Black Lion Audio recently debuted the third incarnation of their dedicated master word clock, the MicroClock mkIII. Analog to digital conversion is something that BLA is passionate about, so much so that the concern, based out of Chicago, is constantly evaluating new crystal technology as it develops to determine how to enhance their products. Better crystals mean less jitter, and less jitter means better sound. Thus, when Black Lion released the third version of the MicroClock, we knew that this was not going to be just a polishing of the mkII. According to Nate Bierdeman, Black Lion Audio’s Chief Executive Officer, the company not only infused the latest crystal technology into the mkIII, but also looked to “remove the parasitic elements out of the signal.” This meant the company “performed critical listening at each stage, often A/B’ing different component pools and crystals to come up with the best result possible.”

What’s most fascinating about this clock is that nearly everything we hooked it up to sounded great. We clocked an older Pro Tools rig (with the outdated Digidesign 192 Digital I/O) to the Micro Clock MkIII – sounded much better. A Forssell mastering converter — sounded great, though not better. My Aurora Lynx mix rig — sounded great, and better. The new Dangerous Music Convert-8 — sounded great, though not better. Obviously, we didn’t try every combination known, but the consistency of the sound with the Micro Clock MkIII was impressive. A solid center image, big bass, and a depth to the soundstage that’s typical of excellent, low-jitter clocking. We walked away saying, “That’s a great little clock!”