For Gustard R26...which bang for the buck: DDC or LHY OCK clock?


I've been enjoying this dac for several months now. I have tried USB and COAX and now I2S.

There is a noticeable improvement in each of these inputs. I have read many of the discussions here regarding both DDC and external clocks. I am wondering which of these would give more bang for the buck. The Gustard goes very well with my tube amps.

I am considering the LHY OCK 1 or 2 for clocks and undecided for the DDC.

peareye

@kereru Any chance of describing the DIY Tweaks for the OCK-2?

I am now curious and at the cusp of entering into the world of Clocking after becoming in recent years a convert to using a Digital Source.

VFM when considering all things Audio is always in my objectives, when making plans for additions of the equipment to be used in the home system.

@kereru - thanks for your take on this.  I'm guessing "HF" is a forum.  What forum is that?

Hi there, sorry been very busy with work. Some responses:

- I found sine works better with R26

- HF refers Headfi

+ tweaks for OCK-2 were inverting it, removing cover and stacking a sandwich of tungsten cubes and fo.Q damping material on OCXO and toroidal PS, looks like a mad scientist experiment with a graphite foil replacement for the aluminum base with cutouts like a tube amp would have for the tubes. Crazy how sensitive OCXOs are to this, have theorized it may help both with thermal smoothing of the oven due to more mass and of course vibration damping. Others have found similar with Tungsten cubes. Also a lot of signal grounding of spare BNCs (switch 8nternal GND ISO jumpers to GND for max effect) and a Flux-50 style AliX AC RFI filter. Carbon fibre fabric (soft not cured) shroud on top. All these each have a cumulative  audible effect  that I did a lesser version of these tweaks with the LHY SW-8 which has very similar design. I would like to revert them to normal without the crazy and precarious stacks but they sound too good so each time I start to test this I stop there. Not for everyone but has given me a taste of what more expensive clocks and lower phase noise oscillators must perform like. For now this is what my budget permits.