Let’s make this easy—totaldac’s new Live Clocking Option offers a subtle yet clear improvement.
I feel as if I know the sound of totaldacs, having lived with 5 different models—d1-dual, d1-six, d1-seven, d1-tube DAC/Streamer (review), and the d1-unity (review) which I currently own—for a total of about 10 years. I reviewed my first totaldac, the d1-dual DAC, as Editor of AudioStream way back in September of 2013. I mention these facts because there’s nothing like experience when talking about experiencing.
Here’s how the new toatldac Live Clocking Option option is described on the totaldac website:
The live-clocking is an option for the current Totaldac DACs, reclocker and streamer which improves the jitter rejection and makes the sound even more live and real.
It optimises the clock and the digital signal distribution to make the timing of each audio sample more precise, this is a key point in digital audio.
The treble especially gets more pure and you feel that the singers and instruments get more body, they get closer to the un-amplified concert.
This option is recommended to all streamers, reclockers and DACs in your system, each upgraded box will make a step forward in the sound realism.
To further clarify, this is an internal change that is performed by totaldac at the company’s HQ, located near Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France.
Describing subtle differences can be tricky. Tricky because it’s tempting to overstate changes as a byproduct of trying to explain them in vivid detail. So I’m going to be extra careful here in describing the subtle yet clear changes totaldac’s Live Clocking Option brings to the listening seat.
First my methodology—I had both d1-unitys powered on and at the ready so the A/B process took less than a minute. I spent the better part of a number of days listening to the new d1-unity with the Live Clocking Option before really digging into the A/B’ing, and ending the brief review period just listening to the new d1-unity with the Live Clocking Option.
The system used for this comparison included the review Vinnie Rossi Brama integrated amp (more info) powering the review Qln Reference 9s (more info), with the Barn resident Grimm MU1 (review) feeding both totaldacs with a length of AudioQuest Diamond AES cable, while a pair of AQ Thunderbird interconnects carried the analog out from the totaldacs to the Brama (full system and Barn details). One helluva good sounding system.
For the intensive A/B’ing bit, I relied on a number of ‘test tracks’, music I love no matter how many times I listen to it, that also contains sounds that help me focus on, in this case, a DAC’s performance. These tracks included:
“I’m Still Here” from Alice by Tom Waits
“One Dove” from The Crying Light by ANOHNI and the Johnsons
“Party” from Party by Aldous Harding
“Got Schepfer Aller Dingen” from Romaria by The Dowland Project
“Ring My Bell” from Tabula Rasa by Einstürzende Neubauten
“Warm Canto” from The Quest by Mal Waldron
“Canción Mixteca” from Paris, Texas (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Ry Cooder featuring Harry Dean Stanton
“Three Latin Prayers for solo voice” from Scelsi: Natura renovatur by Frances-Marie Uitti (violoncello), Munich Chamber Orchestra, Christoph Poppen
“Spit” from Corpus I by Show Me The Body featuring Princess Nokia
Listening to these tracks on both DACs told me a number of things about the Live Clocking Option in the totaldac d1-unity, chief among them was how it made music sound, albeit subtly, more natural. What, in the world, does more natural mean? (you may be wondering). More natural means music sounded more like the things, in real life, that are responsible for making it. And by subtle, I mean by more than a skosh but less than one totaldac being blown away by the other on a purely sound of sounds basis as opposed to how music moves us when we’re just listening to it.
This distinction, sounds versus music and comparing versus listening, are to my mind very important distinctions to make when it comes to placing value on differences, especially differences that are subtle on a sound of sounds basis. After all, sounds are one thing, music is another and when performing A/B comparisons, especially rapid A/B comparisons, our focus shifts to sounds and away from music. A state of being I avoid like the plague, whenever possible.
I’ll dig into one track to explain. On “I’m Still Here,” there are a few other instruments—violin, cello, and clarinet—that join Waits on piano and gravel (vocals) but in a very subtle way. So subtle, I’ve heard some DACs decide that Dawn Harms’ violin isn’t really worth reproducing or, in some cases, turn that violin into an annoying insect subtly buzzing away. With the d1-unity, Harms’ violin is clearly a violin behind Waits, off in the distance (to the left). With the Live Clocking Option-endowed d1-unity, the physical distance between Waits and Harms was more distinct, while the voices of Waits, piano, and violin felt clearer which translated into that violin acting as a voice more recognizable as a past relationship longed for, more fully embodying the meaning of the lyrics which are among the saddest I’m aware of because they speak to an inevitability if we’re not careful…
You haven’t looked at me that way in years
You dreamed me up and left me here
How long was I dreaming for
What was it you wanted me forYou haven’t looked at me that way in years
Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear
Someone turn the lights back on
I’ll love you til all time is goneYou haven’t looked at me
That way in years
But I’m still here.
Colin Stetson on clarinet and Matt Brubeck on cello swing in near the end, adding a kind of swell (of emotion) to those closing lines. When reproduction gets out of the way, and this may be the real value of the Live Clocking Option as it makes the d1-unity dissolve more fully into the sounds of music, we can more fully experience what the music is communicating. Here, even subtle differences in sound can bring with them a greater emotional connection and I don’t know about you, but quantifying a greater emotional connection strikes me as a fool’s errand for anyone but the listener whereas a difference in the sound of a sound can be represented by just about anything—a number, a percentage, a star, a chart, a shrug.
I’ll admit that I remained in ‘serious A/B’ mode for just a few tracks as the differences between the d1-unity and the Live Clocking Option-endowed d1-unity remained clear and consistent regardless of the music in play, more or less. And I say more or less because some music made these differences noted, namely a clearer more natural sound, more and less evident. Acoustic instruments and human voices emphasized the Live Clocking Option’s improvements more than bass heavy electronic dub, for example.
Once out of A/B mode, I was happy, and happier, to just sit back and let the music have its way. Every totaldac I’ve reviewed and owned is a master at this difficult-for-digital trick, at least in my experience, where we get our cake (tone, texture) and eat it too (resolution). In this context, the Live Clocking Option offers more distinct flavors.
The totaldac Live Clocking Option brought me closer to the performers, in closer contact with the things responsible for making the music I love by seemingly offering a clearer and more precise rendering of them in Barn which in turn meant an easier and deeper connection to that music. And an easier and deeper connection to music is a difference I classify as a clear improvement that is worth the price of admission. Color me sold.
The cost for the Live Clocking Option for existing totaldac DACs, Reclockers, and Streamer, which requires a trip back to totaldac, comes in at 800euros incl VAT in Europe, 730euros excl VAT out of Europe or about $800USD (+shipping).
Company Website: totaldac