SOTM + Clock or Berkeley USB/SPDIF

[Guest ClassicalGuy]

I’ve decided to give a USB to SPDIF/AES converter a go – partly because of the possible SQ advantages but also because I dream of trying one of the Berkeley DACS one day. 

 

At first, I thought the SOTM (dX-USB HD) for $650 was well priced compared to the Berkeley which I think is about $3500. But then I saw about getting the SOTM with the clock upgrade. I’m not an engineer, but I know clocks can improve things a lot (DCS and Esoteric reviews for example) and the SOTM with the better clock upgrade is $2000. Nowhere near Berkeley money, but enough for me to go ‘if the Berkeley is that good, I’ll just hold off a bit and go for that instead’. 

 

Thus, does anyone have any experience with either of these? The SOTM with the clock upgrade etc? I can’t see anything about the Berkeley having a clock? Is there something else that might be better? 

 

Cheers
 

[lumholtzii]

Hi there,

I recently purchased a SOtM SMS200 Ultra with clock upgrade & the D- Link Ethernet switch from @scumbag here on SNA.  I had the SMS 200 previously.  In short, there was a big improvement in SQ.  My coarse appraisal would be that the clock & switch were at least 60% of that increase in SQ, possibly more  .....that's if you believe that one can objectively quantify things such as SQ ;-).  Once I head this, it made immediate intuitive sense to me when contrasted to good analogue setup.   I was agnostic until about a week ago, and now i get the importance of tight clocking of digital signals.

 

I suspect that you are really talking about dedicated clocks, but I thought I'd put this in the mix anyway.    

 

[Guest scumbag]

Clocks and good power regulation / filtering certainly do seem to be the big ticket items in both the SOTM200 Ultra and the UltraRendu.

[Guest ClassicalGuy]

Thanks, you've both confirmed everything I've read about clocks, including the quality of the SOTM clock upgrade. 

 

The thing I find weird about clocks is manufacturers tend not to talk about them unless they sell them. I'm sure the Berkeley DACS or maybe even the converter has a clock in it, but they don't talk about it. I would like to know the specifications of what's going on inside their products but they don't really talk about it. Knowing the SOTM does the job and has a well-regarded clock makes it hard to pass up.