well ya, the clocks have to be synced. otherwise you get pops and clicks and stuff in your audio when the samples between two pieces of gear don't line up. that's not what i'm debating.
what i'm not sure of is this notion of "higher quality" clocks affecting the sound of the final recording. how can the quality of a clock affect the sound of the audio? if it's making the right number of samples, and everything is synced to it.... i think i've never heard a clock that messed up. would i know when i heard it? i mean, if it was broken i'm sure i would hear studdering and probly pops and clicks like it was out of sync but...
i'm very skeptical of the concept. it sounds like marketing propaganda from people who want to sell expensive clock sources.
this goes around with "super high end audio cables" too.
here's an excerpt from
www.skeptoid.com were brian dunning researches and explains the truth and myth about audio cable marketing in response to a listener.
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Hi, my name is Mario and I'm a music student at Queens College in New York. I want to know if different or more expensive audio and guitar cables can actually make a difference in the tone of the instrument.
The short answer is no. There are cases where a really bad setup can cause noticeable problems, however. Using a ridiculously long run of cable, or unrealistically thin wire, can result in noticeably reduced or muted levels. Unshielded cables in a noisy electrical environment can produce hum or interference. Cables with cheap connectors on the ends can cut out if the contact is broken. Beyond obvious cases like that, any commercial cables produce sound quality just as good as any other, despite the claims made by manufacturers of high-end cables. Expensive cables may be more durable or better shielded, or better made and less likely to rust and degrade, but they can't produce better sound.
Conductive wire is characterized by its resistance, its capacitance and its inductance, and virtually any copper wire has capabilities that far exceed the electrically modest needs of professional audio. A thicker cable produces less resistance, but any common cable already has way less resistance than the audio requires. That would be like being more or less pregnant. As far as a specific subtlety produced in the audio, like variations in the tone of a guitar, no. This is not a capability that cable manufacturers can control. Yes, there are many articles available online that go into great detail discussing all kinds of subtle effects and different ways of coring or braiding the wire. It's over-the-top to a degree that's just goofy. Audio simply doesn't require fancy wiring.
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