Clock experiments

[custodian]

Having played with a few rubidium clocks and being confused with the results, I contacted a UK group which specialises in producing the highest accuracy timing devices for research. They were very kind and spent some time explaining the different options to me and they produced two prototype rubidium clocks with good short term stability. I thought they improved on the DCS clock. I did do a demo to the DCS sales director who was also enthusiastic about the results.

Sadly there is not much available "off the shelf" that I believe would really improve over the standard DCS clock. The Esoteric clock seems to have good performance although I haven't tried it. The Antelope is not, in my opinion, any improvement over the DCS internal clock. It sounds different but not better.

My view is that if you are going for an external master clock, go for a BVA. Expensive but really big improvement: it makes digital sound totally analog! As I posted previously, there is a Japanese company offering a commercial audiophile product but it is expensive. I got mine custom made using a standard Swiss made BVA crystal. A Scarlatti stack with a BVA master clock will comfortably outperform a Vivaldi stack using the DCS clock alone (in my opinion, for what that might be worth)

I have been trying to persuade the UK group to produce a commercial audio clock product but they are not convinced the market size justifies the effort which is a pity. The founder and owner of the UK group sadly died recently so there is some uncertainty over the future business direction. When things settle down, I'll revisit trying to encourage them to pitch an audio product.

[John49]

Originally Posted by custodian

...I only got into this stuff when I had to scratch the urge to try the external master clock socket on the DCS system...

I have had a similar urge with my Marantz SA7-S1. Not dCS I know, but...

[custodian]

Originally Posted by John49

I have had a similar urge with my Marantz SA7-S1. Not dCS I know, but...

Try it. That's a very good unit so worth doing. Does the clock input take a standard 10mHz signal?

[JCR]

Custodian, I was able to find the BVA master clock you reference to. at $37k it is very expensive indeed but seem extremely well built! The same company seem to have a smaller model but not sure it is a BVA master clock. Anyway I will try to educate myself a bit more a this...

[custodian]

Originally Posted by JCR

Custodian, I was able to find the BVA master clock you reference to. at $37k it is very expensive indeed but seem extremely well built! The same company seem to have a smaller model but not sure it is a BVA master clock. Anyway I will try to educate myself a bit more a this...

It does look very well constructed. That machined case reminded me of my Ayre KX-r preamp case. The Japanese distributor was helpful and offered to fly over to demonstrate the unit! It uses the same crystal as I have in mine. The component cost for the crystal is around $12k, so it is always going to be expensive. I think a commercial product could be $20k

[JCR]

Wow! They offered to fly for a demo! Then there is surely some room in their margin :-) So you have not found any other company doing this right? I will definitively try to learn more on this...

[custodian]

Originally Posted by JCR

Wow! They offered to fly for a demo! Then there is surely some room in their margin :-) So you have not found any other company doing this right? I will definitively try to learn more on this...

I couldn't find any other company offering a ready made product for audio use. It would not be too difficult to source the crystal and build such a device. The BVA used is made by Oscilloquartz in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Model number is BVA 8607. It has a 10x better short term accuracy than the best OCXO clock and is sold as a replacement for atomic clocks.

[JCR]

Humm...ok here is a stupid question! If it is sold as a replacement for atomic clock, could one buy a commercially available atomic clock (not sure if Antelope has one but I think they do) and then buy this BVA part number to replace the generator of the 10Mhz signal? This may be an oversimplification but just a thought!

Jacques

[custodian]

Originally Posted by JCR

Humm...ok here is a stupid question! If it is sold as a replacement for atomic clock, could one buy a commercially available atomic clock (not sure if Antelope has one but I think they do) and then buy this BVA part number to replace the generator of the 10Mhz signal? This may be an oversimplification but just a thought! Jacques

Not a simple straight replacement but could be possible. Although Antelope doesn't have special case or great power supply so would be much better to build new unit with custom case and high quality power supply. The lock electronics are not the same for a BVA clock so that would need changing if you tried to do a straight swaps

[JCR]

Originally Posted by custodian

Not a simple straight replacement but could be possible. Although Antelope doesn't have special case or great power supply so would be much better to build new unit with custom case and high quality power supply. The lock electronics are not the same for a BVA clock so that would need changing if you tried to do a straight swaps

Ok thanks. I think I just found my next DIY project!