From these setups, it became clear how the reclocker had a positive influence. We heard more fluency and greater softness; subtle but noticeable. We put up a makeshift score board and the smallest difference was between a direct connection of PWT --> DirectStream and reclocker as middleman. A slightly bigger difference came from the introduction of the long interconnect between CD transport and reclocker or going direct into the DAC. Here the reclocker already showed value. With the La Rosita Beta streamer, things shifted up into a large difference. The French streamer received wireless signal from the Qobuz or Tidal desktop apps via Apple AirPlay, hence no player enhancements à la PureMusic, Amarra or JRiver. On the Wifi receiver end, we bypassed La Rosita's DAC by using the straight-out coax. This connected via long or short S/PDIF to the reclocker via the RCA/XLR adaptor; or direct to the DAC's coax input. With either cable, the sound enhanced profoundly. Cymbals and strings benefited most from the reclocker. Our score board now noted a fat 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 where the short-wired PWT --> reclocker --> DAC had scored a slim 2. It was time to introduce the simpler NuWave DAC. After getting a feel for its character and behaviour, we duplicated the tests as described. All scores doubled instantly, starting with a 4 for the PWT + reclocker and 'clipping' at a redlined 10 out of 10 for the WiFi setup. Whoa!

One rainy afternoon we took the PWT and S922 sdr back down to the ground-floor Devialet/ESL rig and spun more discs. Just like high-sensitivity horns, electrostats are merciless about distortion in the high registers though they require seriously more power to get going. The Devialet's own DAC is not bad but the reclocker's aid was dearly welcome with a nice new smoothness which didn't undermine the Devialet's trademark transparency.

On the argument that most DACs perform their own form of reclocking already, the benefit of adding an external reclocker lies in the fact that a DAC's re/upsampling circuitry commonly relies on a phase-lock loop to track incoming data against the DAC's clock. That clock has its own jitter no matter how low; plus a PLL is prone to its own jitter. As Bruno Putzeys put it so tersely, garbage in is garbage out. Of course if jitter is introduced at the studio to be recorded, it's a lost case entirely. That type of jitter cannot be eradicated by any means. All other forms of jitter however should be weary of the S922 sdr. Cross hair time. Kaboom!

Qualia physic comment: Thanks, Marja & Henk, for your very thorough and entertaining review. I'm glad you enjoyed your time with the Qualia physic S922 sdr reclocker and I appreciate the hard work that goes into such a review. It is always rewarding to see our work recognized by such experienced listeners. I would also like to thank 6moons for the opportunity to present Qualia Physic products to your readership. As of now, all S922 sdr production units ship incorporating the circuit design changes to make them compatible with all consumer DACs. I would also like to welcome everybody to take a look at our newly designed webpage below which will be completed soon. Best regards - Joao.

Qualia Physic website