Reasonably pricing Rb & OCXO and OCXO-only 10 Mhz Master clocks...

[SCAudiophile]

***Not a dealer or affiliate in any way of the equipment vendor (or any other for that matter) listed below and I derive no benefit from writing about their gear....only want to share some facts that I literally found by search engine earlier this year...***

See my system listing for details....This past Spring 2016 , I stumbled on Cybershaft Japan as an option via listings on various sites for high-quality 10 Mhz master clocks. They make premium and ultra-premium OCXO, Rudidium-only and OCXO+Rb clock units (single port each standard) for high-end audio, video and studio purposes at an extremely aggressive price point.

They are rated for 100-120V and 50-60Hz use (also available for 220-240v and 100v configs) which makes them perfect for US or Japanese usage. They supply all their test and calibration results for each unit prior to shipment1 year unconditional warranty.

The site can be found google-ing for 'Cybershaft Japan'.

I have the Cybershaft Rb+OCXO 'dual master clock' offering up and running for about 6 months and I am extremely impressed by the build quality of the unit and the customer service provided by Hasegawa-san. He goes to great lengths to ensure all questions are answered and provides unit-specific test data for ALL testing of the unit including Allan Deviation, reference measurement devices used, etc....It's the most specific and open backing
data of what a unit truly does after it is built that I have ever seen.

As the owner explained to me and provided test results, the fallacy in the high-end clocking market is that "PPM" and "PPB" are the only specs that matter; as I understand now, there are as many if not more important aspects of a clock's true behavior and influence on a system in terms of its phase noise, Allan Deviation and other key aspects.

The price point of the unit is a fraction of the other offerings in the space (that provide 10 Mhz atomic-precision master clocking) and frankly when I saw the unit, it's quality, appearance and sheer weight coupled with the exceptional customer service, I don't feel that I am missing out on a single thing compared to the offerings from Stanford Research, Isochrome/Antelope,or others.

I currently have this connected as follows;

Cybershaft Rb-output=>10Mhz=>Esoteric D02 (WRD CLK IN, 10Mhz)=>Esoteric P02 (MCLK frequency from the D02)

*The Cybershaft adheres to a strict 50-ohm output spec. as does the D-02's 10 Mhz clock input; while I tried 75-ohm cables on various peoples' recommendation, I found the best results aurally are gained by use of a true 50-ohm compliant cable + connectors.

Put another way, the Cybershaft clock is providing an ultra-high precision baseline for the clocking circuit of the D02.

All the specs and other technical aspects aside, there was an immediate improvement in the natural/liquid nature of the sound when I enabled the 10 Mhz input signal from the Cybershaft to drive the WRD CLK Input of the D02 over the D02 alone. All was extremely good before but I find a touch more precision in image size and placement (of instruments and voices) and an even more musical presentation overall of the system as a whole.

In my years owning Esoteric separates starting with the P-03U/D-03 I did own the G-0s Rb-oscillator master clock and was extremely impressed with the overall precision of the musical presentation. Esoteric builds amazing SOTA clocking devices....I utilize the G-0s for 'frequency multiple' clocking to match my upsampling frequencies of choice (176.4 Khz being my favorite). Later on, for various reasons, I sold my G-0s and ran without a clock for a while and frankly missed the precision. I later added in a G-03X and liked the balance of precision and musically correct aspects of each note and imaging that it offered.

When the P-02/D-02 hit my setup, I initially kept the G-03X but later found that the 22.xx Mhz "MCLK" functionality of the D-02 driving the P-02 gave me a more natural sound stage and tonal correctness plus better imaging so the G-03X later left the system. I ran like that for quite a few months before that audiophile urge grabbed me again and I began to think about outboard 10 Mhz/other master-clocking once again. Wanting to stick within a reasonable budget (I love the upper-line Esoteric clocks but they just did not fit reality for me at the time), I began to look at 10 Mhz offerings from SRS, Antelope and others. As mentioned above, I stumbled on this company as they are not well-advertised or known outside of the professional AV community and audiophile community in Asia-PAC and am extremely glad that I did. There is a definite incredibly pleasing and believable aspect to how my system sounds ever since. Everything is simply that much more musical and seemingly correct.

My ultimate goal is to get an Esoteric upper-line clock back into the system and use the Cybershaft to provide an ultra-high quality 10 Mhz master baseline clock to drive it.

Hope this helps one or more of you....have a great week!