The best clock is the one sitting next to your dac. If your DAC is well designed and therefore has a good clock, you don't need an external one for those 0.01% better clock performance. Sometimes having less devices in the signal chain is better.

I love it when Paul gets confused, however he always manages to get back on track. :-)

One of the issues surrounding external clocks is that they can actually induce distortion and noise that some people like. For example, in pro audio a big clock manufacturer is Antelope. They actually advertise that they ADD specific jitter or "acoustically focused clocking" to a low jitter clock in order to create a coloration of the sound. Hardly any modern converters are going to benefit from a clock outside the mainboard, which is usually much less accurate, so what a consumer is getting is a specific flavor of euphonic distortion.

At least Paul you try too explain things and put your time in to help the industry out , and you run a good business , better than most companies that we never hear from .

It's important to note here that in order to have the DAC clock used, the connection to the source (e.g. computer) has to be via USB which is asynchronous; otherwise, if you connect to the source via, say, coax or optical/toslink then the clock accuracy is determined by the source.

Hello Paul. Thank you again for elucidating me about the "myth" of having an external clock. I recently went to Audioshow, in Lisbon, and there was a portuguese high-end external clock manufacturer saying marvelous things about his rubidium clock, when connected to an excelent transport, from Esoteric... I didn't hear the difference. I'm glad that you agree with Daniel Weiss, because I also have the same opinion.

The clock information is sent with the signal there for if you are using a transport as a source then the dac is using the clock in the transport. The clock in the dac is not being used to process the incoming signal. Connecting an improved internal or external clock to the dac is not relevant as the timing damage or jitter has already occurred However the closer the clock is to the dac chip the less errors you have. Some dacs automatically slave the transport or source if they are from the same company forcing it to use the clock in the dac. This is quite noticable. However clocks like a stable quiet environment away from noisy transports and dacs. So if costs isn't an issue then having a dedicated clock and slaving both the dac and all your sources is the ultimate

I got about halfway through the vid. If your DAC is your playback device, you don't need a clock. If you're running digital components to a DAC with the available option of setting slave and master, then you don't need a clock. If you're running multiple digital components in serial and parallel, which honestly is more likely in a music studio, you'll probably need a clock.

External? It depends whether better or worse. External clocks purpose is to synchronize different devices. Eg. in a studio. Using PLLs and good supply of clocking circuitry nowadays minimize the needs of external clocks, You can use multiplexed signals to drive your PLLs. On the other hand, an external clock has no direct effect on the internal quality of clocking and thus sound. It can, if it is better than the internal. But I’m highly in doubt of this. Just one bad clock dealing stage after the external (or internal) clock with high noise power supply can ruin and rejigger all the high quality clocking signal. This is the reason, we use direct clocking to our DACs. The DAC is direct connected to the clock (XO), all the other parts being of higher jitter tolerance are only indirectly supplied, some even by multipliers. The clock itself is provided with ultra low noise power supply.

I don't understand all the tech about it...just always trying to improve sound quality...someone please tell me a good external clock to use with my setup shown below...I was thinking of the Gustard C18 since my DAC & DDC Is also Gustard... Present system- Vincent hybrid 737 -4 Ohm: 2 x 300 Watt, Gustard R26, U18, ifi zen streamer, Dali Rubicon ll, Rel T7x w/ AudioQuest Type 5 REL Acoustics High-Level Subwoofer Cable...

seeing how the dCS Rossini and Vivaldi are both among the best DAC's ever made, and both come with the option of an external clock, which says everything you need to know.

Am I the only noticing that more and more of Paul’s videos tend to contain a subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, pitch for PS Audio gear? Personally, I liked it better when the videos talked about concepts in a more agnostic way.

one ...more time , thanks Paul

I have a Esoteric DAC, I found playing it without pll1 clock ( clock out) sounds better, why is it

Brilliant Paul! I feel like you let us into your office or the shop for a 10 minute audio education session. Thank you for taking your time to make these videos!

In audio/video *capture*, long time stability of clocks is an issue. Prosumer devices typically drift away about 1 video frame (1s/25 frame in Europe) per hour in my experience, some devices fare worse. So in long recording workflows, you’d either stop video record in every break - or use an external clock :) some devices have both ref-clock in and out so one of them could act as the master and the rest are just slaves, but there’s nothing special about the master - it is just your reference.

No mention of why one would consider slewing the output sample rate in a DAC?

youve made me think if the sample rate is 44khz as thats double 22khz how do we get the stereo signal from that as stereo would be 22khz x 2

Yeah but how does the clock get affected if you're travelling from one end of the world to the other how much will it be out by....

Yes it is necessary because the standard in audio is so bad. No audio company really uses them, they exist as individual boxes that come with lousy LPSU's that are horrible in sound, that is why people don't think that they work. So it's kind of a big kept secret, that no one really has been able to figure out how to use. My friend got one: Gustard u16, and he uses it for his streamer. When doing a lousy standard job, it only makes the sound about 1.5x better. But after he now has used a couple of years fully understanding how it works and locking the signal with a GPS lock on 9.9999997 mhz, and using certain cables with LPSU's that cost about 5 times more than the clock and building a custom LPSU, and pairing with an uptown audio isoregen. It now gives him about 10x the effect. So yes it is necessary once you have heard that huge difference. Here is the sound difference: 1. Harshness down to about 1/3. 2. All music he owns is now relevant and natural even in DSD format. 3. The level in warmness and depth is so much more evolved you would not believe it. 4. And the timing is so crazy, that the sound is just rock solid, and that is even with gear that is subpar. 5. Volume before could only go up to about 50% before it got uncomfortable. Now he is at about 80%. 6. Every detail becomes available while the sound becomes more natural. 7. Detail also very importantly gets a lot better released so it sounds like you have really expensive components in your gear. Again, you have to be really good at setting it up for it to do a big difference. This it not a plug and play product and then you are done. My friend who is one of the most hardcore audiophiles, used 1000's of hours tweaking it, and making it work right on his streamer. There is a huge potential to be had when manufactors can figure out how to bypass the internal clock and use a really good external clock in DAC/streamer/CD/digital amps/routers. It also makes sense when you think about it, you isolate a part so it stays more true and does not effect the rest of the components in a bad way. But again, you have to have the skill to do it, buying it is not enough. Plus there is a difference in quality between the clock products.

I use a GPSDO 10MHz reference clock oscillator for my Amateur Radio rigs and my DAC.

I think DACs need an SD card reader, battery and charger. Probably less than $30 more in production costs for a lot more value.

an accurate clock is very much required for precision PWM generation, such a clock can cost thousands of dollars! and can have stability down to parts per billion, in audio that is not so much important, like most of the things, audio is very forgiving in fact ;)

a word within a word within a word...first the was the word... :)

Time and a word.

Why 44.1 and not just 44?

I think dCS is proving for many years that you're wrong. 😏 Did you ever hear the difference their clocks make? It's not subtle..

No

Is a clock really a clock for the time?😂 I thought it was something to improve the sound.

It's not rocket science. Faster clock, lower jitter, better sound. Clock upgrades are a thing for a reason. Atto and Zepto clocks? Can't wait! Sign me up!!

Of the last 20 videos, 16 questions were from outside the US and 4 were from inside US....We have question about stuff in the US too Paul.

Can anyone spot the Trump supporter in these comments? haha WOW!

No