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zephyr24069

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  1. FYI to anyone interested in Cybershaft products; in addition to the new higher priced offerings with the option to utilize either power from the wall or an external linear regulated power supply... http://www.cybershaft.jp/a-products/op20a.html and single output clocks; http://www.cybershaft.jp/a-products/op21a-1.html Cybershaft has also just made public on their website lower price options that don't sacrifice great baseline performance; http://www.cybershaft.jp/a-products/ocxoma1.html For non-Japanese speakers... Open in Google Chrome, look on the list of selections on the left hand page and select "For Overseas (English)" will take you to; http://www.cybershaft.jp/overseas01.html Any questions, let me know. You can also send email directly to (note there is only 1 working email address now); [email protected]. [NEW / ONLY email address that works] Any questions or problems getting in touch, send me an IM and I'll help wherever I can.
  2. Chris, Thank you very much for alerting that these limited supply discs were out en masse. After a very polite but disappointing reply from DiscUnion and absolutely zero response from Craftsman Records, I had almost given up. Thank you to a very good friend who lives in Japan, he agree to take on the task of ordering all 40 from Discunion, shipping locally to him and the repackaging and shipping to me via Japan EMS. This treasure trove of Japanese jazz greats that I'd followed since I stumbled on many on XRCD and XRCD2 in the early to mid-2000s in much the same way as you did arrived late yesterday. I've continued to buy many on XRCD24 and SACD ever since however this set is special and IMHO is of a quality that puts it in very rarefied company amongst the finest pressings of any kind and certainly for RBCD. It was well worth the stretch and extra effort,....these CDs are meticulously remastered and cut by Craftsman and sound absolutely beautiful. Thank you very much again for posting this set exists!!!
  3. All great recommendations.....a perfect starter list for TBM!
  4. Hello,...you wrote "Then, I heard back from a representative of Craftsman Records. He connected me with a gentleman at Disk Union and arranged my purchase and shipment of the entire 40 CD collection! Last week the collection finally arrived. Wow, what a treat. " Would you please let us know the contact info for the actual contact from Craftsman Records so we can contact them directly. I've gone over all the Disc Union links and other sources and it is not straightforward at all (and I do a LOT of buying from HK and Japan over the years,...this is another level of 'confusing'). Contacting a local shop in the Europe, Romania or the US for that matter is quite probably not going to yield much if any success as they are likely to have the same results. If you could, as it's not apparent on Craftsman's website or FB, would you at least IM the contact info? Sounds like the best approach is for Craftsman to serve as intermediary with Disc Union and Explain everything to get it queued up and connected. I'm a big fan and holder or other TBM, FIM and LIM releases and like you, stumbled on the great of names like Honda, Yamamoto and so many others through my first JVC, TBM, FIM and LIM XRCD and XRCD2 purchases years ago! Been "addicted" every since... Thank you for the help!
  5. For anyone interested, I found out last night that this is now available as of this morning; NEW PRODUCT JUST ANNOUNCED TODAY: Cybershaft 10 M clocks : UPOCXO-OP20A/OP21A http://www.cybershaft.jp/a-products/op20a.html Looks like the bar just got raised again. This clock also allows selection of 75-ohm or 50-ohm for each 10 Mhz output!
  6. That would be impossible to hear the difference...there might well be other variables at play.
  7. Yes I do have an affinity for Esoteric products and they have always been improved in terms of expanse and accuracy of the full 3D soundstage, pacing, etc...by use of an external clock (of the right design, properly executed, great power supplies, etc...more than just a great oscillator), their sound quality with their own onboard clock circuits is very good indeed. This is particularly true IMHO from P-02/D-02 forward. There was a big jump in the sound quality overall in the out of the box experience with the improved clock circuit in the D-02 versus the 03 prior generation IMHO and the inclusion of the 'MCLK' frequency from an inherently better onboard clock circuit. If I was a DCS fan I'd probably be similarly focused. In the case of Esoteric, they apparently go to great pains to engineer a total component such that a good quality clock input results in improvement in the overall function of the device, far better than just using a better clock chip onboard. Whether that is happenstance or limits of physical design or their decided belief (and marketing/ability to profit by taking the path) in also designing bespoke external clocks will probably never be known exactly. From what I've seen on the market and from other manufacturers' use of them (e.g. MSB, TotalDAC, others), the availability of high-quality femtosecond-grade assemblies is much better than it ever has been and the cost of including them has dropped proportionately. The results in world-class playback with these stacks and standalone components speak for themselves. I am having to live without my clock since this past Monday as it's on its way to Japan for an upgrade to multiple 50-ohm outputs and an even better power supply (i.e. a step-up to "Limited v2" level with Cybershaft). Only reason I mention this is that the change in the system after removing the clock and going back to the clock circuit set to MCLK OUT frequency on the D-02, slaving the transport to the Esoteric D-02 was extremely noticeable. Tonally, musical involvement and 2D, the system still sounds great. 3D imaging is also still very good however the depth of the soundstage and it's extent from the stage out to and wrapping around the listening position on many recordings that are immersive like that (Roger Waters Amused To Death for example and others) is not as expansive as it was with a high-quality external 10Mhz clock generator in the system. In short, it sounds very good and if I'd never heard otherwise I'd be very happy but having lived with 'better' I cannot wait for a good clock to get back in this system. As an aside, using measurement data sent to me based upon testing at the output of the clock I currently utilize, I am quite happy with the femto-second level results of my clocking circuit. Most importantly, if I'd never seen any of this, what it does for the musical playback experience is what definitely gives me satisfaction that for what I've chosen as playback gear, this is one of the ways (along with good power cords, interconnects, power conditioning, etc...) to get the most out my playback experience; *Reference: https://abracon.com/phaseNoiseCalculator.php. and https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/app-notes/index.mvp/id/3359 "Relation between RMS Period Jitter and Phase Noise" FWIW....thanks for a great discussion! If you ever want to see the entire system as it exists today and many discussions about the journey thus far, look up my userID here (Zephyr24069) on Audiogon and you'll find a virtual system posted there.
  8. Agreed...it definitely matters. From 2006-2007 through 2015, I had an Esoteric P-03U with D-03 DAC at first with the G-0s Rubidium master clock for a couple years, then sold the G-0s and went without a clock for 1-2 years slaving the P-03U to the D-03's internal clock (176Mhz output), then the G-03x OCXO clock for a few years through 2015 when I upgraded to the Esoteric P-02 Transport and D-02 DAC. I sold off the G-03x and used the D-02's internal clock as master with the P-02 slaved to it finding that the D-02's 176Mhz output was good but it's "MCLK OUT" frequency at 22.xxx Mhz was my preferred setting. Then a couple years ago after running through a number of clocking options (external clocks) including Esoteric's own G-0Rb and G-01 as options and thinking about SRS and others, I ran across Cybershaft as an option from a search for master clocks on HiShark. Been using various Cybershaft clocks every since. My DAC and Transport today are the still the Esoteric D-02 and P-02 respectively. Later this year I will sell the D-02 and step up to dual Esoteric D-01s (not the new X generation) and eventually upgrade the P-02 with a P-01 transport. All boxes since the mid-2000s that I have utilized are designed to be used with external clocks as a reported upgrade option. As an aside, I've hung out with friends that have the Esoteric Grandioso K-01/K-01x and the later Grandioso K1 (a fantastic 1-box as is the K-01X). All these seem to benefit in musical playback quality in one way or another from using a good quality external clock, properly executed. The key presumption in all setups I've used since the mid-2000s or that friends have gone with is that a key element is the overall quality of the external clock itself, not just the specs on the clock module, the power supply, etc....as well as the components it is to clock. Another critical element is the use of proper 50-ohm or 75-ohm clock cables. Thanks to all who have put forth some great replies on this thread historically and in the last few days,...I appreciate the chance to learn more from many different points of view and of course all the technical facts that have been contributed!
  9. I have the same experience over the last 10+ years; my playback experience has been enhanced by good quality external clocks with the right spec-compliant and well-built cables and attaching to equipment designed for use with external clocks (also properly built, good power supplies, etc...).
  10. Please don't misread threads, I never made that statement! I agree with you about benefits of Cybershaft clocks!
  11. Jabbr: If I am wrong, then so be it and there is something more for me to learn about audio. My postings are purely my opinion based upon my experience listening over the past 30 years. I am a home audiophile/audio-nut and music lover who enjoys this hobby very much. Nothing more. I have no industry affiliation of any kind, nor do I have any affiliation, interest, side benefit, or financial interest or arrangement or investment in ANY manufacturer of components, cables, speakers, tweaks, etc..that I own or that I talk about. For the purpose of clarity, this includes Cybershaft. The various clocks I have owned from Cybershaft (and 2 Esoteric clocks before that) are all paid for at retail pricing either form Esoteric dealers in the past or paid for at full published price factory-direct from Cybershaft. The only 'benefit' I've received from Cybershaft is the sonic benefit to my ears for music I love in my system from the clocks I have purchased, a couple he's sent me to test and give my honest evaluation, and having become a friend to someone I believe and have seen trying to do his best to build a quality product at a reasonable price. We can agree to disagree on sonic benefits of an external clock but my standing as a hobbyist-only is absolutely something you can count on and anyone who knows me on the various forums can attest to. Hope this answers your question and puts it to rest. Note to all: In the meantime, if I am wrong, then it is from my experience and opinions only. Please pay attention to other opinions on the forum regarding clocking. Have a great weekend!
  12. Apologies for the delayed reply; I don't get onto this forum all that often. Good question on your part; the Pro iDSD has fine reputation and a couple of friends who own it tell me it's one hell of a unit and further that the "Global Master Timing femto-grade clock system" onboard is of good quality. As complex as life and audio can sometimes become, I tend to try (stress the word) to keep things simple; to me the answer to your question is that the designers saw fit enough to design the unit to both have a good clock internally as well as taking the extra time, money and testing to outfit it with separate BNC clock sync input and output capability. The fact that they provide a BNC clock sync input in and of itself states (at least to me) lacking any other statements that they see the advantage to having the unit externally clocked via some format. So yes, as good as the internal clock is, using a bespoke purpose-built master or word clock would seem to be accepted by the unit's own designers as a way to make it better. The rest of the answer is in the unit's own user manual (note the underlined and bolded sentence,...there's your answer); "BNC multifunction input (S/PDIF/AES3id) such as from a high-end CD transport. For clock synchronization in recording studios, the Pro iDSD supports AES3id based DARS (Digital Audio Reference Signal) according to AES11. .." "It is equally possible to use an atomic reference clock (at least Sanford Research Systems PERF10 should be used) to further elevate the Pro iDSD performance over the internal clock system." and "Clock Synch mode: Atomic/DARS/10MHz/Standalone If the Clock Synch mode is used, please select the correct clock device. Atomic Clock: DARS: Connect to an external atomic clock source. Digital Audio Reference Signal, connect to an external DARS clock reference (it is a S/PDIF signal without any actual audio data). Connect a 10MHz external clock to the BNC Sync In to synchronise with the rest of the system. BNC Sync Out will output a 10MHz clock even if no external 10MHz clock is connected." The first bit is about AES3id sync in recording studios. The other parts are about the means of hooking this into an external master clock for playback. I would side with their advice based upon what I read and stick with 10Mhz master clock input though having tried both, I'd say something like a Cybershaft OP14-OP17 would be a big upgrade over any onboard clock regardless of quality. Further, others report good results with the Mutec clock offering but I have no direct experience with it except to know of its reputation. Pay attention to impedance of cables needed and whether the Pro iDSD will accept a true 10Mhz input via Sine Wave versus TTL as that will dictate the clocks that within the list of choices.
  13. Thanks for the feedback and the later post as well. I'll definitely give this some thought!
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