forgive my ignorance, I have had a Rossini player with its external clock for several years. To be honest I can’t feel any change if I turn it on or off. I have the feeling that the way I use it with Masaic or by connecting my Rehin with an ethernet cable, without USB, is useless. Or my hearing is dramatically ruined.
What is Rehin ?
I think he means:
You cannot connect Rhein to a dCS unit using tehernet as far as I can tell from their publicity. It seems it only has USB output ports. The single ethernert port appears to be to connect it to the internet so that you can stream e.g. Qobuz.
The primary purpose of a Rossini or Vivaldi wordclock is to distribute a common timing reference to a multi-box player. This is commonly a DAC and optical disc transport or certain processors where all have input ports for the cwordclock signal. If you only use streaming this aspect is not relevant.
There is a secondary purpose however. In essence the OXCO oscillators in a dCS Streamer DAC or in its matching external clock are the same type. However placing this reference in an electronically quieter environment away from the DAC is beneficial. However sonically it is often regarded as being subtle. So if you are listening expecting a “wow” factor you may be disappointed.
dCS have described adding the wordclock as focussing what you hear ( the metaphor used as an audio pair of glasses). My view is also that gains are more likley to be found in the presentation of the music ( flow, phrasing etc.) rather than in sound per se. This probably depends not only on the listener’s sensitivity but on the type of music.
I heard no difference when I first heard the initial dCS wordclock, Verona, many years ago. I sent it back. Eventually I tried again and now find this subtle effect essential ,its absence diminishing the music. However we all have our own preferences of course.
NB: Thanks @Ermos.
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Not to be overly pedantic 
, but dCS uses VCXOs Pete if you recall, not OCXOs. There’s a significant difference.
Actually @anupc, if we’re going to be overly pedantic both LINA and Varèse Master Clocks use one VCXO and one OCXO. 
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Yes, IIUC both have an OCXO for 44.1kHz and a 48kHz VCXO which is slaved/referenced to it. @James will correct me if I am whistling Dixie.
Yeah, the OCXO appears to be 512FS (44.1k) 
Thanks. My faulty memory.My main points to the OP do not change of course.
I connect the rhein to the second ethernet socket of the Rossini, which I use only to listen to my music library, for the rest, Qobuz, Tidal, Spotyfy, I use Mosaic directly, A new version of Rehin also includes the clock output, but I really don’t know if it makes sense to spend a lot just for this connection. Rather, I ask you if it is better to use the USB cable or is it fine as I use it with the ethwrmet cable? for the rest you were very clear, thanks.
As I am not a Rhein user and can only advise by use of the manual . I assume that you have Rhein Z1.
As I previously pointed out, you cannot connect Rhein to a dCS unit using Ethernet. I do not understand what you are connecting to Rossini in this way. The user manual clearly shows that the RJ45 Ethernet port connects to internet (e.g. router) and connection to a player i.e. Rossini is by USB.
In any case please see your user manual for Rossini, page 31. The second Ethernet input is not supported by dCS as it was included for future use ( yet to be defined). So I am unable to advise on its use.
If you wish to use Ethernet throughout although this considered by most to be the best way of using any current dCS unit, it is not possible with Rhein. Therefore if that is your intention it seems to be the wrong tool for the job.
As far a s a clock output from Rhein is concerned ,without knowing what sort of clock is involved it is not possible to comment beyond saying that Rossini can only accept wordclock signals and not master clock ones e.g. 10mHz.
I confirm that I normally use the second connection of the Rossini as I connect it to the network’s Ethernet socket and connect the other connector to the Rehin Z1, I have no other cables connected. Both connections work for me.
I would love to hear from you and/ or @James why dCS has chosen for this (new) combination of OCXO ánd VCXO. What is the benefit, compared to using 2 VCXOs?
Hi @pinovisci
Just to make sure you are aware - the “Loop” connector on the rear of the Rossini is specified in the manual as “intended for future expansion and its use is at this time unsupported”. In this case our recommendation would be to use either a separate direct connection to your router for your Rhein if one is available or if you do not have enough ports available to make a separate direct connection to your router then a network switch to create additional network ports would be the recommended alternative.
You must have a USB cable connected between the Rhein and the Rossini surely? The Rhein doesn’t seem to support a UPnP server unless I’m missing something?
Anyway, whether used via Ethernet (UPnP) or via USB (Class 1 or Class 2 USB Audio) then the Rossini generates its own clocking for the audio playback - just as it would if you were using the Rossini’s built in streaming capabilities.
When being used via either the Network (UPnP or streaming) or USB (class 1 or class 2 USB Audio) inputs and you have an external clock then you can set either “M” (Master) or “W” (Auto Wordclock) - Master will use the Rossini’s internal clock source and Auto Wordclock will use the external Clock. In this case the choice is yours as to whether an external clock is worthwhile and some listeners find that the external clock makes a substantial difference and some listeners don’t - that’s why the external clock is optional.
I hope that helps.
Phil
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I don’t know how to say it, but I’m sure I don’t have different connections, and there are no USB cables connected even by mistake. I connect the reihn to the Rossini with an ethernet cable and I connect the Rossini to the ethernet socket of the home network. I’ve never made different connections, I’ve always excluded the USB connection because I’ve always read that it’s noisier. Before the rhein I used a mac mini, but always connecting the two ethernet sockets of the rossini. Roon: Dcs Rossini Player 10.0.0.17
Perhaps it was chosen to keep the cost of Varese down?
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Looking back at https://silentangel.com/z1c/ it does make mention of DLNA but they say…
“Offering MQA Audio Decoding and Seamless Access to High-Quality Online Music Content through Various Sources Including Qobuz, Spotify Connect, DLNA, Airplay2 and Internet Radio.” Similarly the manual only shows the unit set up with a USB connection to a DAC (page 3)…
…which sounds as though it allows access to music STORED on DLNA servers rather than providing a DLNA server itself.
On Page 9 of the QSG it does make mention of ReadyMedia …
…so I presume that is the units UPnP server - they keep it well hidden! - however this still applies…
I hope that helps.
Phil
It looks like the newly chosen OCXO is a real improvement over previous ones, and stable for at least 15 years:
HCD331.pdf (311.1 KB)
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