Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Mutec'.
Found 1 result
-
Yes, analogue anoraks, look away now... I had heard of the Innuos Phoenix but a Mutec MC-3+ USB reclocker came up for sale on the Wam. It was snapped up pretty sharpish but my interest was piqued, purely academic of course (must remember the dangers of that). The Phoenix handles USB in/out but the MC-3+ USB handles USB and SPDIF inputs (that USB suffix is because there is a cheaper non-USB vesion of the MC-3+). The one drawback of the Bluesound Node 2i, an otherwise stonking streamer IMHO, is its lack of USB out which means no matter how decent the DAC it feeds, the signal is clocked at the Node 2i end not the DAC end. A reclocker should make a better job of this than a mid-priced streamer... and then I read reviews raving about the Mutec magic in a range of higher end setups. On eBay came up a pair of MC-3+ USB's with the PSU's ripped out and replacd by a short cable, ready for a linear PSU to power them. I bought them. Two? Why do you need two? Well some mad folk "cascade" them https://www.mutec-net.com/artikel.php?id=1388254422 - no, I don't get it either. Anyway I got the second one for close to 50% of the first as a bundle so why not. I bought an Allo Shanti LPSU which has two 5v outputs. Instead of Node 2i > Metrum Pavane DAC, you go Node > Mutec > Metrum - or in my case Node 2i > Mutec > Mutec > Metrum. It's mad, clearly. But it works. More detail, which I don't chase per se but here it gives more tightness, a shape to the notes. By definition reclocking must work across the spectrum but I particularly noticed the bass has a more obvious pluck or attack and things like vocals and guitar have more air around them. So they're staying. These are a studio device which a hifi enthusiast noticed and the word spread. Studios use them to align the time signals on multiple digital devices, hence huge connectivity. You can use an external clock (like Mutec's own at c.£3,000 - crikey) or the MC-3+'s internal clock which is damned good. They have far more functionality than mere mortal music lovers require and what looks like a complicated set of lights, but I can assure you that configuration is dead straightforward, far easier than say on an equally ugly/functional RME ADI-2 DAC: just two buttons and a bit of toggling and you're done. The lights are extinguishable: pressing two buttons locks the panel and kills the lights, stopping someone in a studio or concert hall from accidentally ruining a performance... Both photos show them powered up, with and without lights on. These are now tucked away behind my cabinet.
