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

This case is closed.

A reviewer "Koso" on audiophilestyle.com tested the Phoenix USB against the Ideon 3R Master time (USB reclocker) and the Denafrips Gaia DDC (no USB output).

Posted May 27

On 5/27/2022 at 8:08 PM, beautiful music said:

So are you end up letting Gaia go or am I missing thing?

Yes, that’s the plan. PhoenixUSB is doing magic in my setup.

@tjag 

A new question then, how good is sound over the I2S? :)

I use I2s with a USB to I2s DDC, I've been very happy with it and am only trying out the SOtM USB Ultra as an experiment for a friend.

However the SOtM is bringing something into the mix but it'll take about a week more to burn in.

This is the DDC and DAC I'm using to excellent results:

https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/l-k-s-audio-usb-100-usb-audio-interface-pcm384-dsd512-i2s-rj45-hdmi-coaxial-out-dsd512-with-crystek

https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/l-k-s-audio-mh-da005-es9038-pro-x-2-dac-coaxial-opt-aes-ebu-flagship-audio-decoder

I do think you'll get a better result if you do the USB to I2s conversion firstly and then maybe try the USB reclocking later, if you feel it's necessary. BTW I use RJ45 I2s.

@lordmelton thank you.

My future purchase will depend on how long I can wait for the Phoenix to appear on Hifishark :). If it is too long I will go the DDC way.

It would be very interesting to know how SOtM USB performs in comparison to the I2S after a week.

I noticed that the DDC you listed doesn't have a reclocker. The I2S interface will transmits the clock with the data to the DAC. The DAC could then benefit from being driven by a better clock improving performance.

@tjag That's correct, no re-clocker.

I used a Mutec 3+USB for several years using my laptop as source and it served me well but it can't play DSD. I now use an Aurender N20 as my source.

The Musetec 005 clocks internally and when I tried the Mutec with it, well it was superfluous. Adding an expensive LPS to the DDC gave an excellent result and proved to me that USB to I2s sounded better than USB alone.

I'll keep you updated with the SOtM but I couldn't recommend an Aurender N20 and the Musetec 005 combination highly enough.

@tjag 

As an alternative to relying on USB, have you considered a Streamer/DAC like Lumin T2? I have switched to a similar solution last year and couldn’t be any happier.