What’s the Weakest Link in My Audio System?

[mountie]

Hi.
Here's my current audio system setup
I'v done my best to improve the sound quality in every possible way, but I believe there's still room for improvement

if I could enhance just one part of my system - the weakest link, perhaps - what would you recommend I work on next?

 

[djsina2]

Get rid of everything except the Riviera. Low-res tube DAC like Abbas with a CEC CD transport.

 

[mountie]

Get rid of everything except the Riviera. Low-res tube DAC like Abbas with a CEC CD transport.

I don't use CD. Local FLAC files with Roon system is better.
but I will check Abbas.
I have upgraded DAC from Rockna Wavedream Signature XLR to dCS Lina network DAC.
when the best clock was added to dCS DAC, the sound quality was much more better.
but tube DAC can be another approach. thanks.

 

[Kofi Baffour]

Hi.
Here's my current audio system setup
I'v done my best to improve the sound quality in every possible way, but I believe there's still room for improvement

if I could enhance just one part of my system - the weakest link, perhaps - what would you recommend I work on next?


View attachment 160322

Room Acoustic Iterations

And

Perception of Lacking when it doesn't exist

 

[Lee]

Interesting system! Recommendation and a question.

Recommendation…make sure the router is on a line conditioner and grounded. I found the router to be a significant source of noise. I use a Gemini 4 on mine.

Why all the master clocks? Would it not be simpler to have the Lina clock do 44 and 48 multiples and not worry about signal loss over all the cables?

 

[microstrip]

Hi.
Here's my current audio system setup

Brilliant system - I never though about using the Mutec MC3+ to generate wordclocks from a 10 MHz clock.

What is the effect of connecting and disconnecting the 10 MHz clock from the switch? A pity the miniDSP can't accept an external clock.

 

[mountie]

Room Acoustic Iterations

And

Perception of Lacking when it doesn't exist

Thank you

 

[mountie]

Interesting system! Recommendation and a question.

Recommendation…make sure the router is on a line conditioner and grounded. I found the router to be a significant source of noise. I use a Gemini 4 on mine.

Why all the master clocks? Would it not be simpler to have the Lina clock do 44 and 48 multiples and not worry about signal loss over all the cables?

I own a dCS Lina Master Clock, but when I compared it with the Cybershaft OP21A-2, the OP21A-2 clearly outperformed it by a significant margin.
The Cybershaft OP21A-2 master clock exhibits a measured phase noise of -121.8 dBc at a 1 Hz offset, making it, in my view, the highest-performing master clock I have encountered to date.
I have built a three-way master clock domain system, consisting of:
• Datastream reclocking at the router level,
• DSP signal reclocking before the DAC, and
• Synchronization from the same master clock inside the DAC.
This configuration minimizes PLL (Phase-Locked Loop) interference within the DAC and results in exceptional timing precision and sonic transparency.

 

[mountie]

Brilliant system - I never though about using the Mutec MC3+ to generate wordclocks from a 10 MHz clock.

What is the effect of connecting and disconnecting the 10 MHz clock from the switch? A pity the miniDSP can't accept an external clock.

The switch-level datastream reclock only works with the Roon Ready RAAT protocol (and possibly other streaming services such as Tidal Connect, though I have little interest in those due to their inferior sound quality).
The miniDSP then processes the reclocked datastream, and the processed signal is reclocked again from the same master clock before reaching the DAC.
This configuration produces almost the same sonic improvement as if the miniDSP were directly connected to an external clock.

 

[microstrip]

(...) This configuration produces almost the same sonic improvement as if the miniDSP were directly connected to an external clock.

The question is that in this hobby we can't never be sure of anything until we try it, particularly addressing clocks ...

Any data processing having an asynchronous clock will probably have a sound signature.