dCS Rossini Owners - sonic differences with and without the clock

literally shooting themselves in the foot

That means it actually happened, that they took a gun and put a bullet in their foot, don't you mean figuratively?

I see the comments so far have nothing to do with your request for actual user experiences, just the usual people who chime in based on what they have read elsewhere. The usual crowd who pontificate that something is or isn't worthwhile because they read a review somewhere stating that. Case in point

I tend to believe the objective reviews over the subjective reviews, and therefore don’t think they add anything audible to an already well-designed DAC.

Another way to say that is, "I don't have any actual experience with any of this so I'll just regurgitate what I read in a review. "

As for the Audio Science reviews, the guy obviously goes into them with the objective of proving what he believes to be true going in. 

I do own both and listen to them daily for extended periods. It is by far the most musical, natural sounding DAC I have heard, and as you say revealing.Better than the PS Audio Directstream or Naim NDX with external supply I've had recently. . , although my experience is early on, I would say there is a benefit to the external clock. It doesn't change the overall sound of the DAC, just makes things a bit more relaxed, a bit more transparent. At this level you are not going to get night and day as the DAC is so good by itself it would be silly to think it could be made that much better, but it is better. 

My question is, would you get the same benefit with something like an Antelope Audio OCX that does the same thing for about 1/5 the $$.

thefeatherduster

Auralic LEO GX DAC Clock Review
From Audio Science Review and Measurements
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/auralic-leo-gx-dac-clock-review.11001/

Listening Tests
I played through a few of my reference files and I was shocked to hear a bit more detail. There was more air between instruments. The bass was ever so slightly quicker. I don’t think I have ever heard a DAC sound this good before!
Of course, none of that happened. The DAC sounded just as good as it did yesterday without the external clock. I did not try to time the tracks to see if they finish more on time so maybe they did.

Cheers George

right George, that’s a quote from the same review posted in the first response. And your point is ???? The OP asked for input from people who have used a particular DAC with a particular clock and the responses are about something else. How is that relevant?

It’s no different than asking if Jiffy peanut butter is good and the response you get is that Peter Pan isn’t good with the implication that Jiffy must not be either.

so your conclusion is that since the reviewer found no difference when using a different DAC with a different clock that the DAC and clock being asked about will give the same result? From what I've seen of that web site if the guy can't measure it then he can't hear it. I don't think it works that way but many do. 


No offense to Peter Pan lovers intended, just an example.

I just auditioned a Rossini with and without the clock this past weekend and quite frankly I don't believe dCS should allow the Rossini to be sold without the clock. 
The clock literally makes a night and day difference. You could pull random people off the street and turn the clock off and on and they would be able to hear the difference in sound stage depth and presentation. It's not at all subtle.

I've heard a lot of DACs before, and without the clock the Rossini is just kind of "good." There are many others at lower price points that sound just as good.

With the Rossini clock engaged, the sound becomes transcendent, one of the best I've ever heard.
Shutting the clock back off would just make the soundstage depth collapse, the difference between hearing the studio a singer was in and thinking they were singing in a small sound booth.

What's an "Objective" revew???