Connecting s/pdif of a device with no external clock sync

[wouterz]

Is it advisable to connect the s/pdif out of a hardware device (that has no external clock sync) to my scope system. De device has only an s/pdif output and no s/pdif input or wordclock input so there is no way to let it sync to an external digital clock. Will this only work when this device becomes the master clock to prevent jitter? At the moment my Scope system (with sync plate) is the master clock and all my digital gear 2xA16 Ultra (Z-Link), S5000 (wordclock), FireworX (s/pdif), MPX1 (s/pdif) are setup to sync to the Scope clock.

[the19thbear]

There can only be one master in a digital system - if the unit only has spdif out you have to make that master to the rest of the system, otherwise you will get jitter/pops/clicks..

[wouterz]

I think I'm going to use the analog connections then because I want my Scope system to be the master clock.

[garyb]

making the other device master isn't really a problem, but just using the analog outputs on that device may not be worse sounding anyway.

[Strattosphere]

I noticed a few years ago that if I set my Yamaha 01V mixer to be the master clock the sound is noticably improved over the Scope clock.

Stratt