Cybershaft Owners

Phishphan

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I thought I’d start a thread for other cybershaft owners. I ordered mine about a week ago and it’s in customs in Chicago. I’m hoping to have it by thanksgiving.

What have your experiences been as an owner?


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My experiences have been outstanding musically with several of their products;

- Cybershaft RBOCXO-01 "Dual" Master clock; owned it for 1.5 years,....started off using the Rb side as I've previously owned an Esoteric G-0s,
went to the OCXO side and never came back after about 3 months as like my transition from the Esoteric G-0s to using the G-03x later, the results
of a low phase noise OCXO-based clock are VASTLY superior to any Rb implementation. Rb oscillators, even the best of them such as the ones
from Datum that Esoteric and others utilize have much higher phase noise and therefore injected/derived jitter than their OCXO and
curated OCXO counterparts....

- tested Cybershaft Ultra Premium OP14-level OCXO clock for several months in parallel with owning the above....outstanding results
with this clock

- tested a limited prototype of an OP17-level OCXO clock; even though OP17 was technically a 'better' OCXO module, the overall music
result was not as good as the other 2 clocks...

- tested a limited prototype of a curated OCXO clock for which I cannot yet disclose the spec.: had a new Schottky Barrier Diode-enabled power supply; like the OP14 clock I tested, the results were amazing....P.S.: that power supply is now in the new "Platinum" clock available from Cybershaft. The overall music result is outstanding....

- currently own a custom-built curated OCXO Cybershaft model with several jointly designed features (Cybershaft/myself) that are
being evaluated for future product release and the curated OCXO module that was sourced from a used-parts supplier and
used in the prototype from the last bullet point;
- grounding lug so clock can joint any star-grounded audio solution already in place
- custom base plate with 3-point, 4-point and 5-point mounting point flexibility on the base plate allowing for use of isolation
footers like the Stillpoint UltraSS with UltraBases that I currently utilize,...
- Schottky Barrier Diode-enabled power supply
- experimental new transformer compartment/shielding case internally
- experimental use of solid copper base plate internally
- all this at substantial additional out-of-pocket costs to develop a non-market prototype

I happened to be the first US user of their clocks having stumbled on their products via the HiFiShark sale-ad aggregating site
about 2 years ago; I've been exceptionally happy with the products ever since. What their ultra-low phase noise OCXO clocks
at 10Mhz have done for my system cannot easily be summed up except to say that music has never been so accurately
(i.e. precision) but also musically rendered in my system.

All at a fraction of the cost of other 10Mhz Master Clocks and various high-end word clocks and with world class
customer support from Cybershaft.

Extremely satisfied with their products as a consumer/music-lover.
 
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I just hooked mine up. Too early to tell if there’s a real difference. The clock was still a little cold from sitting in my car.


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33e4e267f4d72eaa2b5bec635eeaae13.jpg



I just honked mine up. Too early to tell if there’s a real difference. The clock was still a little cold from sitting in my car.


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Congratulations on your new clock! Master clocks like this (Oven-stabilized) required 15-30 minutes for their oven-stabilized modules to
reach steady state operation and be ready to provide a quality sync at 10 Mhz. 15 minutes is a good norm though you will notice:

- this is a brand new clock; its power supply, etc...requires break-in just like any audio device, leave it on everyday,...it will get better with time
- each time you power the system and/or the clock off, you should power up the clock first, let it stabilize for 15 minutes (my own metric) and
then power on the unit that is meant to be sync'ed to the clock....
- when powering down your system (vacation, maintenance, etc...), the clock is the last thing to get turned off....

When you powered on the clock cold recently, if you then turned on your gear before the clock had warmed up and reached steady-state,
I'd suggest that you should turn off the unit you have slaved to the clock and then power it back on to get a clean steady-state sync with
your clock after it has reached optimal operating parameters internally...

This is not meant to be a rule book so to speak; just what I have found to work best in the past with an Esoteric G-0s, Esoteric G-03x and
3 more recent clocks from Cybershaft....
 
So where does one hook an external clock to on a DAC, doesn't that require the DAC manufacturer equip the DAC with a word clock connection like a s/pdif coax, Toslink ?
 
There are 2 types of clocks;

- Word Clocks: generally 75-ohm in output and put out frequencies that are either 44.1Hz (for audio) or its multiples and 48 Hz (for video...) and its multiples; requires a one-box
player to have a 75-ohm input (generally BNC) to accept "Word Clock" external input. Same it true for separate DACs and transports the obvious benefit is that the DAC and transport
(or in the came of stacks there it's actually 3 boxes, transport, DAC, upsampler) are all synced to the same external high-quality word clock output

- Master Clocks: generally 50-ohm in output and put out 10 Mhz master clocking pulses. The one-box player, or separates (Transport & DAC or the aforementioned 3-box approach) must
have a 50-ohm input on each and be capable of accepting 10 Mhz master clock input. Same benefits as above,...many have found that with Esoteric gear, 10 Mhz is the best sounding
approach but opinions vary and you cannot lose either way...

There's more detail but these are the essential answers to your question...let me know what else you would like to know; very glad to help!
 
My friend has one. It makes a big difference in his system and mine. We're both using SOtM gear before our DACs.
 
OP-14

I think he paid around $1600.

Couldn't find any model with OP-14. Is it not listed on their website ?

I had to navigate a bit to find it. So the OP-14 has the best phase noise @114dbc but I have a bigger question is how much does it matter for the transport components, like a SOtm streamer ? I can understand that it can matter to a DAC, especially when the external clocks are significantly better than what is implemented inside. For streamers, are the differences subtle or substantial ?
 
Interesting. Lot of experts & engineers believe that external clocks are not required for home audio applications but I guess the proof is in the listening. I have borrowed a friend's sms200ultra (w/ sCLK board) and it sounds terrific with my Dac (same -114dbc @10Hz) when the rest of the ancillaries are taken care of, like ground loops and all. I can't see how this streamer can be improved, apart from feeding with a better power supply but I guess I will have to try one of these external clocks to find out.

Can you tell me how much does the USB re-generator (tx-USBultra ?) helps with the sound ? Is it also a major contributor ?
 
Yes the tX-USB Ultra has been found to improve even an Ayre QX-5 Twenty, Innuous Zenith Mk. II SE, and Chord DAVE.
 
Interesting. Lot of experts & engineers believe that external clocks are not required for home audio applications but I guess the proof is in the listening...

Soulution don't support external clock input on their DAC's, and this is what they have to say about it:
[FONT=&quot]
Utmost precision of the clock signal is a must have for a top class D/A-Conversion. Lowest phase-noise behaviour is by far more important than long term frequency stability. Together with experts for highend oscillators we did develop a TCXO which is optimized for this application. It does not run on its first harmonic but on its 3[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]rd[/FONT][FONT=&quot] overtone. The clock modules work at frequencies around 100MHz, this re-quires extremely fast amplifier stages within the oscillator loop but allows achieving best results regarding phase-noise. Even the best OCXOs or rubidium based oscillators are not able to outperform these specifications. The 760 DAC does have a spate oscillator module for signals based on 44.1 kHz and signals based on 48 kHz. With the synchronisation to an external clock signal the performance of these oscillator modules would be deteriorated. Therefore the 760 does not provide a clock-input. However, external components can be synchronised to the 760 D/A-converters high quality clock signal through its clock-output.


[/FONT]
 
Soulution don't support external clock input on their DAC's, and this is what they have to say about it:

Utmost precision of the clock signal is a must have for a top class D/A-Conversion. Lowest phase-noise behaviour is by far more important than long term frequency stability. Together with experts for highend oscillators we did develop a TCXO which is optimized for this application. It does not run on its first harmonic but on its 3
rd overtone. The clock modules work at frequencies around 100MHz, this re-quires extremely fast amplifier stages within the oscillator loop but allows achieving best results regarding phase-noise. Even the best OCXOs or rubidium based oscillators are not able to outperform these specifications. The 760 DAC does have a spate oscillator module for signals based on 44.1 kHz and signals based on 48 kHz. With the synchronisation to an external clock signal the performance of these oscillator modules would be deteriorated. Therefore the 760 does not provide a clock-input. However, external components can be synchronised to the 760 D/A-converters high quality clock signal through its clock-output.



Definitely agree with their stance regarding phase-noise behavior (lowest) being more important than stability measurements of various types. By any chance did they back up their claim with any hard specs regarding the actual performance of their TXCO module?
 
What is the current state of play with Cybershaft clock products? I have a G02X and was contemplating a Cyberhaft Platinum. I only have a single source with clock input. Would I connect the Cybershaft to the G02X input, or just connect it directly to the source and dispense with the G02X?
 
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