06-Sep-2018, 13:12
@baconbrain - I shall start with your question because it is an easy one. The Mutec MC3+USB's reference clock input is 75 ohm, in fact, all the BNC connectors on the MC3+USB are 75 ohm. As an aside, I specified the SOtM kit with 75 ohm BNC connectors as well, this is to allow some flexibility swapping cables in the future. The REF10 has both 75 ohm and 50 ohm connectors.
@sam1000 & @octaviars - I think there are many ways to include the Network Bridge and REF10 in the system. You could do as sam1000 mentions, and not bother with word clock feeds to the NB, and then feed the NB AES3 to the MC3+USB. You could use MC3+USB to generate a word clock signal, and then connect the NB direct to the Devialet. You could connect the NB to the MC3+USB AND use the MC3+USB to provide a word clock to the NB at the same time. So many options. The NB will of course work fine without any external clocks, but if you want to use the word clock inputs, it is best to have two feeds using 44.1kHz and 48kHz family rates respectively, in which case I think you would need two MC3+USB's.
If I were to try a NB for a demo, I think I would simply use Roon and up-sample everything to 24/192, that way I would only need the 48kHz word clock.
I am not sure which of the above combinations would work best. I can see pro's and con's either way. I think sending AES3 to the MC3+USB has the advantage of providing the very lowest jitter feed to the Devialet, it has to be better than feeding the MC3+USB a 10MHz reference, and then using a second clock cable to provide the word clock to the NB. On the other hand, connecting the NB direct to the Devialet is a shorter audio signal path which avoids the SMPS powered MC3+USB. I doubt there would be much in it, but you never know.
In terms of a demo, I was actually thinking of trying the NB exactly as sam1000 suggests, with it feeding the REF10 clocked MC3+USB. The advantage here is that I could set up both the NB and the SOtM kit as Roon zones, and run both simultaneously into the MC3+USB with the same music. It would then be a couple of clicks on the MC3+USB's front panel to switch between the inputs for SOtM kit and the NB. This would allow an almost instant switch comparison between the two and you could use the HQPlayer volume to level match perfectly.
Thinking about all this makes me realise that my current "spaghetti" solution is actually quite simple in use. The MC3+USB and SOtM kit all accept a 10MHz reference clock feed, you can feed the sMS-200Ultra any sample rate you want, and it just works. The SOtM kit also works with HQPlayer, which the NB does not.
@sam1000 & @octaviars - I think there are many ways to include the Network Bridge and REF10 in the system. You could do as sam1000 mentions, and not bother with word clock feeds to the NB, and then feed the NB AES3 to the MC3+USB. You could use MC3+USB to generate a word clock signal, and then connect the NB direct to the Devialet. You could connect the NB to the MC3+USB AND use the MC3+USB to provide a word clock to the NB at the same time. So many options. The NB will of course work fine without any external clocks, but if you want to use the word clock inputs, it is best to have two feeds using 44.1kHz and 48kHz family rates respectively, in which case I think you would need two MC3+USB's.
If I were to try a NB for a demo, I think I would simply use Roon and up-sample everything to 24/192, that way I would only need the 48kHz word clock.
I am not sure which of the above combinations would work best. I can see pro's and con's either way. I think sending AES3 to the MC3+USB has the advantage of providing the very lowest jitter feed to the Devialet, it has to be better than feeding the MC3+USB a 10MHz reference, and then using a second clock cable to provide the word clock to the NB. On the other hand, connecting the NB direct to the Devialet is a shorter audio signal path which avoids the SMPS powered MC3+USB. I doubt there would be much in it, but you never know.
In terms of a demo, I was actually thinking of trying the NB exactly as sam1000 suggests, with it feeding the REF10 clocked MC3+USB. The advantage here is that I could set up both the NB and the SOtM kit as Roon zones, and run both simultaneously into the MC3+USB with the same music. It would then be a couple of clicks on the MC3+USB's front panel to switch between the inputs for SOtM kit and the NB. This would allow an almost instant switch comparison between the two and you could use the HQPlayer volume to level match perfectly.
Thinking about all this makes me realise that my current "spaghetti" solution is actually quite simple in use. The MC3+USB and SOtM kit all accept a 10MHz reference clock feed, you can feed the sMS-200Ultra any sample rate you want, and it just works. The SOtM kit also works with HQPlayer, which the NB does not.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
