Hello everyone. I am new to dcs, and new to the forum.
I have a Vivaldi Apex and a Vivaldi Upsampler. Spectacular !
I’m considering a dedicated CD transport. I am not sure that I can just the Vivaldi transport, both for price and the number of CDs that I own. I recently saw some coverage of the Onix Zenith XST 20 which wil play SACD via a DOP output. Does anyone have any experience/thoughts with this unit? Seems like it has been out about 6 months and has a USD price of near $2,500 - a lot less than the Vivaldi transport.
To be honest I do not think that the Onix transport is the right one for you. Why?
Firstly, you mention that you own CDs but not SACDs. You therefore do not require a SACD/CD transport.
Secondly, Vivaldi is designed as a system. Whatever the combination of units it is important that they are in synch. That means that the same clock reference is sent to the units. If you want to learn more, find the FAQ on clocking ( FAQs will be transferred to the dCS Only the Music website next week). A silver disc transport must be able to receive that common clock reference. This requires a transport with a wordclock input and the Onix does not have this.
However if, as it seems, you only require CD support then the alternative below has a wordclock input and could be cheaper than the Onix. However you have not provided details in your profile of of where in the world you are and this may affect the end cost.One of our members ( another Vivaldi owner) has purchased one as seems very pleased on all counts:
Of course a source of the wordclock signal is needed. Ideally this should be Vivaldi system clock but I appreciate that it is costly and may not be what you are thinking of now. However, Vivaldi DAC does provide a wordclock output but I am wondering if and how how this can be used to supply both the transport and Upsampler. So I am tagging @AndrewS as if it is possible he has far more expertise than me on this.
Third party clocks cannot be guaranteed to conform to dCS standars and need to be able to produce and distribute 44.1 and 48kHz signals simultaneously or automatic synchronisation of tracks of varying sample rate bases is not possible. A real issue when using streaming services.
Vivaldi DAC set to Sync mode Master, and its Word Clock Out port connected to the Vivaldi Usampler’s Word Clock In1
Vivaldi Usampler Sync mode set to Word Clock 1, and its Word Clock Out port connected to the 3rd party CD Transport’s Word Clock input
3rd party CD Transport connected to Upsampler’s AES1 or SPDIF1
ps: Alternatively, the Upsampler Sync mode set to Master, and the rest following suit, in order to support both 44.1 & 48 streaming sources to the DAC.
Thanks for the thoughts so far. I live in LA so I would buying at US price. Perhaps I am being dense, but I do not see the name of the CD transport that has a Clock input. I do not own any SCDs, but would like to experiment with them in the future that’s why I thought the Onyx might be a reasonable choice. If the members of the forum could supply the name of the CD transport that has the sink input, I would appreciate it. Thank you all
I looked at the Onix and dismissed it due to not having the right clock input frequency or no clock input.
You really want the clock input to make everything work correctly, as i had to switch over my clock settings every time I wanted to use a pro jeck rs2 cd transport, or i would get the sound splutter every 10 seconds or so. But I do have the vivaldi clock and that might have been the reason for me having to change the settings over, and then back when I used the upsampler. A right pain.
Looks like you have found the thread, any questions just ask.
Thanks Francis. I see this is you first post here so I hop that you enjoy the forum and find it helpful..
Noting your comment about this transport:
I am afraid that it does not. Although it has a clock signal input the specification says that this is a master clock input. A master clock is not a wordclock as it caters for 10mHz signals whereas a wordclock for SACD/CD is 44.1kHz.
I’m not so sure. According to the manual both the frequency of the input (10 MHz or 44.1 kHz) and the matching impedance are user selectable. What this means for how the thing works, and whether an external clock actually brings sonic benefits, I could not say. Perhaps others with more technical knowledge would like to comment?
Thanks Simon. I read the specification sheet which only uses the term master clock and has no reference to variability. However I have now seen the manual ( page 10) and yes indeed you can change to 44.1 kHz and 75 ohm. So this is great news for people looking for such a transport. I also see that they list quite a geographically wide range of distributors so this seems not to be a direct sale and I can only advise those interested to check with their local one to get price details.
If you didn’t know, YBA was originally a pretty reputable French brand, with fairly wide distribution globally. But somewhere in 2010 or so the company was sold to one of the earliest ChiFi companies, Shanling. Since then, they’ve struggled to monetise the acquisition properly and have, IMHO, squandered away the brand name/value.
That’s great news that you can change the clock input like my cheap player. This gives another transport to the list.
I would say I think they might have added this feature as I looked at this when it first came out and it didn’t mention this, only that it was 10 kHz. Obviously the manual might have been updated or the unit updated?
It’s good to know these things. This piece of info, and the news about Auralic, reminds me that when I ever get interested/tempted by a piece of equipment that is costly, I need to think about how long the company might be around. Is it, in engineering terms, a “one man band”? Is it a very small company? Does it seem to be successful as far as one can tell (without having sources in the industry, in my case)? Does it have good distribution/servicing? I remember being rather put off some years ago when I rang a distributor and he explained that the barking in the background was his dog having a go at the mail as the postman pushed it through the letterbox! That was not quite what I had expected.
One thing that has come to light with this transport and can’t be fixed as its a hardware problem not software is, it’s not gap less when you use SACD.
This might not be a problem but it could also be a right pain if your favourite album tracks roll into each other as they won’t now. Just something to be aware of if you are looking at this. To be fair it’s really a poor show that it’s not gap less these days as it really should be i feel.
Hello @Dunc ,
Just for my understanding: which SACD player are you speaking about with this gapless limitation? The Onix one or the YBA one?
Thanks,
Erwan