[Mr.Radar]

Data jitter is where there are slight delays in the data's arrival or if the data arrives in the wrong order and electical jitter is noise in the signal caused by RF interference and dirty power.

 

[imported_Matt_Carter]

Look at it this way. Pretend the coax/tos cable is the buses in which data travels from your RAM to VRAM. And the soundcard/drivers is the Jpeg encoder. Different encoders use different algorithms, manipulation, and can out put at larger sizes and resolutions (comparing* Sampling and bit rate output) which can make the jpeg more clear and vibrant.
Changing you motherboard won’t make the jpeg appear better displayed on your monitor as its just a medium to transfer the 1’s and 0’s.
Yes we all know Coax is susceptible to electrical interference in which the frequencies traveling down the copper wire may be manipulated to a point that the receiving end wouldn’t understand it. But that would be a very apparent corruption resulting in long to very short pauses (Which I guess is the jittering you guys are talking about) But If the music is playing with out pausing I don’t know how using optical over coax gives “sharper highs, tighter bass and better imaging”

 

[Watchdog]

I recall reading an interview in TAS with J Robert Stuart (head of Meridian Audio) and he talked about how jitter affected the sound quality of music. He talked of jitter in the single digit PICOSECONDS being able to affect the quality of sound.

So, I can see how it's entirely possible that jitter will degrade sound quality, but it will sound as if the music is uninterupted.

There are different opinions here, but I'm sorry Matt if I have to decide between believing you or Robert Stuart, I'm going with him.

 

[300_baud]

Matt_Carter:

I can tell the differences between two different toslink cables and a coax cable. You should try it yourself!

Later,
300_baud

 

[breez]

Clearly the S/PDIF standard (and devices) must not be up to the task if it's (relatively) easy to interfere with the signal. Compare it to xDSL connections that travel kilometers in old telephone wires while maintaining data transfer speed of several Mbits per second.

 

[some1x]

You get many more errors on dsl/dial-up. Besides, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.

 

[breez]

There may be errors, but that's why there's error correction implemented (in the standards). And yes, it's a little bit different because it's packet based transfer and there's some latency. But still considering the very short distances and very high quality cables used in audio (and not really high transfer rate), it shouldn't be too hard to move the bits unchanged. How old is S/PDIF anyway?

 

[3rdoptic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by breez Clearly the S/PDIF standard (and devices) must not be up to the task if it's (relatively) easy to interfere with the signal. Compare it to xDSL connections that travel kilometers in old telephone wires while maintaining data transfer speed of several Mbits per second.

its actually TCP that controls what needs to get resent xdsl is just a medium for transfer..

 

[CingKrab]

Does the 0404 have RCA outputs?

 

[lan]

Nope. It has 1/4" TS (unbalanced) female connections. You can get an adaptor at Radio shack to get female RCA jack.

 

[Watchdog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan Nope. It has 1/4" TS (unbalanced) female connections. You can get an adaptor at Radio shack to get female RCA jack.

What's the difference between 1/4" TS and RCA? i.e. How do I hook this sound card up to my amplifier?

 

[lan]

1/4" female looks like a jack you plug in 1/4" headphones. I'm sure you've seen those. It's just physically different than RCA female.

If you get the kind of adaptor I mentioned, you can use your regular RCA interconnects to your amp. The adaptor would be 1/4" TS male to RCA female.

 

[nakor]

I was just about to buy a 1212m(currently I have a revo 7.1), now that the 0404 is out should I get the 0404, the 1212m or not bother and just keep the revo?

 

[lan]

Certainly for sure 0404 is much better than the revo. I'm not sure what the 1212m sounds like yet. I will be picking one up from a fellow neighbor head-fier here in NYC soon.

I will give my 0404 impressions post burnin and initial 1212m impressions later.

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan Certainly for sure 0404 is much better than the revo. I'm not sure what the 1212m sounds like yet. I will be picking one up from a fellow neighbor head-fier here in NYC soon. I will give my 0404 impressions post burnin and initial 1212m impressions later.

Kickass! Do you have a date we can all expect your review?