I'm looking for a master clock, primarily to improve the sound of my Apogee AD16. The Big Ben seemed like the obvious choice, but I'm not sure that it's not overkill for my needs.

How would, say, the Lucid GENx6 compare in terms of sound quality alone for clocking the AD16? I'd be interested to hear from people who have experience of both. I'm looking for a unit with wordclock out, so any other suggestions?

Thanks! thumbsup

Try a few?

Absolutely - I will when I get the chance. The reason I ask specifically about the Lucid is that it has a similar spec. to the Apogee but weighs in at less than half the price. I just wondered if the Apogee would give me twice as much performance...

Kinda of doubt the Big Ben would give you twice the performance of the GENx6-96. At a certain level you are only buying a few percentage points more in quality. The law of diminishing return. I have the GENx and it really improved my sound quite a bit more than the $600 I paid for it. Highly recommended. Go for the GENx you will certainly be happy with it. I got mine from a company I never dealt with before - Same Day Audio. They were excellent.

pat
mms

Lets relive this for my sake.....

I've got my UA2192 clocked to my Lucid GENx6 clocked to my Big Ben all clocked to my UltraVolumeMaximizer!



but honestly. I run a GENx6 at 44.1Khz. The other parts of the equation are a Sony DMX-R100 console and a Motu 2508mk2. I can't compare to other boxes but I noticed a very big difference when I clocked to the GENx6. I don't know if the Big Ben is worth twice the dough.

-Chris

That is what I am thinking, but anyone else care to chime in?

So...do you think the GENx6 would improve the converters on the Presonus Digi-Max LT?....

I'll second that. I bought a Lucid clock a couple years ago because of odd noises that would show up now and again when I used an ADAT stream for sync. Aside from the blips and bleeps (and swishes and whirls) going away, I noticed a great improvement in the quality of sound from a 2408MKII (of which I no longer use the analog section). And a brand who's name I dare not speak...the B-word... ... (only using the DA side) clocked to the Lucid sounded pretty darn good, actually better than the MOTU.

Currently, my GENx6 is distributing clock to RME converters, several HDSP9652s, the MOTU, etc. Works peachy. The RME DS does sound tighter to my ears. But it's really about being able to use many digital devices, at this time for me, and the converters getting a slight goose is gravy.

Someone may be able to chime in here to tell you why a BB's C777 clock would make a better clock source because of how it handles jitter compared to a Lucid, etc., etc. I may eventually try one out in my set-up, but it's not because I feel that the Lucid is lacking in any way, or that the converters I have are going to become Lavrys...

I wouldn't think a BB + your AD16 is going to get you any closer to a AD16X, if that's the logic, as opposed to a Lucid + your AD16. I may be wrong, which happens from time to time.

Yes, I would say from experience with both that you are most definitely wrong here. Big Ben is a great deal better than the Lucid. The Lucid clock was not even as good as the clock in my Prisms, at least, it did not sound as good clocking the Prism to the Lucid. On the other hand, Big Ben clocking the Prism made a big difference.

Thanks for your input, ToddS. I'll check out the Apogee.

On a related note to what you said:

I took a look behind my racks (it's been a loooong while since I fooled around with my clocking), and noticed that I actually have an RME converter clocking the Lucid. I'm basically using the GENx6 as a distributor. I don't remember making that switch, but at some point I must have tried it and liked the results. Hmmmmm...





Sorry for the slight hi-jack, Recording David.

Just a follow-up, ToddS.

Had the opportunity to hook-up a BB over the last week in numerous configurations in my studio.

Conclusion... more money for another pre. Glad I tried it, though.

I recently got a Big Ben and am over the moon with it. It's improved the sound of my Mackie D8b no end, until I can stump the cash to get 2 Rosetta 800's that is!

I've owned the Sony dmx r100 for about 7 or 8 years now, and always used the Lucid Genx6 with it and an RME RayDat card. I let the Lucid be the Master clock and ran everything at 48k. I had nice results with it, no problems... until I was interested in going to 96khz in which this creates major issues doing so with the Sony Dmx r100 desk. Within the near future, I will probably move into using controllers and not the Sony anymore to do this. However, I recently found a used Apogee Big Ben C777 and purchased it to replace the Lucid and continue to run my 48k projects for now. When I heard the difference in the Clarity and the width of my mixes, it was evident that the Apogee Big Ben C777 was superior in my opinion to to the Lucid Genx6 clock. It was wayyy better and slightly warmer too. Now everything is much more open and defined compared to with the Lucid. The talk is true, what other users here say about using the Big Ben. Also probably only a few hundred dollars difference in price now that it has been discontinued as of 2023.

i doubt clocking is still a topic 20 years later...

...unless someone is still using inferior gear from yesteryear.

I take it you have never worked on a Sony DMX-R100 console... I've been using one since 2000 and it still a great sounding console for the price... there is no other console at the price that has the features of the DMX-R100 offers! With a little luck this will be the last console I will need!

lol - i happend to have a dmx-r100 (with a madi and three aes-cards) and yes, it performs well although it gets only rarely used anymore - same goes for my dm-2000.

anyway, i didn't say all gear from yesteryear was crap...

You don't happen to have one of the 102 analog cards do you? I moved to the sony from a Yamaha o2r and found a much improvement in sound and usability.. I am old like the board and I don't like change :-) so far I have not found a console in the market that offers as much as the Sony ... yea, it has some setbacks but 99% I can get around... I just hope It it stays working as long as I want to keep doing projects... I also have AES-EBU cards, TIff cards and even the 105 insert card in the closet but for everyday use I am using the ADAT 106 cards!

So many opinions created by marketing, so few actual measured tests, even though it would be painfully easy to show. Kinda makes you wonder why nobody does

I would imagine as its irrelevant 20 years later (unless using yester-tech from the deep distant past.)

When Big Ben appeared there were lots of measured test in various magazines etc. (c.2003)

Modern converters often reclock the audio, so an external clock makes no difference (other than being a necessity in some setups).

i need to check whether i still have any analog cards; may take me a while though.
if i'll find any, you may gladly have them: i haven't ever had any use for more than a few mic inputs..