Innuos Phoenix USB Reclocker Review

[voodooless]

I think a lot in the hifi retail/ influencer world have no real technical knowledge and little ability to evaluate objectively. Most would be surprised that what they hear is swayed by preconceptions as much as it is.

No, they know! As long as the nonsense brings in thick wads of cash, they don’t care and will continue to serve these companies! I keep repeating: the consumers are the product to these people, not the customer!

 

[Purité Audio]

As to why people buy them that’s easy unscrupulous/incompetent dealers/influencers recommend them and the customer having no actual technical knowledge whatsoever buy them, then write about the ‘improvement’ on the interweb and on and on it goes.
Keith

 

[VientoB]

As long as enough conspiracy theories circulate within the audiophool bubble, pseudo-scientifically questioning controlled double-blind tests, why would anyone venture where it hurts?

People are gradually drifting here all the time. I think there are more people on ASR now than ever - would that be right?

 

[VientoB]

No, they know! As long as the nonsense brings in thick wads of cash, they don’t care and will continue to serve these companies! I keep repeating: the consumers are the product to these people, not the customer!

I think some of them do know, or at least suspect, but they have their jobs on youtube and dont want to lose them so they keep going with the show.

Others appear to be in very strong denial.

 

[BeeKay]

People are gradually drifting here all the time. I think there are more people on ASR now than ever - would that be right?

I hope that’s really the case. But as always, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

 

[AaronJ]

I think some of them do know, or at least suspect, but they have their jobs on youtube and dont want to lose them so they keep going with the show.

Others appear to be in very strong denial.

One of the things I find fascinating is how many people accept reviewers who appeal to themselves as authority without qualification. Being a long time reviewer or former hifi salesperson doesn’t mean anything without some demonstration of actual results. Someone who has been flipping burgers at McDonald’s for 20 years isn’t inherently an expert at flipping burgers.

I have a degree in engineering, a PE license, and have 20 years of engineering and management experience having delivered dozens of projects in my career. In my specific niche this qualifies me as an expert in the field and I can appeal to myself as an authority with actual qualifications and results. Darko, ABA, Guttenberg, Iyagi, Robinson, and the like only can say “trust me bro.”

 

[VientoB]

One of the things I find fascinating is how many people accept reviewers who appeal to themselves as authority without qualification. Being a long time reviewer or former hifi salesperson doesn’t mean anything without some demonstration of actual results. Someone who has been flipping burgers at McDonald’s for 20 years isn’t inherently an expert at flipping burgers.

I have a degree in engineering, a PE license, and have 20 years of engineering and management experience having delivered dozens of projects in my career. In my specific niche this qualifies me as an expert in the field and I can appeal to myself as an authority with actual qualifications and results. Darko, ABA, Guttenberg, Iyagi, Robinson, and the like only can say “trust me bro.”

I agree apart from the burger flipping analogy. Someone who's been flipping burgers for 20 years is going to be an expert at it.

 

[VientoB]

He has less of a excuse for being a subjective goofball than ever now!

To be honest I think a lot of us started off in this hobby believing we were hearing differences. Anyone can be fooled by their ears/brain combo into believing it. It took me about 25 years to realise. Tarun makes a living doing his videos now so where is his incentive to call all his previous work bs? He gets to try all these great new products doing what he's doing.

The closest we've seen to someone converting is GoldenSound but I get the feeling he still believes he is hearing some differences (more than just the filters at 21kHz)

 

[sq225917]

As pointless devices go, a reclocker for an asynchronous data stream has to be at the top of the list.

I wonder if we'd get any measurable benefit by simply applying the multiple regs and ocxo inside the dac itself?

( as opposed to an audible benefit)

 

[Antagron]

Based on this review, I'm gonna get two or maybe three.

One for my mouse, to improve its small movement resolution. Another for my keyboard, should clean up typos and the third one for my scanner which should help with darker blacks and cleaner looking images.

You should enjoy a darker black background, for sure, not to mention increased color separation and imagestage.

 

[mc.god]

Thnking about it, my Ugreen HiFi Pro dongle works in SYNC mode, and it can be seen in its not great jitter graph:

it used a CS46L41 as usb bridge and adc, similar to the one used in Apple Dongle, that indeed showed jitter like this:

So if @amirm still has this pricy paperweight and an Apple Dongle at hand it could be interesting to test the combo.

 

[bmwr75]

"A fool and their money are soon parted."

 

[sadoMasupilami]

I definitely had fun reading this, thank you @amirm for your exceptional work!

 

[JSmith]

The device manufacturer doesn't specify that a particular brand, type of DAC, or a specific flaw should be present to benefit from this product. Thus, testing it with any DAC is appropriate and representative of real world consumer use. Amir should not have to test this device in a specific and non-general regard.


JSmith

 

[mc.god]

The device manufacturer doesn't specify that a particular brand, type of DAC, or a specific flaw should be present to benefit from this product. Thus, testing it with any DAC is appropriate and representative of real world consumer use. Amir should not have to test this device in a specific and non-general regard.


JSmith

Absolutely, but wouldn't you be amazed knowing that with just 4K you could Make Apple Dongle Great Again?

 

[EERecordist]

I think this thread is going off track.

I don't think the engineering science would support the idea that some USB equipment needs the Innuos device, some USB equipment does not, and that performance would be different in the audio realm.

When I looked up Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillators on Mouser, one of the PPB vendors was in the UK, Innous is in the UK, so I would speculate 2 engineers got together to create this product, rather than it coming from a customer need.

For completeness, the USB Implementers Forum has generations of USB conformance testing. The tests require specific calibrated test equipment running test sequences. In order to use the USB logo it has to pass the testing. The makers of USB chips have passed testing. The spec, testing, and certification is controlled by USB Implementer Forum. The USB Implementer Forum website, below, has more detailed information than most can digest.

Layered over the written spec, the test equipment, traceable calibration, the test sets, and the software suites that automate the testing, are "plugfests." In a plugfest, vendors bring their equipment, test equipment vendors bring tens of millions of dollars worth of test equipment to a hotel ballroom, they operate 24x7 possibly consuming caffeine, and they try to find gaps in the spec and in implementations. USB Implementers Forum lists their meetings with plugfests.

It is telling that Innuos is not a member of the USB Implementers Forum, and does not display the USB logo.

Front Page | USB-IF

www.usb.org

 

[Aperiodic]

The price seems dumb until you realize tkershat is what hooks the suckers more than anything.

"The price is the product." - The late Brian Cheney, founder of VMPS Loudspeakers

 

[testp]

IF it is meant to fix bad 'dacs' it should be stated as such by manufacturer, my 1 cent..

 

[Dimitri]

One of the things I find fascinating is how many people accept reviewers who appeal to themselves as authority without qualification. Being a long time reviewer or former hifi salesperson doesn’t mean anything without some demonstration of actual results. Someone who has been flipping burgers at McDonald’s for 20 years isn’t inherently an expert at flipping burgers.

I have a degree in engineering, a PE license, and have 20 years of engineering and management experience having delivered dozens of projects in my career. In my specific niche this qualifies me as an expert in the field and I can appeal to myself as an authority with actual qualifications and results. Darko, ABA, Guttenberg, Iyagi, Robinson, and the like only can say “trust me bro.”

Ultimately, education, experience , qualifications, certifications, licencing, lack of felony convictions, credit score, the car you drive , your taste in beverages, you favorite sport (and you choice of team) are all contributing factors to only one thing.

Trust.

Let's add to this that in addition to all of the above, some people are ( or perceived as ) more likeable than others.
That's why we get "second opinions" from doctors, car mechanics and building contractors (roofers,electricins, plumbers etc in no particular order ) . And for every expert wittnes of the procecution, the expert wittness of the defence dissagrees.
They are, by all formal definitions....qualified experts. And yet the levels of trust vary.

Let's add to this that in addition to all of the above, some people are ( or perceived as ) more likeable than others, one more time!
Put all the above word salad in a blender and you end up why their videos are watched.

(and of course while some people are great at knowing what they know, others are great at finding out-and that was before the internet, search engines, or youtube) - and a small intersection of these groups can be more engaging than the rest.

It's complicated...

 

[gfinlays]

Just reading the review on Darko's website and some of his other witterings linked from that review, it's patently obvious that he talks out of his @ss.