Black lion micro clock vs Rme hammerfall clock

kmb

New member
Hi,

I am currently clocking my external pre's adat to my rme hammerfall 9652 soundcard . I have been hearing good things about the Black Lion Audio microclock 2 .
Does anyone know if this clock would be much better than clocking from my Rme card ? Is it worth the money to buy It?

Thanks
 
If I was in your situation I would definitely consider this option.

Hi Nicholas. Are you saying you have both and recommend the BLA because of your personal experience with it?

I ask that because what you wrote sounds like marketing and not personal experience. OP asked if BLA was better, and if it was worth the money - not if the BLA was "really amazing" and if it's performance "rocks".
 
While I have not personally used the HDSP 9652 Hammerfall card, I have used the Black Lion Audio MicroClock II. We’ve done some tests with various converters and external clock sources and found that the MicroClock II to be as good performance-wise to any of the high-end clocks that we carry.

Okay. So you haven't used the RME card, but have used the BLA clock and found that it compares favorably to other clocks above it's price range.



Basically where it does not provide is in the extended feature-set that a clock like the Apogee Big Ben really delivers in spades (various format I/O connectivity, ability to re-clock, ability to connect to many more devices, video black-burst sync option, etc). However, the MicroClock is designed to be a bare-bones, low-cost option for home and project studio users who only need to connect and sync a couple three devices. So, in this regard, the MicroClock is a really amazing clock that, in fact, rocks!

The benefits of a high quality external word clock is that you should be able to discern an improvement in perceived depth, width, frequency response, and overall solidity of the image. The degree to which you’ll experience the improvement will depend upon which clock you were referencing before. Obviously, clocking the lower level gear to a high-quality clock will suddenly yield the most startling results. Comparing very high quality clocks to one another might end up being more of an exercise in splitting hairs. Whether or not you’ll hear the difference between the Big Ben, MicroClock, and Universal Audio 2192, for example, will largely depend on your monitoring chain, your ears, and your listening skills. Due to the unique transformer isolation design of the MicroClock, one usually experiences a more solid, even, and contained reproduction of the audio when listening back. Again, it’s a bit like splitting hairs. However, the output transformers in the MicroClock prevent negative-feedback from the devices being clocked to contaminate the MicroClock. Therefore, what may be perceived as a slightly more dynamic representation of the audio when clocking to other devices, may be a result of distortions arising from negative feedback contaminating those clocks. This can lead to ear fatigue. Also, the most confusing part of this that this usually only affects playback (the audio engine of the DAW) and not the recording of the digital file. You can compare two identical files that were recorded when clocked to two different “true” zero-jitter clocks with a null-test (flip the polarity on one of the files and play both back simultaneously). You’ll find that they cancel one another out completely. However, they sound slightly different when clocking to different clocks on playback. Odd, right?

This is pure sales-bs, and belongs on a astroturfed musician's freind review, not in a response to an earnest question from a noob. Marketing bs is not awesome and does not, in fact, rock.
 
Front End Audio

And don't think I'm picking on you. When you put that link in your signature, you change the nature of your relationship to the other users of this website.

In reading all of the posts under this username, I see that some are from Damien and others from yourself - which seems to bear out that FEA the user is a corporate effort to engage users and not simply a disinterested audio enthusiast.

Tread lightly.
 
I don't doubt that the micro clock 2 is good, I am sure it is that is why I have been looking into it.
But I want to know if it is going to help my recordings from my Rme card clock ( I hear the Rme cards are quite good too , I have never tried another clock to compare it ), or would I be better of buying another mic pre or something. I have never tried another clock to compare it.

Thanks
 
Front End...no more posts in Newbie section about your products...if ya do, I'll ban ya...or...would you like to buy an advertising banner?

Thanks

True
 
In reading all of the posts under this username, I see that some are from Damien and others from yourself - which seems to bear out that FEA the user is a corporate effort to engage users and not simply a disinterested audio enthusiast.

Tread lightly.
I checked Frontend Audio's Staff page. No mention of a Nicholas or a Damien.

I wonder if the owners know someone's posting under their name. I'll send 'em an email.
 
I've bought stuff from FEA before, Warren (WAR) has always been helpful. I don't know who these clowns are.

To the OP: RME is known to be high quality stuff. Check out the BLA website and see if you can hear some samples, or check out Gearsluts forums to see if you can find people that have actually used both converters and have some practical advice for you. There is a lot of marketing mumbo jumbo out there, as you can see.

My personal experience with several converters (MOTU, Presonus, Behringer) is that differences are subtle and subject to opinion and interperetation. YMMV.
 
It's always really weird when you start to read a thread that has been chopped up due to spamming marketing then all is lost.
The people who really get hurt are the ones who own the product that a person is trying to sell ! I bet if they knew they would pull their product from these spammers shelves.



:cool:
 
it looks like these pipes are doing it from behind


129171244225913069.jpg
 
I just sent an email to Shane, current owner of Frontend Audio, letting him know about this thread.

I just got off the phone with Warren and he said that it's probably an intern at F.E.A. and that he has not had anything to do with F.E.A. since 2008.

Great guy that Warren. He took time out of his busy day to talk about his mods and his business and his Zen coffee that I'll be getting -FREE -when I order from him.:D



:cool:
 
After a couple emails back and forth... Shane at Frontend seems like a cool guy, is sensitive to the issue of his staff (Nicholas in this case) staying non-commercial in forum postings here, and is going to look into the details tomorrow.
 
I just got off the phone with Warren and he said that it's probably an intern at F.E.A. and that he has not had anything to do with F.E.A. since 2008.

Great guy that Warren. He took time out of his busy day to talk about his mods and his business and his Zen coffee that I'll be getting -FREE -when I order from him.:D



:cool:

After a couple emails back and forth... Shane at Frontend seems like a cool guy, is sensitive to the issue of his staff (Nicholas in this case) staying non-commercial in forum postings here, and is going to look into the details tomorrow.

Thanks to both of you for following up with this. It's nice to see people here care and want to help out. wish I could do more than rep points... and I might not even be able to do that as I think I hit both of you up recently. (I did buy a CD from XLR one time - does that count??? :D )

Cheers,
 
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