˻ PREMIERE ˼

⌈ THUNDERDATA CO. LTD. is a company founded by Dr. ERIC JIAN HUANG. It develops and manufactures servers, network communication devices, etc. This company operates in the hi-tech industry and focuses on 5G mobile networks and 8K video signal transmission. Its audio lineup is concentrated in two series of products, available under the Silent Angel and ThunderData brands. We test the Genesis GX clock - it's its WORLD PREMIERE. ⌋

HEN TESTING THE BONN NX LAN SWITCH by Silent Angel, I already knew that a reference clock was being prepared for it. The first photos showed a device similar to the NX, but with different sockets and without the blue backlight under the front edge. A clock for a LAN switch? – Many music lovers and engineers still do not understand what the problem is, assuming that the Ethernet connection is "transparent" to the files that we send over it.

I understand the caution, issues related to files transfer at the highest level are still quite a fresh topic in audio. What I don't understand is resistance to empirical evidence - sound quality improvement. After all, a simple experiment - listening in a balanced system, which does not even have to be overly expensive - is enough to hear what I hear as well. The situation is similar with LAN cables - if you can't hear their influence on the sound, then either the system has low resolution, or it is poorly put together, or we are insensitive to differences in sound. I don't see any other possibility.

The advantages of using LAN switches, which have less noise and are more precisely clocked, have long been noticed by music lovers, magazine editors, companies producing high-end equipment and recording studios. Suffice it to say that the entire HIFISTATEMENT.net editorial office is equipped with the LAN S100 from Melco (test → HERE), that I use the Silent Angel N16 LPS in my own test system (more → HERE) and that the Telegaertner Japan Limited M12 SWITCH MAGIC switches are used by both the Polish manufacturer JPLAY (test → HERE), as well as the sophisticated recording studio TPRTK (more → HERE).

As I showed you in the Silent Angel BONN NX review, devices of this type are susceptible to power quality improvement. The manufacturer also thinks so, which is why it offers its own Forester F2 power supply, which is not as nice-looking as the NX and GX, but offers as many as six outputs - two 12 V DC and four 5 V DC. Of course, we can also use other power supplies. For the aforementioned LAN switch, Silent Angel also prepared another option of connecting an external master clock to it.

Clocks have been well-known and used in recording studios as soon as digital technology entered them. In order to synchronize various devices in the system, they had to be clocked from one external clock - this is how a separate group of devices was born. Today, there are plenty of manufacturers of studio clocks, such as dCS, Antelope Audio or Mutec. Let's remember that for many years a professional, atomic "ruby" clock was used by Japanese studios, including JVC in the K2 system, to clock computers controlling the burning of glass matrices for CDs.

They are slowly finding their way into home networks as well. Contrary to the studio, this time it's not always about matching individual components, but improving the precision of their internal clocks. Yes, the dCS company has been doing it for years, and quite recently Aurender announced its product - the MC20 model. The Esoteric company has had its own clock for years, as well as Soul Note. As I said in the Bonn NX test, the Silent Angel company also prepared its own clock.

▌ GENESIS GX

BEFORE we get into the specifics, I'd like to dwell on the name of the product in question for a moment. Silent Angel labels them with symbols such as 'F2', 'B1', 'M1T', 'N8' etc., but always also adds the name of one of the German cities: 'Bonn' or 'Munich', or rivers - like 'Rhein '. 'Genesis' for the clock clock is a great choice, because it is ambiguous and at the same time hits the spot.

On the front panel it has the following form: GENEsis. Read in its entirety means the moment of creation, the birth of a new order out of nothingness (disorder). The book with this title opens the Bible and describes the process of creation (Polish: Book of Genesis, First Book of Moses). On the other hand, if we read only small caps, we will be referred to biological sciences - after all, it is a 'gene', an element that builds a DNA strand.

And there is another possible interpretation that I like the most. 'GENE' could be understood as an abbreviation of the capital city of the French-speaking canton in Switzerland - Geneva. Switzerland? – After all, it is the capital of the world, one could say: the kingdom of timepieces. And the only task of the GX is to measure time as precisely as possible.

The full name of this device is: Genesis GX Word Clock. It is supposed to give a reference clock for several devices working independently. In fact, it should be called – “Master Clock”, as “Word Clock” synchronies two or more digital devices. The manufacturer says about it:

Genesis GX is a true, state-of-the-art word clock whose technology was developed for the most demanding Scientific and Instrumentation applications, where high-performance clocks routinely cost tens of thousands of dollars. The value-engineered Genesis GX delivers this rarified level of performance and precision for a fraction of the price. Four for the price of one: Genesis GX features FOUR individual Word Clocks, including two state-of-the-art, 25 MHz units.

⸜ Genesis GX, www.SILENTANGEL.com, accessed: 6.02.2023.

The manufacturer claims that his device differs from others already at the conceptual stage. It indicates that the vast majority of products of this type available on the market - if not all of them - that offer several outputs simultaneously, in fact have one master clock, which provides individual output signals. What's more, they all use one power supply. As the Silent Angel press materials say, there are many possibilities for these stages to interfere with each other, for example by electrical impulses caused by changes in the circuit load, interference with other audio components, etc. The solution they proposed is puristic - each of the Genesis GX clock outputs has its own separate clock with separate power supply.

The most important information is that we get not one, but four outputs: two at 10 MHz and two at 25 MHz. So you can use it to clock not only various digital devices, but also with different input frequencies. The second important thing is the presence of four independent TCXO (Temperature Compensation Crystal Oscillator) clocks in the chassis, and not one, from which different frequencies would be generated in the PLL loop. So we actually get four devices, not one.

| 10 MHZ vs 25 MHz

THE MOST COMMON FREQUENCY of external clocks is 10 MHz. We find it in the SoulNote X-3, Esoteric Grandioso G1X and Aurender MC20. This frequency is used by GPS and for many years the most precise timing clocks have been developed, which would allow for the most precise location by this system; the best of these are atomic clocks, such as Rubidium Atomic Clocks.

⸜ Antelope Audio 10MHz Model 10MX Rubidium Atomic Clock • photo Antelope Audio

Silent Audio engineers say these clocks were designed for GPS networks and were not optimized for audio signals, which is a problem. On their website they write:

After exhaustive testing, our R&D team discovered that the ideal frequency for audio and networking devices is 25MHz. Silent Angel created Genesis GX with a single goal: to deliver the best audio quality possible. Genesis GX provides both 25MHz and 10MHz word clock outputs to excel with Silent Angel products as well as other brands. Simply stated, Genesis GX is at once the finest Word Clock on the market and your best value-for-money system upgrade, as well! ●

˻ CHASSIS ˺ The clock looks great because it is placed in exactly the same housing as the Bonn NX switch, thus isolating the internal circuits from vibrations, high-frequency noise, and electromagnetic interference. It consists of two enclosures, one inside the other. The inner one, made of galvanized steel, is the actual chassis to which the electronic components are screwed. The outer one is made of aluminum plates that stiffen the whole and counteract EMI and RFI interference. Let's repeat: in the case of digital devices, this is extremely important.

The feet are also important, and company has devoted a lot of attention to them. They are low, massive, made of stainless steel and a rubber ring, and have a diameter of 60 mm. Silent Angel informs that this is a slightly more affordable version of their separately sold S28 feet.

˻ POWER SUPPLY ˺ Writing about the power supply in this manufacturer's LAN switch, we said that it reduced - as Ritter says - from 705 ps, as in ordinary switches, to 369 ps, which was helped by a specially developed power supply. Its basis is a small switching mode power supply. The manufacturer says that this circuit was borrowed from radar systems.

˻ UPGRADE ˺ The power supplies in the GX clock are exactly the same as the one in the NX switch. However, it is still an switching mode power supply. In both devices, it can be replaced with an external 12 V DC power supply. As I wrote, the company offers such and we have two options in it. If we want to be even fancier, we can buy two so that the GX and NX have completely separate power supplies.

The second possibility is to connect these elements of the system to an external, artificial mass. Silent Angel does not offer such a product, but probably - sooner or later - it will develop it.

▌ SOUND

⸜ HOW WE LISTENED 10MHz clocks are becoming more and more popular in audio. For the record, let's just say that not everyone is convinced about them. One of the most well-heard voices against their use is Paul McGowan, founder and PS Audio. He laid out his reasons in an article titled Why rubidium clocks are a myth from January 2014 (see → HERE, accessed: 7.02.2023).

My experience is different, as is the experience of the Krakow Sonic Society. Adding a word clock clearly improved the sound of the dCS Vivaldi One SACD player (more → HERE, accessed: 7.02.2023). More information on jitter can be found in the article by Robert Harley, editor-in-chief of "The Absolute Sound" → HERE

During the test, the Genesis GX clock worked with the Bonn BX LAN switch of the same company. They were placed on the top shelf of the Finite Elemente Master Reference Pagode Edition Mk II rack. The switch was powered from an external Silent Angel Forester F2 power supply, and the clock was powered by the Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante Nero Edition cable (review → HERE). In the second part, I also powered the clock from the Forester F2 power supply and the text below applies to this configuration. Finally, I connected the external, artificial mass Nordost QKore6 to the clock (review → HERE).

The sound source was the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge audio files player using TiGLON cables.

⸜ Recordings used for the test | a selection

⸜ MILES DAVIS, Kind of Blue, Columbia Records/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA Studio 16/44,1 (1959/?).
⸜ VOICES8, Winter, Decca/Tidal, FLAC 16/44,1 (2016).
⸜ ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM, Stone Flower, Masterworks Jazz | CTI Records/Tidal Master, seria „CTI Records 40th Anniversary”, FLAC MQA Studio 16/44,1 (1970/2010).
⸜ PATRICIA BARBER, Clique, Impex Records/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA Studio 24/352,8 (2021).
⸜ DIDO, Still on My Mind, BMG 405053 8455847/Tidal Master, MQA Studio 24/44,1 (2019).
⸜ ART BLAKEY, Moanin', Blue Note/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA Studio 24/192 (1958/?).
⸜ MARY KOMASA, Degenerate Love, WM Poland – WMI/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA 16/44,1 (2019).

» All tracks come from HIGH FIDELITY’s playlist available in Tidal → HERE.

The effect of the clock on the sound manifests itself in a completely different way than changing one of the basic components of the system, including cables. It is closer to what we hear when replacing the LAN switch with a better one, although this is still not a precise analogy.

The thing is that at first you don't really know what to look for. It seems to us that the presentation does not really change. Only repeated switching between the device working with its own, built-in clock and the reference clock allows you to establish something of a pattern, a fingerprint that it leaves on the music.

To be clear: these are not very big changes. The Bonn XN is a great product in itself, with a good clock. It is better to first buy an external power supply for it and maybe an artificial mass - only then, you can plug a clock into the device prepared in this way, which will give the whole thing the ultimate polish.

Like I said, the changes are not big - maybe, at most, by 5%. Once heard, the pattern of these changes stays in the head and then we look for the same in a LAN switch without the external clock. And again - after some time, after our hearing accommodates, we forget about what the Genesis GX brings to the sound. However, all you have to do is to turn it on for a moment to remind you of everything and to appreciate its contribution again.

The pattern I'm talking about could really be expressed in one word: resolution. When switching it on, you can hear slight corrections of the timbre, but they result from the fact that the system with the clock sounds a bit more transparent and that it differentiates the recordings a bit better. This was the case, for example, in the song So What from the MILES DAVIS’ Kind of Blue album. It is available on Tidal in several resolutions, but this time I reached for the basic version - MQA 16/44.1, because where there is the least information, the changes in the sound are the greatest.

Turning on the clock caused the foreground to be slightly moved away from the listening position - slight change, but still audible. At first I thought it made the sound worse, until I noticed that it improved the gradation of the layers of the stage, and the sound itself became more accurate, better defined. Yes, I guess that was exactly it. Because with the double bass from So What, ending the intro at 1:28, I could better hear the deep descent of the instrument, struck without a clear attack. It starts with the fact that the noise - really strong in this recording - has different accents. With the clock we perceive it in a less tangible way, but more precisely. So it is similar with instruments that come in succession. The first impression after turning on the GX is as if someone slightly moved the loudspeakers away from us. After a while, it turns out that thanks to this, everything can be seen more clearly. I confirmed it later with the double bass from the PATRICIA BARBER’s Clique.

This was also the case with the voice of ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM, which seems slightly distorted when entering with the instruments. This recording was made in 1970 in the Van Gelder’s studio, who liked to saturate the tape heavily. With the clock it sounded more like a choice, not a sound engineer's error. It was in the Brasil track that I heard another thing that defines the tested device. Without it, the sound is striking and expressive, but not due to the treble clarity, but rather "intense presence" without equally clear definition. Including the GX reduces this pressure - because it was, after all, pressure - and smooths the presentation.

Without the clock, the bodies are a bit "bristled" with sounds, which makes them seem tangible. Only now, however, do I see that this tangibility was not related to information, but to the blurring of delicate reverberation details. As Christoph Stickel, this year's Grammy-nominated mastering engineer, said in an interview for the hifistatement.net magazine, headphones help him when working with reverbs, because only with them he is able to perceive the smallest details. And that's how the tested clock worked, as if I put headphones over my ears.

When I understood it, when I switched from one sound to another, then I understood also that GX "unleashes" the potential of recordings’ acoustics. The sounds BEHIND the instruments, i.e. their decay and the response of the environment - whether natural, as in the recording of the VOICES8 group, or added, as in STEPHAN MICUS’s Black Mother - are better, clearer, more natural.

Because that's what the tested device ultimately boils down to. The sound with them is a bit more like live, and less like recorded in the studio. It's not about big corrections, but slight shifts of accents. But these details are probably the most difficult to reproduce, because they are described by the smallest scraps of information. If something in the digital recording is blurred in time domain, they are lost.

▌ Summary

GENESIS GX IS NOT A KEY ELEMENT OF THE SYSTEM, like a source, amplifier or loudspeakers, not to mention cables. Perhaps it is also not the secondary most important element, like LAN switches, artificial ground, etc. If we plug it into a system that has not been properly prepared and assembled, if it does not play in the best possible conditions, we will spend money unnecessarily.

If all these elements and components have already been perfected into a top system, GX will prove its worth. Then even the 5% improvement that the Genesis GX clock offers will make a significant difference. With its help we get something that is extremely difficult to achieve elsewhere in the system - resolution. It gives a better insight into the acoustics of the recordings, and more precisely emphasizes their special features. If, as on the Barber’s album, the vocal has emphasized sibilants - we will hear them stronger. But sometimes it's the other way around, like in DIDO's Hurricanes from Still on My Mind album. Here too, it seems that the vowels are stressed, and the clock showed that they were not as much stressed as I thought.

The Genesis GX from Silent Audio is therefore one of the most sophisticated elements of the system, regardless of what I said at the beginning. You can even say that it is crucial in reaching micro-information, but it only makes sense when everything else in the system has already been perfected. ●