Using 3rd party clock to Bartok apex

Support
1

I am using Bartok apex and Aurender N30.
Before upgrading to rossini/vivaldi, I want to use a word/master clock.
I found a used esoteric g01x which provide word (for nartok) and master (aurender) clock simultaniously.
The question is,

  1. Is it a good idea to improve sonic quality?
  2. If so, where can I connect 44.1 and 48 kz clock outputs in Bartok (which to 1 and which to 2 clock inputs of bartok)?
2
  1. Try and you will find out, we can’t tell you if it will be an improvement, trust your ears;
  2. 44.1 on 1 and 48 on 2 is common, but the Bartok will know which is which.
3

Hi, August,
May I ask if you are using an external clock, and if so, how is your impression?

4

Hi Simon,

Unless I am very much mistaken I don’t think this particular combination of products is going to work in the way that you want it to.

  • If you connect the BartĂłk to the Word Clock outputs of the Esoteric and the Aurender to the Reference Clock output you are connecting them to two (actually three) different crystals, so not achieving the synchronization you are aiming for.

  • Connecting the Aurender to one of the Word Clock outputs on the Esoteric is not going to work either. The Aurender has a switchable word clock input which requires a separate signaling connection to the master clock to tell it which frequency to send (described here). As far as I can see the G01X doesn’t have such an input (dCS Master Clocks do).

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5

Dear Andrew,
Your advice is greatly appreciated. There seems to be so much mixed information about master/word clocks. I will come back to my initial path to upgrading bartok to rossini/vivaldi…
By the way, for the time being, how would you advise to connect bartok apex to Aurender n30;

  • only with aes or
  • aes + bnc making bartok as word clock to aurender?
6

The latter is a good solution to what you are trying to achieve and will save you money for a DAC upgrade.

7

I will try !!

8

Hi Simon, I have some limited experience. I used an external clock when I had a dCS Paganini DAC and transport. I used either a Mutec or a Grimm clock. In that setup it was an improvement to my ears. Since I upgraded to Vivaldi, these clocks no longer sounded like an upgrade so I don’t use one anymore. Haven’t had the chance to try a Vivaldi clock yet.
I meant by trying and listening if you could get the clock easily on loan or if it’s cheap enough you could buy it and sell it if you don’t like it. Obviously if you first have to purchase it is some risk, as Andrew explained this specific combination might not work as intended.

9

Hi Auguest, from your reply I got the impression that the recent dcs dacs (including Apex) series had much improved clocks.
I, therefore, will search dac only rossini / vivaldi(used) first.
Thank you for the dcs dac information !

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