Hi All,
I have Network Bridge + Vivaldi Dac 2.0 Combo. I am very happy with the combo and hoping to upgrade to Apex and adding clock in future.
Which unit has a better clock to be serve as a master ? Nbr clock out to Vivaldi or Vivaldi clock out to Nbr ? It is easy to try but which clock is better and more precise? I remember Nbr came out in 2017 and Vivaldi around 2012
Also has anyone tried 3rd party clocks like Denafrips terra to clock both ?
Thanks,
Hakan
Vivaldi system clock is significantly superior to the clock in NBR, So you may presume that Vivaldi clock is a better master. Yes it is easy to try out if you have both components ( I have and the difference is not subtle). BTW the age of the component is easily trumped by the fact that the Vivaldi clock is higher in the hierarchy of the ranges. It remains their top clock offering. Incidentally NBR is no longer manufactured.
I do not have any opinion on Denafrips products.
It is exactly the same VCXO Golledge 22 resp 24 clock chips in both products and in all dCS DACs actually from Scarlatti / Paganini / Debussy, Puccini / Rossini / Vivaldi including the Upsamplers and Master Clocks.
It is only U-Clock that got an 14 Mhz OCXO clock.
The diffrence is down on the FPGA DSP processing inside each component that make a difference.
Regarding the performance i would say you wont hear a diffrence if you are using the Vivaldi DAC as a master vs the NWB as a Master, but feel fre to try. 
Thanks and interesting but there is a difference.
OCXO vs VCXO, if they are using VCXO should I look for VCXO master clocks ? Or OCXO also OK ?
thanks,
BuRKuT
Thanks, I tried few times and always liked Vivaldi as a master. I am sure Vivaldi clock with sotm 10mhz clock ( full network will be under same 10mhz ) will be great. Canât decide which way should I go first, adding clock or going for Apex upgrade. Apex and 3rd part clock ( budget saver ) with 10Mhz input will be great but canât find the right clock.
This a bonus picture of the Vivaldi Upsampler 2.0 that got a USB cable and a standard bulk RJ45 Ethernet cable, going from the input in the back of the unit to the Streaming card on the Vivaldi Upsampler 2.0. Something all Vivaldi users should consider to change to a more in line level cables they are using on the outside of the unit=)
Iâm tagged here for a reason, I guess, so I will ask the obvious question: why?
The answer is why users got high end cables on the outside when dCS are using bulk cables inside of low - standard quality.
So this is just a upgrade rekommendation that there is a possible SQ gain to achive here, if you can use the same cables inside with the same standard and spec as on outside, for the Vivaldi users without warrantyđ
While I was being slightly tongue-in-cheek, and definitely meant no offense, i find that answer less than persuasive. I should open up my dCS boxes to replace wires of dubious sonic relevance at the risk of voiding my warranty? Really? As Iâve noted elsewhere, I understand and (though nowhere near as much as I once did) enjoy the âtinkeringâ aspects of our hobby. But what is the logical basis for thinking that swapping those cables will improve SQ? I understand it might be âsatisfyingâ in some way to make the substitution. But actual SQ? 
The warranty on a dCS unit will be void if:
As a somewhat related side note, as has been well noted elsewhere on the forum, standard Ethernet cables should be used both to avoid damaging the Ethernet port on the dCS unit, as well as to avoid introducing ground noise problems that would not be present with standard unshielded CAT5e or CAT6 cables reducing sound quality. Please see:
https://dcs.community/t/faq-do-i-need-special-ethernet-cables-for-my-dcs-product/1312
The cable debateđ
Go with the included cables fox
No idea what happened there, that FAQ had been up for years but for some reason was set to private⌠Should be visible again now!
