Our visit to Northstar Studio, The Netherlands

[bart]

So far, we were listening to the stack without the clock.
We are talking about a 8-channel DAC, streamer and preamp in 2 boxes (you can buy the DAC/pre/streamer without the power, and that sounds already very decent!) that retail for 22-23K.
Still within reach for some of us.

But now we got into other territory.
The Merging clocks are quite new.
There will be 3 levels.
They all have extremely rare and expensive, selected crystals.
Level 1 will set you back 20K. It delivers 95% of what the top clock offers.
Level 2: 40K.
We listened to level X, not yet on the market, but in the testing phase here in this studio.

We went back to the Beethoven recording:




Oh my goodness...
I cannot describe what happened to me.
No.
Simply not able.
Audiophile words won't do it here.
But it did happen.
And I was in tears.
Just like when we attend a good concert. (When I haven't shed a tear during a concert, I consider it as a one that didn't make any impression on me).
Well, let me try to express what I experienced that moment.
That clock helped me to time-travel.
I came closer to Liza Ferschtman than I thought could be possible.
In time, and in space.

Bert told me he tested all the best digital from today.
The top dCS, the MSB Select II.
With the clock, Merging beats them all, he said.
And it is still way less expensive than the others.

He is the importer of Merging, so you can be sceptical.
I tend to believe him...