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

@jjss49 Don’t we all know that lol. I can wait till I find it in the secondhand market in the EU.

@lordmelton I remember I read the Phoenix bettered the SOtM tX, I will find the link. With regards to the lps, I know there are very good expensive ones. However, this ALLO SHANTI is perhaps good enough. It has a bank of 15000uf capacitors followed by super capacitors and a noise level of 80nV only. Price 173USD. It outputs 2 x 5v, I connected the two in serial to get an additional 10v. Allo Nirvana SMPS & Shanti LPS Review

@sns yes true, but could the Phoenix be dethroned?

I found this on a French forum (the interface is messy). I will read further to find out what results they got.

"My questioning was rather: between 600 € (SU-6) and 2400 € (Phoenix), there is 1800 €, which is already the price of good Hifi equipment, and in my opinion this is not the price that allows to qualify equipment as "high-end". Is the "gain" between these two interfaces worth €1800? There are plenty of glowing articles on both, but no comparisons."

I am getting the Sonore OpticalRendu too. I already implemented the method here Cheapest way to enhance SQ with digital streaming with good results using the Gigabit Ethernet. However, this only fixes the network side. So you still have the USB side to work with. Welcome to the quest :).

on a more serious note, i don’t buy into outboard reclockers as a category if we are talking about serious system building... one should get a superior network bridge, streamer, dac or combined unit... credible products made to a high quality level should have the clocking handled superbly within them...

@jjss49 I really would like to think this is true, but what I read disputes it. Owners of expensive gear swear by it check the Phoenix reviews here on Audiogon.

@lordmelton Here is the comparison with the SOtM tX below.

Check what Audiobacon wrote about the Phoenix:

"Having used both battery and the Paul Hynes SR4 on the SOtM tX-USBultra, I realized that its tone is more grey and neutral relative to the Phoenix. That’s probably the biggest difference between the two. The Phoenix has more “blood and tissue” and I found it to be more tonally true. Both handle timbre well.

The Phoenix also has more grit and texture while the tX-USBultra is fuller and smoother. While listening to a few tracks by Kieza, I felt the Phoenix had more realistic decay where certain harmonies lingered for the right amount of time. This actually brought me closer to when I saw her performing live. But the tX sounded more molded and solid. And thus gave more of the impression of a physical presence. Silhouettes are seemed tighter and more “rounded off” with the tX-USBultra.

Another difference is depth. The Innuos has more of it. The SOtM stays more in front and sounds more “glued together.” Whereas the Innuos plucks out the elements better. It handles the fabric of the music with more delicacy and nuance. It’s also the more open sounding of the two. The SOtM is more “collected” and laid back. Lastly, the Innuos has more impactful, deeper, and refined bass. The SOtM has more aggregated mass that is punchy but not as granular.

If you prefer a liquid, more solid, and more neutral sound, the SOtM tX-USBultra is probably the better pick. If you prefer something richer, more open, and warmer, go with the Phoenix. Although I appreciate the qualities of both, I prefer the more natural tone of the Phoenix."

reading reviews only get you so far... there is only one way to know, right?  my various tries with ddc's and usb reclockers have been wastes of time largely... but then again i don't use a noisy sloppy computer to feed my system its digital stream

ymmv obviously