Is AIR getting better in the Pro era? Thoughts of little steps.....

[ogs]

Yes, clocking appears to be the hot topic at the moment, and in terms of clocking everyone seams to be very excited about the Mutec REF10 currently, I shall be quietly observing reviews and user reports now the first ones are being delivered to customers.  I do occasionally have radical thoughts about using an SOtM clock board and Mutec REF10 to clock Devialet's ADH!  To difficult though, I think, plus I would not want to be the first person to try it.

This leaves the more practical question, how would a Devialet perform with a super clocked AES3 feed, say a REF10 clocked Mutec MC3+USB.  I'm sure someone will try this before too long.

Whilst trying to be practical and re-join the real world for a moment, it is perhaps worth mentioning that I have been running a mR / Mutec front end for about a year now.  I quite often switch the mR between the various modes, NAA / DLNA / Shairport etc..  With the Sonicorbiter software manager app selector on the PC, this is hardly different to selecting input buttons on a pre-amp, it just works.  Plus, over the last year it has been 100% stable, no drop-outs, stutters, strange noises or anything else.  That counts for a lot!

To really benefit from a Mutec REF 10 on the ADH the Devialet must have a word clock input and internal circuitry to deal with it - which it doesn't. I do not know the Expert architecture well enough to know if this is possible. A REF 10 on the MC3+USB on the other hand is a real possibility. Will probably sound very good!

And yes, the stability of the mR is top class! I must admit though that I am tempted by Roon AIR for functionality. Next test for me will be the Allo DigiOne. Maybe this is better in front of the Mutec using SPDIF rather than USB from mR?