Dcs Verona vs Scarlatti master clock

Suchtan, I think you made a wise choice with the BB. I too have wondered if the higher priced clocks can affect a noticeable difference from the BigBen. I don't think too many people have actually compared A/B different digital clocks.

Now if $$$ is no object, then sure, go for the matching clock with your DCS gear. But when I did an A/B with the BigBen against a word clock that was added to my RME soundcard (as a separate add on board/option) that cost $140 vs the BigBen at around $1200, I could hear no difference.

Suchart, Scarlatti DAC break in took about 100 hours to become noticeable. Now, at about 400 hours, the greater sense of realism compared to the Elgar Plus is indisputable - and I found the Elgar Plus to be the best DAC I'd heard to that point. My vocabulary fails me beyond what I've written, but the Scarlatti DAC is quite an achievement. FWIW, I split cd playing time between the Verdi/Purcell (>DSD>)/Scarlatti DAC w/all units sync'd to the Scarlatti clock, and feeding the Scarlatti DAC upsampled 174kHz dual AES data via the Purcell with the Lector providing the clocking data (it's modded with a DEXA reference clock). I enjoy both cd sources very much. Again, I believe the Scarlatti clock s/b considered only in the context of an otherwise "complete" system that will not be tinkered with for a long long time. Otherwise, save the cash for the next amp/preamp/loudspeaker/source experiment.

To clarify my last post, my non-dCS transport is a Lector DigiDrive with DEXA clock mod. I mentioned it only to make the point that the Scarlatti DAC extracting clock data out of the data stream from a good transport (at about 10-15% the cost of the Scarlatti transport) with Purcell upsampling to 176kHz dual AES is very nearly the equal of the Verdi/Purcell(upsampling to DSD)/Scarlatti DAC/Scarlatti master clock combo. The Scarlatti DAC with Purcell upsampling is the common denominator. Many have praised the TEAC VRDS-based transports of which the Scarlatti is one. Significantly refining the performance of my current source gear would be quite something, but $30k for the Scarlatti transport puts that day a long way off for me.

Now I got the idea the Scarlatti Dac is the first target for improvement from the previous Dcs stack. Jb, I have just read from avguide forum and one user who also is a Dcs dealer mentioned about his surprising dicovery. He prefers to upsampling to 176,4khz using Purcell to the Scarlatti Dac more than the usual Dsd upsampling. Unfortunately, he specified that a pair of Nordost Odin balanced cables were being used. That's too expensive for me to try.

I use LessLoss RCA SPDIF digital cable from the Lector transport to the Purcell and a pair of LessLoss AES/EBU cables from Purcell to Scarlatti. I've no desire to upgrade from those cables. You may consider emailing Liudas at LessLoss. I believe him to be someone who understands digital technology very well.