Digital clocks; do they matter? Master Clock
In keeping with the theme so far this week of digital audio, today’s question is about clocking. “Are some word clock devices bad, and some good? I hear reports that some clocks–when used as the master clock–improve the audio quality and actually widen the stereo sound field. I also hear that certain clocks–in certain equipment–are notoriously bad, and can degrade the audio quality. Are there any technical reasons, or facts, that can back this up?” Yes, there are differences in clocks and yes those differences can affect the sound quality of your audio. In digital audio everything is tied to the clock. Rather than getting all techy with the explanation lets look at some of it in layman’s terms (tweakers beware – this means we will gloss over some of the finer points for the sake of getting a concept across). With each tick of the clock, so to speak, one audio sample occurs. We know that at the front and back end of the digital process we are converting from and back to analog. In order to properly sample an audio waveform you must take measurements at regular and exact intervals. This is a key point. In digital we never have the infinite resolution that we do in an analog signal. We have a series of snapshots (samples) that when put together give us a representation of what the analog waveform was. If there is “slop” in the timing of the audio samples then the digital device will end up with a slightly incorrect impression of what the analog waveform really looked like. The same thing can happen again when the digital data is converted back to analog again. Even if the data was sampled in perfectly, the D/A converter can screw it up by being sloppy with the timing of converting those digital words back into an analog voltage. In general these timing inaccuracies, which are present in all digital audio, are known as jitter.Jitter not only affects the acquisition and recovery of samples, but it can also cause problems with digital transfers and other processes. A more stable and accurate clock source reduces these problems throughout a digital audio system. Sometimes the difference is quite subtle while other users report dramatic differences among clocks. The benefit of a high quality (low jitter) clock depends a lot on how picky you are and how bad your existing master clock source is. Generally, an improved digital clock will improve high frequencies since their short wavelengths make them the most sensitive to these kinds of timing inaccuracies. The improvement can often be heard as a more coherent soundstage and better stereo separation.
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