DAC Regenerator and Reclocking Devices

@dlcockrum 

I think we read two different articles?

Nowhere in the article I posted did the author state:

"ISO Regen greatly reduced noise in Schiit Modi2 according to author’s measurements"

Now don't get me wrong, I have no dog in this fight. I use a Singxer SU-1 (which I am very happy with).

As a science guy, I disagree with your opinion about scientists. For me, I like hard data. I'm a skeptic by nature.

True, you still gotta hear it with your own two ears. but after +40 years pursuing this hobby, I find confirmation bias explains a lot of what people "hear". 

I would recommend dropping USB out altogether and going Ethernet to AES or SPDIF. The Rednet 3 is highly effective in my setup, liquid and super smoothy, very undigital. The fact is USB from almost any PC or Mac and even many music servers is not great for high end audio. Fixers can help, but I got fed up with a chain of these and various LPS's. Dropping USB was a revelation. Makes me wonder why manufacturers and obsessed with it. My thought on that are not for sonic reasons, rather it is cheap in implement and allows higher than 192K up sampling. I don't like to upsample, so not bothered about that.

@sunseekerespana, 

I couldn't agree with you anymore. Some of my friends have jumped through hoops to get the best possible sound out of USB. 

Like yourself, I have gone the Ethernet ➡️ AES/EBU route and very happy with my setup. 

http://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/uptone-iso-regen-review-and-measurements.1829/page-2

Good morning nordicnorm,

That site tends to reference a lot of other threads as the blogs progress so easy to get lost on one of the many linked bunny trails. Lots of nastiness between scientists in many of the links and apparently this site is in a perpetual battle for supremacy of The Land of the Unicorns with computeraudiophile.com.

The moderator is a hero of duty and patience, best I have ever seen and merits a triple thumbs up. He settles ruffled feathers among contributors in a most impressive way and doesn’t just delete posts when a snowflake cries foul (hint to Audiogon Mod).

No issue with science here, only with "scientists" who are more ego driven than genuinely committed to revealing the whys (read almarg for a true master of logic and science and decorum), scared sh*tless of being proven of knowing less than God, and reverting to romper room behavior when challenged.

Dave

http://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/uptone-lps-1-linear-power-supply-review-and-measurements.1849/

A good article, at least the first few pages minus the sniping from the ever-present peanut gallery.

Re: USB vs spdif (AES/EBU, coax, optical), it depends where the DAC manufacturer chose to focus investment. Some (many?) of the latest DAC builders/sellers seem to be placing their main emphasis on superior USB circuitry. Some have effective galvanic isolation built in. Some even use FPGA technology to eliminate the traditional role of clocks in the DAC (Exogal Comet for example) and thus sensitivity to noise riding on the signal.

IMO, adding a USB to SPDIF converter to run AES/EBU between it and the DAC is not much different than adding the USB gizmos. Counter to Forest Gump’s wisdom ("One less thing."). That is unless your DAC cannot handle USB from your USB-only Linux-based server/renderer/streamer in which case it is likely to be "the lessor of the evils" solution and thus a smart one. The more flexible and expensive SRSs offer multiple output options if one can afford them. :)

Dave