The modern DAC dilemma

In modern HiFi I believe there is an obvious DAC dilemma, with so many good options to choose from it’s extremely difficult to know what is the best one to buy. When I started my YouTube channel nine years ago that was not the case, it was clear what was the best DAC at each price level because there was less choice, with some being stand out better for sound quality. That is not the case anymore, yes there are still differences however the average standard for a DAC at every given price point is very high, with less difference between each manufacturer in terms of sound quality. I believe that is why we have seen some products exist on the market for many years and also why some DAC’s offer more features like HDMI ARC, volume control, headphone amplifiers, fancy screens and so on. All intended to create some extra diversification from the competition.

What does this mean for audiophiles and our enjoyment of music?

I believe it means we have hit a DAC technology plateau where the biggest advancements seem to be happening at the astronomical price levels, such as DCS and their Varèse DAC, albeit one I have not experienced as of yet. That is great for the 1% that can afford it but what about the rest of us.  I think we have to look at what happens before and around the DAC as there are still obvious sound quality improvements to be had from better digital transport technology and the associated peripherals. Some of these fall into the snake oil territory such as network switches and network cables, maybe even reference 10 Mhz clocks and clock cables.

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With an open mind

I am very sceptical person by nature, however I have been proved wrong so many times with audio that I have learnt to keep a very open mind. Last year I tried a 10 Mhz reference clock for the first time the Matrix Audio SC-1 (review here). It impressed me so much I named it as my Best Digital Audio product of 2025 for one very important reason. I saw it as the next obvious digital step, the one to get us past the DAC dilemma and to the next level of sound quality. This is the epitome of a product that sits before and around the DAC because it connects to and improves the clocking of up to four digital devices. In my system that has recently been the Matrix NT-1 transport and ND-1 DAC but a few months ago I was improving HiFi Rose and Eversolo products with it too. Despite it’s quality there is no denying the SC-1 is expensive and that will sadly prohibit many from adding it to their systems.

Having just visited the High End HiFi show in Vienna and seeing the future road map for new Eversolo products they have a reference clock coming soon. If Eversolo do what they always do, make great products more affordable I know there will many more audiophiles that get to experience the benefit of a 10 Mhz clock in the near future. I hope this review for want of a better description will be helpful to all those people.

10 MHz needs a different cable

The Matrix SC-1 digital clock outputs are 50 Ohm and that is different to the coaxial connection for all other (non clock) HiFi products, they are 75 Ohm.  This means the digital cables you might own will not work optimally with the SC-1 clock. I have not tried a 75 Ohm cable but I did reach out to Geoff Merrigan, owner of Tellurium Q and he told me his 75 Ohm cables would not work right with a 50 Ohm signal and that it’s best to use a dedicated 50 Ohm cable.

The SC-1 does not come with any digital cables which is probably wrong given it’s high price, however it meant to complete it’s review I had to buy some. I started researching and at the time there was not many to choose from that were realistically priced to buy just to complete the review.  I was certainly not going to spend between £500 and £1000 for cables from a company like Tubulus as that is of course unreasonable.  I also had no idea if they made any difference. I did reach out to Tublus to ask them but their response did not fill me with confidence to spend the amount of money required, again just to complete a review and maybe I would never use them again. This is some of the response from Tubulus.

‘What can vary is the impact a clock cable has on a setup. With some setups or brands it will bring a slight improvement using a better cable and in some setups it will bring a significant improvement’

So to keep things reasonable I chose to buy some cheap cables from Amazon because they only cost £8 each or £15.99 for the two I needed. I figured if they sounded terrible I would have to rethink this approach and maybe spend more money and potentially ask for a contribution from Matrix towards it. If you have watched or read my SC-1 review you will know I was smitten with it using the Amazon cables and a year later it’s still here. Matrix will have to fight me to get it back and the longer term usage prospect for me changes things.

The benefit of Patreon

Thanks to my supporters on Patreon, people who support me with a few pounds per month and receive one extra video per week gives me a little bit of money to spend on luxuries. I try to spend the money on HiFi related things that will benefit me and others. Quite often I buy records to use for vinyl related reviews but this time I wanted to spend the budget on better clock cables because I needed to know if there is any difference in them? Could the Amazon cables be effecting what I was hearing and could a better clock cable make any difference?

It is hard to know what a better clock cable might look like, the Amazon cables claim to be 50 Ohm with “superior signal integrity and less signal leakage.” It’s a coaxial cable so a simple in some sense cable design with a tinned copper central conductor, a PE insulation and a tinned copper braid for the outer conductor.  This is a cable designed for cable TV usage not audio, however a 50 Ohm coaxial cable should be perfectly fine for both duties and they have worked fine with no audio dropouts or problems in anyway.

I still did not want to spend £500+ on a gamble but just by chance I discovered the Mutec PSC50 a cable specifically designed for 50 Ohm reference clock connection duties. The best bit was the price, £177 each and available straight away.  Mutec is a manufacturer I have known for some time that are based in Germany. I knew they made products for the HiFi market and some for the pro / studio market with the PSC50 bridging the gap between both. The keys specs of the cable really stood out to me as being better than the Amazon offerings such as

• Dual shielding
• Lowest attenuation
• Low oxygen copper conductor
• Low loss gas foamed PE-LCC dielectric
• Guaranteed 50 ohms characteristic impedance
• Complete, accurate, fast, low jitter data transmission
• Easy handling due to highly flexible material
• Solid craftsmanship
• High contact reliability
• 50 ohms Damar & Hagen full metal BNC connectors, hard gold plated in contact area
• Designed and manufactured in Germany

I took a punt and ordered two 1 metre cables from Audio Emotion here in the UK and received them inside two business days so excellent service, please remember I bought these with my own money and paid the full retail price £354 for both delivered.

Who thought this is a good idea?

I have to start my PSC50 ownership experience with a complaint. The packaging for the cables is perfectly fine, they come in a nice white box that you open to see the cable inside, held in place with very thick cable ties. To remove the cable from the ties you of course have to cut the ties off and I used the first thing I had to hand a pair of larger scissors.  This is where the problem is, the cable is wound and pulled so tight by the cable ties you have to be very physical with the scissors and push the blades past the the plastic to cut them. In doing so this damaged the outer layer of the PSC50 cable. Not terribly, more cosmetically but even so I have damaged my brand new cable before I have even plugged it in.

I think this is a terrible design idea and is why the “twizzle wire” most manufacturers use is better as you can more easily remove it.  In hindsight I should have used wire cutters just to cut the cable ties more precisely. Not everyone will own a set of wire cutters where as everyone owns scissors. I think designing packaging with scissors use in mind makes much more sense so Mutec please fix this going forward.

Setup and Testing

I have just finished two reviews of new Matrix Audio products the ND-1 DAC and the NA-1 headphone amplifier / preamplifier and that meant I have an almost full Matrix system here including the NT-1 transport and SC-1 Reference clock. I knew this would be the ideal time to test the clock cables as I have spent a number of weeks listening to the same system so I was very much in tune with it. That makes it easier to hear differences especially if they are small.

I kept the testing simple, I made a play list of a number of tracks covering different genre of music. I listened firstly through all the tracks using the Mutec cables. I then switched to the Amazon cables listened through them all again and finally switched back to the Mutec and listened to just the tracks I needed to confirm what I thought the differences were. Both sets of cables were very run in but the Amazon cables had a lot more play time from a number of months use if you feel this is important to know. It was also very quick for me to make the cable change. I did have to power down the DAC, transport and clock to make the change but this took less than 2 minutes so the units stayed warm. The preamp and power amplifier stayed on so they didn’t change in temperature and I did not touch the volume at all. The fact I did have to power the units off and back on is why I used a number of tracks in a playlist which repeated the first few tracks to make sure there was time for the units to get back to full sound quality and I didn’t make an early listen misjudgement on the sound.

Was there any difference?

After making the first change from the Mutec to the Amazon cables my initial reaction was something sounds off and missing, I couldn’t put my finger on it but something definitely sounded missing. Of course I had just powered the units off and on so I was questioning if what I was hearing was due to that. After 20-30 minutes of listening I was questioning is there any difference and could the cheaper cables actually sound better? Maybe there seemed to be more detail like this and you have to remember this is the sound that made a mark on me so strongly for me to name the SC-1 as my best digital product of last year. I am so glad I did the final test of putting the Mutec cables back in because that showed me what I needed to hear.

For starters with the Mutec cables the music sounded louder and I have absolutely no explanation for that because it cannot possibly be as I did not change the volume but it seemed quite a bit louder to me. I think that is because there was a lot more tonality, fullness and dynamics in the music. It was not louder it just seemed it from there being more fullness and warmth for the vocals especially. I am conscious of using words like “lot more” which is a typical review thing to say when maybe in person the difference is small. This time it is not meant as a review exaggeration, there was an obvious and really quite significant difference between the cables in this regard.  The other difference I noticed was some improved spatial clarity so when the music is quite densely layered it was a bit better separated and more well resolved. There is a track on the album Fascination with Sound called Julsang that is recorded in a church or similar, so a very high reverb recording. It has a choir later in the song that sits very much between and just behind the speakers in terms of the sound stage. It was easier to hear more of the illusion of the different singers of that choir with the Mutec cables than the Amazon, again a large difference but maybe this time large is more of a review exaggerated one.

Overall I much preferred the sound of the system with the Mutec cables so they will be staying as my current reference but are they worth the money?

Final Thoughts

It’s easy for me to sit here and tell you to spend the extra and buy the better cables because that is my advise you should. However I am very aware that after spending nearly £5,500 on an SC-1 to then be told to spend another £177 per cable is borderline insulting. The truth is these are the most affordable dedicated clock cables I have seen and they are from a manufacturer I trust to deliver a no thrills quality product. One that will work as promised being designed for studio usage as much as HiFi and Mutec make their own very high quality reference clocks too.

I do have to question would there be the same difference with shorter cables, I don’t know? It is suggested to use as short cables as possible to reduce signal loss and 1 metre is I think the maximum you would ever want to use. I take solace from the fact the PSC50 costs a lot less than the offerings from Tubulus £700-£800+ each or clock cables from Esoteric in Japan that cost £4000 each. I know some will baulk at that price but having experienced what a top tier Esoteric system can do I am in no position to question them. They bat at a much higher level than what most of us will ever achieve for sound quality at home.

That does make me wonder if there is even more sound quality to be had from the SC-1 with cables from those companies but that will have to wait for now.

An Essential Audition Award is granted in recognition of a products high performance but with a certain uniqueness that makes auditioning even more essential.

For the full specification of the Mutec website here