[Danny T]

On May 23, 7:04*am, Mike Rivers wrote:
Danny T wrote:
So when dealing with a Mackie, Behringer, Helix, Alesis or any of
those other small mixers, it is better to set a clock source to the
Mac or the device?

It depends on what works. Most small USB or Firewire mixers
don't have an external word clock inputs so they don't give
you a choice and the question never comes up. Honestly, when
I plug a Firewire cable between my Mackie mixer and
computer, I have no idea which one is the clock master. I
suspect that it's the mixer since that's where the A/D
converters are.

Personally, I can't tell the difference.

With 10 year old gear, you might be able to tell the
difference. With today's converter chips, most people can't
tell the difference. In theory, the internal clock (where
the A/D converter is) is the best one to use. If it really
sounds better with an external clock, that means that the
A/D converter design isn't very good. If you can improve it
with an external clock source, by all means do so. If you
can't, then don't bother.

Of course if you have multiple digital connections in a
system, the clocks must be synchronized, and you do that
however you can. Not everything has an external clock input
and/or output.

--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

I cannot tell any difference and doubt that I could have 10 years ago.
Thanks for the input