Which USB Re Clocker

With an Esoteric K-01X-- a very good DAC and USB interface-- I can clearly hear improvements with external USB regeneration, ethernet switches, master clock links, power supplies, and digital cables.       

It comes down to your DAC if it's lousy at noise reduction a reclocker might help if you have a well designed DAC that's good at noise rejection and a good implemented asynchronous USB it's useless. Use your money to get a good DAC instead of a bandaid.

I did know that! I am fine with varying opinions and open minded enough to let folks believe what they like.  I just know my extensive experience has informed me differently. 

@dgarretson, I owned the sms-200 Ultra, SMP500 power supply and the Tx-USBultra. I liked it at the time. I like SOTM gear and currently own the SOTM sNH 10G ethernet Switch and several SOTM dCBL-CAT7 ethernet cables. Love with Switch and cables as they really elevated my digital front end. I power the SOTM Switch with a highly modified/upgraded Teradak LPS. I also power my modem with a highly modified/upgraded LPS. I built some nice double shielded star quad DC cables using Duelund stranded and tinned wire. As you know everything matters in digital audio. Every little detail matters as it’s all about removing noise! See my virtual system for more details.

Cascading reclockers/filters with the best one at the end of the chain also improves the sound of our digital front ends. I currently own the Innuos Zen 3 server/streamer and had the SOTM txUSB Ultra on it. I determined it did not give enough sonic improvement and sold it. However the Odeon delivered a nice step up sonically. That is my experience with my system only....

My system is quite resolving and I have been a bit surprised at the sonic gains realized by the pieces mentioned above. My dac is the Mojo Audio Mystique V3 which I upgraded to Evo+ type status. 

That's why he suggested a good LPS to reduce the noise. It opened my eyes because the reclocked signal doesn't mean much, it's getting that signal outside of the streamer and getting it filtered by the reclocker that gives the real benefit. 

@grannyring That’s an interesting report on the 3R Mastertime Blackstar. I’ve been using a SOTM EN-to-USB renderer, SOTM USB conditioner, and SOTM-modified D-Link hub, all powered by Hynes SR-7 and synchronized to a 10mhz rubidium clock (and a JCAT Net Femto EN card in the server, which makes a nice improvement.) I’m considering replacing the modified D-Link hub with SOTM’s new bespoke hub. What was your full SOTM setup? I’m pleased with SOTM stuff, but open to improvement.

He opened your eyes by suggesting you buy a reclocker. If the DAC is decent it can handle noise from a streamer. What about the line noise from the reclocker to the DAC? 

I've been researching reclockers and DAC's and talked to a manufacturer and he opened my eyes about streamers and reclockers. He basically said the problem is noise and clean power. Streamers are computers and are incredibly noisy, the reason reclockers work is you're taking the noisy USB signal your getting from your streamer and it's getting cleaned and filtered in the reclocker. Yes the signal gets reclocked but the difference before and after is really to small for the human ear to really detect. The real difference is the noisy signal being cleansed on the outside of the streamer. So his recommendation was to buy a very good LPS to power the streamer and a external reclocker.

The main question is how does the Metrum implement their USB. Is there a reason you think you need a reclocker? Noise problems? Sputtering ? If the USB is implemented correctly you should have no reason for a reclocker. If you’re confused research how asynchronous USB works. The DAC clock controls the stream the reason being the clock closest to the DAC chip is better at adjusting the rate. Good DACs also implement good isolation for noise reduction. If the reclocker controlled your stream would be a mess with buffer loading and dropouts unless you’re operating in isynchronous or adaptive mode. The idea behind reclockers is to make you think you have a problem to sell one more box. If there is a problem it’s better to fix it with a competent DAC not by adding something that could end up causing more problems than it purports to fix.

The Metrum does use asynchronous USB and has a lot of good reports about it. It isn't the latest model and there are obviously better DAC's around. The answer may well be to borrow a Phoenix when I can in the current climate and borrow a better DAC, such as the Chord Qutest. The latter would be half the price of course. Then see which gives me the most benefit.

Hey fellas, if I had a DAC that sucked then I'd probably buy a reclocker too, as a last resort.;

It seems like you can’t go wrong with the Innuos. I think a bigger question is how much are you committed to the USB format long term as opposed to ethernet/network connections or something like a DCS Network Bridge. It does seem to take a lot of money and processing to get an excellent sound from USB.

Audio-gd DI-20 is not a Reclocker but a DDC and it will improve the sound of your DAC a LOT. 
It converts the USB signal of your streamer to AES/EBU, I2S or SPDIF for the DAC.
The HE version has a built in high end power regenerator and its a superb unit for about 1k.
I have the non HE version (about 500 bucks plus shipping) and it is considerably better than my Gustard U16.
I havent heard the Singxer SU-6, but some folks that have them both say that the DI-20 and the DI-20HE are considerably better.
Look for it on head-fi forum. There are pages about it. 
Its also FPGA programable and it gives you the chance to make it sound better with new firmwares that are launched every few months. 
Audio-gd is a hidden gem in the audiophile world. Incredible performance for the price. 

In other words you have no idea why. It’s just a subjective opinion. There is absolutely no reason why a reclocker in an asynchronous system does anything if you have a competently designed modern DAC. Some DACs might get help by having a bit of line noise filtered by them but if you’re going to plop down thousands of dollars just get a decent DAC instead of adding more gadgets to the chain.

Sorry you find me to be an idiot.  I guess you must know me 🤓. I don’t care to argue with you as I trust my experience and own ears. 

Really? How?
OP do not go down this idiotic road. The DAC controls the clock you can reclock USB 5 times between the source and the DAC and the DAC will still control. If your DAC is older and isn't aysncronous then a reclocker might be of some use. 

Asynchronous USB inputs on dacs do not render reclockers useless. My experience has shown a great reclocker like the Ideon can indeed improve the sonic realism of a system dramatically even if the dac has an asynchronous usb input as mine. 

I'm not sure if the DAC you have uses asynchronous USB. I believe the company went out of business or is realigning or something. IMO you would be better off using your money to get a newer DAC that uses asynchronous USB which makes the notion of things like USB reclockers superfluous. 

Your Metrum Octave does not support DSD files.  The Metrum has a decent USB receiver, but probably not quite as good as those DACS with the latest version of Amanero USB receiver.

If you wanted to improve things, I would go with the Singxer SU-6 with an external linear power supply upgrade.  Both the Singxer and the Metrum Octave DAC have a true BNC connector (which is highly superior to normal RCA digital connectors). You can then get an amazing S/PDIF cable to drive the Metrum.  I use a 2-meter Nordost Heimdall II digital coax.  I have not found anything better.  Though, some of the Black Cat digital cables may also be excellent.

The Singxer SU-6 and linear power supply upgrade won't be a wasted investment.  You can always upgrade your DAC in the future.  The Singxer is really there to make the Innous a lot better. 

The Ideon 3R Mastertime Blackstar is fantastic unit. Several owners have compared it directly to the Phoenix and preferred the Ideon. I own the Ideon with an Innuos Zen 3 and the combo is stellar. I have owned several USB reclockers from SOTM and others selling for $1000 and under ..... and the Ideon is in a different league. Not cheap however. $3200 retail. But can be purchased for far less with the right dealer.

I had to decide between the Phoenix and Ideon. I wanted to buy the Phoenix as I own the Innuos server, but after much research decided on the Ideon. Both are said to be top tier USB reclockers and you can’t go wrong with either.

I must be honest and share that my past experience with Innuos service has not been good. It took them 2 months, and several of my persistent emails, to respond to a question/issue I was having with my Zen. When they finally responded it was with a short and condescending comment of no help from one of the principles. Not good. That soured me a tad and most likely influenced my decision to buy the Ideon.

The Innous is basically a small format computer board with a standard computer motherboard USB output.  That being said, it does have a very excellent linear power supply (which definitely helps!!).

The stock Wyred 4 Sound Recovery "usb reclocker" might help.  I could not guess on how much it would help.  The Wyred 4 Sound device would definitely be better if you get an linear power supply upgrade.  The stock version just has a  wal-wart switching power supply adapter.  There are definitely better USB reclockers.

The Innous Pheonix is likely the absolute best USB reclocker with a high end linear power supply with extensive filtering/regulation and a OCXO (oven controlled) clock.  Whether it's worth $3k to you is another question.  I haven't directly tested these types of devices, but the general consensus is the better USB signal feed results in better sound quality. 

I have always used S/PDIF coax as the better result.  In my system, S/PDIF coax from either an Asus Xonar Essence card or my (discontinued) Digital Musiland S/PDIF card has resulted in better sound quality than the USB output from my computer motherboard.  I even have a reference high quality USB cable.  That being said, the JCAT USB card is on my list of things to try.

The USB reclockers can definitely help things, but in my opinion, they are like a bandaid for a flawed source.  In my opinion, it's always best to have the signal clocked properly from the source instead of "fixing it along the way".  That pretty much means a different music server. 

I have found that the Innous music servers actually are not fully transparent to the audio data.  Even the music servers will alter the waveforms with their DSP logic.  If you like this altered/smoothed sound, then that's great.  It's all about personal preference. 

The USB receiver in your DAC may or may not be high end.  Can you tell us what your DAC is?  Depending on what you say, it could be that a really good USB-to-SPDIF converter might end up being a better choice.  Something such as the Singxer SU-6 with a linear power supply.  If you do DSD, you can still support DSD output through i2s if you have an i2s compatible DAC.

SOtM txUSBultra works great in my system

I used a Mutec MC-3+USB in a former setup. It did improve the subjective sense of imaging and space in the sound. When used with a newer DAC, it did not improve things.

So: my suggestion is to make sure anything you try is refundable if you don't like it. The effects of reclockers, like those of power conditioners, are very much dependent on the system (and perhaps on the listener).

The Innuos ZENith mk2 only digital outputs are ethernet direct and USB 2.0.  I also have a ZENith mk2 and think I will save for the Phoenix.  I have heard so many great things about it.

If you are willing to live with S/PDIF the Wyred4Sound works really well.

However, and in a rare case I agree with ASR, modern DAC's have really good jitter reduction.  If you have a DAC that measures great, you can't improve it, but often make things worse.

If your dac is older, and you can tell by whether it performs poorly with RedBook, then a recklocker/upsampler is a great idea.