Upgrading to Esoteric DAC and clock
Daniel Parker -- Sun, 02/07/2010 - 00:04
My current system consists of Amati Anniversario speakers, Boulder 865 integrated amplifier and Esoteric X-03 SE.
I'm interested in digital sources, so I'm thinking of getting the Esoteric D-07 DAC, which I auditioned at my dealer's today with Amatis and Boulder and a hard drive source through USB, as well as with an Esoteric P-05 transport. I'm also thinking about getting an Esoteric G-0Rb master clock, which made a fairly dramatic difference in the presentation with the hard drive source, and a noticable one with the transport. I listened to the G-03X as well, but not as big an effect.
My question is, should I keep the Esoteric X-03 SE, or trade it in for the P-05 transport? I can get full value for the X-03 with the trade-in, but since the X-03 was a demo unit at a steep discount, it would still cost me a couple of thousand dollars.
Also, while auditioning, I listened to the X-05 with and without a clock, to try and set a base. With the G-03X clock, listening to Neil Young's "War of Man" on the X-05, a guitar bend that was barely adudible before became very pronounced, the sound stage appeared to be moved forward a couple of feet. On the other hand, this effect, sound stage moving forward, was not noticable on the D-07+P-05 with G-03X. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Daniel
The degree of audible improvement rendered by a precision outboard clock will be highly dependent on the quality of the clocking in the DAC or CD player itself. Replacing a poor clock with a great clock will obviously introduce a larger improvement than replacing a very good clock with a great one.
Robert,
Thank you for your comment. According to the specifications, the DAC-07 has an internal master clock,
"The internal master clock is also equipped with a dedicated power supply, thus minimizing effects caused by jitter .... The D-07’s 2nd PLL mode uses the built-in VCXO (Voltage
Controlled Crystal Oscillator) to act as a high clarity master clock for the DAC device. The two types of PLL circuits, each with different characteristics, effectively remove transmission jitter. If a signal is input from a device without WORD SYNC, the jitter
component that affects the sound quality is diminished..."
Being an Esoteric, albeit with a high number, I would assume this would qualify as being a reasonably good clock? And the G-0Rb presumably a great clock.
In listening with a variety of configurations, the biggest improvements from the external clocks were with the D-07 with USB input, as compared to the D-07 with P-05, and the X-05. The G-03X raised the level, but the G-0Rb raised it more.
Over the past couple of months, I've grown attached to my X-03SE (without clock). But seeing a digitally sourced future, I want the DAC-07 for sure, which appears to benefit significantly from the still rather expensive (for a demo with a scratch) G-0Rb. My dealer thinks I should keep the X-03 or trade-in for the transport, keep CD for serious listening, and go with the D-07 + G-03X for casual listening, and trade the G-03X in later when I'm "ready" for an upgrade. I don't know, I'm tempted to trade in the X-03 and go entirely with digital sources, making the D-07 as good as it can be with the G-0Rb.
Any further comments appreciated.
-- Daniel
Daniel,
I have the Esoteric X-05 and am considering adding the Esoteric G-03X Master Clock. Could you expand a little on your experience with this combo with and without the clock?
First of all, I'm a novice at this, so interpret anything I say carefully. All I can say is that when I listened to the X-05 with the G-03X clock, at my dealer's, playing Neil Young's "War of Man", the sound stage moved forward a couple of feet, also noted by an audio rep who was listening with me. It was not subtle, a guitar bend that was barely adudible without the clock became very pronounced. We repeated this test a few times, with the same result.
This was the only test we did that appeared to affect the sound stage, the tests with the D-07/P-05, and with the D-07/USB source showed various levels of improvement with the two clocks, with the D-07/USB source showing the biggest improvement, the biggest improvement of all with the G-0Rb (I didn't listen to the 05 with the G-0Rb.)
The rest of the equipment was Amati Anniversario speakers and Boulder 865 integrated amp, which is what I have at home. It's going to be a few weeks before I'm ready for a home audition, with the X-03SE compared to a digital source, but at the end of that I should have a better understanding.
I was hoping that somebody in this forum could comment on whether it would be expected that an external clock affect the sound stage.
-- Daniel
JLeeMD,
I tried to respond, but got a message that my post had been automatically rejected as inappropriate content. I give up, that's happened to me now three times in a week, I'm not going to post anymore. But I don't have much to add to my original comment.
-- Daniel
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