixUSB (USB interface)

would rank higher than

Aquarius/Pegasus + Gaia without its "clock in" feature engaged. (I2S interface)

Oh dear lol

 

the ranking of best sonic performance was:

1. Terminator Plus + Gaia with the Terminator Plus "clock out" feature engaged upstream to the Gaia.

2. Terminator Plus + PhoenixUSB

3. Terminator Plus + Gaia without Terminator Plus "clock out" feature engaged.

4. Mutec MC-3+ USB

Hi.  A slightly off-discussion question. 

Assuming I bought the best reclocker (the Phoenix?), does the quality of the USB input cable matter very much? 

Clearly, I wouldn't put an Amazon Basics between my Zenith Mk3 and the Phoenix, but I really can't afford another FTA Sinope to partner the Sinope I currently have which feeds my DAC