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Wyred4Sound - Do clocks age?

Reading a recent review of the wyred4Sound Remedy over at 6moons (gods, is there any site harder to read or understand?) they seemed to say that perhaps digital clocks in sources and DACs age.

I remember reading some truth to this with some of the higher end clocks aging relatively quickly compared to lesser clocks.  I'm wondering if anyone has a source or measurements for this?

Does this mean we'll need to purchase a re-clocker every 5 years to keep our DACs sounding at their best?

Best,

Erik
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,325 posts
 
Mine should arrive tomorrow.  I probably should get my ARC DAC 8 out and start warming it up.

My test bed will be using a Logitech Squeezebox Touch to the ARC.  Based on Hi Fi, the ARC is quite sensiutive to jitter except in the USB portion. We'll see if I hear anything.

I really regret ordering it, right now the Mytek DAC's are on sale and I should have ordered one instead. :)  Well, I'm sure I'll have it on Audiogon soon. :)

Best,


Erik
erik_squires OP
16,325 posts
 
Mine has just arrived. My DAC has been cold for weeks, so it's hard to tell. At the very least it does not suck. I'm listening to my local classical station via the Squeezebox. 

The direct connection is via coax, while the W4S is via opticals.  I looked inside, it uses one of the best Crystek oscillators.   Considering the overall price point not bad.

Erik
erik_squires OP
16,325 posts
 
I answered my own question. Yes, oscillators and clocks do age. :) 

Crystrek oscillators seem very stable per year, but the ageing is not 0. Others maybe not so much.

Best,

Erik
erik_squires OP
16,325 posts
 
Found the DAC remote. So far there’s a noticeable improvement of the overtones in strings and brass. I’m a little worried it’s a level change, but I don’t think so.

The string attacks are also just a touch more pronounced. At first I thought the treble was hard.  But the units are barely warm.  More later.
erik_squires OP
16,325 posts
 
So my final conclusion is that the W4S Remedy does work, but that it's benefit is related to the source.  On low resolution Internet radio the benefits to depth, and low level linearity are most pronounced. On a station like Toronto Jazz with a 96kHz signal it's benefit is less.

The one area which I felt things went for the worst, but hard to tell with Internet radio, was mass strings. It seemed to me that in these cases the strings got very confused.

For the record, I'm using a Logitech Squeezebox Touch with TerraDAC linear supply, Audio Research DAC 8 and plain Toslink between the three.  I'm also using a Wireworld 75 Ohm digital cable direct from the SB to the ARC so I can compare signals nearly immediately.
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