What's a "Master Clock" do in relation to an audio component?

I was going to ask elsewhere, but you guys seem pretty knowledgeable.

please leave the clever little ones out of this...

Oh, I think we're safe from CLC's here. (Whew...) Unfortunately, I don't have a real good description at hand for the specifics of how a master clock works with managing digital signals within or between components.

Follow this link for a pretty good explanation for the use of a master clock in a player: http://www.gcaudio.com/cgi-bin/store/showProduct.cgi?id=417

Slbenz

If you want to go really technical about what a "master clock" does for audio:

www.digido.com

Look in the Audio FAQ under "Jitter". It's more on the production side of things but is very relevant to your question.

Thanks guys, very detailed articles.

Just got me interested after reading someone requesting the new 990 feature an Apogee master clock.

Other than the Integra Research RDC-7.1 what other prepros use Apogee for master clock?

I love it that people are looking for features in a ~$1000 prepro that are in a $5000 prepro.

Outlaw has to make compromises somewhere or increase prices. Although it would be interesting to see them make a no-compromise piece, I don't think I could afford it even with the Outlaw discount.

By the way, for what it's worth, I don't think the RDC sounds appreciably better than the 990.