Esoteric's G-03x Master Clock Generator

As an owner of a dCS master clock in the context of a dCS source, my impression is that the clock makes a subtle but audible difference in soundstaging and overall realism. A master clock should be considered only for an otherwise "finished" (including room treatment) system, where one is willing to pay the premium for the benefit. That said, I believe the devil IS in the details, when one gets above a certain threshold of system quality. Personally, I believe my system has benefitted more from the outboard clock than it would have with upgraded cables at a similar cost. For context, I use Stealth Varidig Sextet digital, Kimber 1130 DAC to pre, Stealth Metacarbons to amps and Ridge Street Alethias to loudspeakers. All pcs are each under $500 cost.

I am listening right now to something I suspect may well be every bit as good but at a fraction of the price.

The Achilles Heel of clocks is not the oscillator but the power supply. The oscillator I use is a power supply tuned to 0.001 (one-thousandth) Hertz, the measurement limit of the equipment I have here @ 3 Hertz and -133dBu - and the noise at that frequency is the same whether the probes are connected to the power supply or shortened. That means that it at least 20dB better than and possibly better than -160dBu. The noise is so low at 3 Hertz that it is virtually unmeasurable by any existing measurement tools that I am aware of. But since the noise floor is flat at 3 Hertz it likely continues so below that.

BTW, analog circuits have virtually all rising noise at LF, and that includes batteries. Even batteries are woefully inadequate! We need a noise floor 100+ times better than batteries.

The result of this clock power supply to the sound? It is IMPOSSIBLE to describe. It makes the player feel so grounded and solid, REAL. IF you are into ULTRA-transparent sound, this is the way. One of the most common reaction I have gotten is that it sound oh-so-ANALOG!!!!

The current President of ASoN (Audiophile Society of NSW) currently has a player where this is fitted. The player is an upgraded $500 CD Player by Harman Hardon and it out-performs his extremely expensive Linn CD12 (what do they go for?).

I want to make a point that is of supreme importance. LOW frequency jitter is the most objectionable jitter. I have seen situations where a trading off increased higher frequency jitter, ELEVATED the high frequency jitter, in exchange for LOWER low frequency jitter, where the TOTAL jitter is increased but the sound HUGELY improved. Yup, higher jitter yet better sound, crazy eh? Not all jitter is equal.

I also want to make this final statement. At what point in LF does jitter not matter? LF noise = LF jitter. Our research shows that SUB 1 Hertz jitter is crucial. By tuning our clock power supply to 1/1000th of a hertz, we are literally creating a Black Hole for the noise to be trapped.

Anybody here in Sydney, Australia, want a demo? Let me know.

I purchased the G-ORb clock about a month ago to go with my Esoteric P5/D5. This clock makes a huge improvement in the clarity and musicality. This clock costs as much as the P5 and D5 and I am very pleased with it so for me it is worth the cost. I have never listened to the less expensive clock so I can't comment on it. If the clock has nothing to do with jitter then wny does it improve the quality of the sound so much?

Does it make sense to pay that much? Perhaps, for some, as much as buying a Porche (or whatever), if they A) can spare the money and or B) can afford to go hungry. Better still, give the money to the poor.

But no kidding, I don't know ANYBODY personally who could afford the Esoteric's G-03x. I am not disputing that it works but it is not the best thing since sliced bread... you can't eat it and food is more important than Hi-Fi.

But I would like to hear it, but I suspect there is a much cheaper product that does the same thing (a clock is a clock and nothing more) that may be every bit as good or maybe 90%+ (who knows) near the Esoteric.

If something costs the manufacturer $100 in raw cost of parts, the final price should be something like $600 fitted? It may sound like a big mark-up, but the $100 does not include labour (assembly), overheads, middle person to do installation etc, taxes etc.

Who know what the Esoteric's G-03x cost is actual parts, but the same scaling applies.

That Vacuum State clock will probably cost you around $500 from the fitters - would love to hear it against the Esoteric's G-03x, it may well even equal it. I have heard one (the Vaccum State - AMAZING) but not the Esoteric (probably equally amazing and better still?). But only one is affordable.

I believe that Esoteric was (or still is ) sourcing their master oscillators from Stanford Research Systems (SRS). I was chatting with one of the SRS reps at a scientific conference a few years back and he said they were selling their OXCO and Rb master oscillators to a high end company. At the time, Esoteric was the only company I was aware of selling an outboard Rb master clock.

FYI-the OXCO oscillators go for about $250 in qty. of 100.

The Rb oscillator go for about $1500. A full Rb frequency standard goes for about $2750.

SRS makes really great stuff. I've been using their lock-in amplifiers, counters, and pulse generators for 15 years. When the instruments are calibrated, I would stake my life and reputation on their stuff. I doubt the Vacuum State Clock is as good as the SRS units on raw performance of the clock in terms of stability. For audio who knows.

The Rb frequency standard is pretty nice for syncing the time bases of different instruments. Pretty useful when you are looking at timing errors on the order of 25 picoseconds.

BTW-If you have to resort to using an atomic clock for timing and jitter correction, you probably should rethink your whole approach to audio. The Rb oscillator is basically an atomic clock in case you are wondering.