[bpcans]

I think it makes things worse, because it increases signal path and i dont know how it can clean up things whitout additional power supply...
I agree with mostly what Mr. Watts are saying.
Decrapifier and additional electronics make everything less transparent and harsh, but...
Stuff like Innuos Phoenix make everything sound way better and real.
Stuff like Ifi and tx usb ultra clean up signal, but add their own noise to the signal and sound very harsh, because of that. Innuos dont add any harshness at all and just improves things by a huge margin.

Arniesb, how right @Rob Watts was about the de-crapifier reducing transparency and adding harshness to the music. I now have my AQ Diamond USB pluggeddirectly into my MacBook Pro, and the offensive Jitterbug is now placed on my Hugo TT2 as a totem, and as a reminder, not to be so hasty when purchasing any piece of audio gear. I will be doing some A/B testing today myself with the AQ Jitterbug de-crapifier to come up with a more definitive understanding.

 

[AndrewOld]

I think it makes things worse, because it increases signal path and i dont know how it can clean up things whitout additional power supply...
I agree with mostly what Mr. Watts are saying.
Decrapifier and additional electronics make everything less transparent and harsh, but...
Stuff like Innuos Phoenix make everything sound way better and real.
Stuff like Ifi and tx usb ultra clean up signal, but add their own noise to the signal and sound very harsh, because of that. Innuos dont add any harshness at all and just improves things by a huge margin.

Here’s a post of Rob Watts where he says the Jitterbug does give an improvement if your laptop is being run from its power supply:

I have finally gotten round to listen to the AQ jitterbug, as a quest to understand where the RF noise problems from the source was coming from - via the mains or the USB.

Firstly - very much - YMWV as RF noise is a funny thing and source noise may affect other parts of the system, so the findings here may well be different in other circumstances.

So I did the tests with just a Win 10 lap-top (jRiver), Dave and pair of Nighthawks, in a hotel in Singapore. The idea was to try to evaluate whether the SQ improvements I heard when disconnecting the lap-top from mains and running off battery was from the USB connection or via the mains supply. Now Dave is galvanically isolated from LF and RF noise, and this makes a huge difference in SQ. But the galvanic isolation is not perfect as there exists a 2pF coupling capacitance. Now you may think 2pF is nothing to worry about; but at 1 GHz it is nearly 80 ohms impedance, so RF noise in the GHz will couple through - and I know that GHz noise is significant in causing noise floor modulation and hence changing the sound quality.

I used my design lap-top, an MSI Intel i7 machine, as it will be noisier than my music lap-top (HP Pavilion) which is very power efficient. This is so it would be easier to hear any changes.

So adding the Audioquest Jitter Bug did indeed improve SQ - it was fairly easy to hear it, with it sounding smoother, warmer, with less sibilance and glare. Instrument separation and focus was better. These are exactly the kind of change I hear with lower RF noise, so it was not unexpected.

Next was to do the listening test with the lap-top on batteries - and then it became impossible to reliably hear the effect of the jitter bug. Additionally, the improvements heard were much smaller with the jitter bug connected when you disconnect the lap-top power. Here is a rough assessment of SQ performance with 100% for best, 0% for worst:

Lap-top battery power, no jitter bug 100%
Lap-top battery power with jitter bug 100%
Lap-top mains power with jitter bug 75%
Lap-top mains power no jitter bug 0%

So what does this tell us? Basically the most significant path of RF is residual coupling via the USB, not via the mains supply as the jitterbug alone gets you most of the way.

Use the jitter bug for mains powered USB sources - it is worth the small cost.

The best sound is still with a Win 10 lap-top on battery and for critical listening that is what I do. Battery operation and Dave's galvanic isolation means effectively perfect RF noise isolation from the source.

Note also Win 10 is technically better than iOS xx, Android or Linux as these driver less USB's do not guarantee bit perfect data at the DAC; but Chord's Win driver does resend faulty packets, so we can guarantee bit perfect data for Dave. It would be interesting to do a listening test of driver less against Win.

Rob

 

[opienor]

As others have reported I have also had some issues with the TOSLINK cable coming loose from the M Scaler. Yesterday I got a Wireworld Nova that snapped perfectly into place and holds a very solid connection. A nice feature are the connections that rotate freely on the cable making it very easy to line them up and eliminates cable twist completely. Highly recommended!

 

[Gadget67]

The jitterbug is probably a moot point for me since I’m now using an optical connection to my MacBook Pro. For the brief time I used it, I perceived a minor improvement so it was interesting to re-read what @Rob Watts had to say in the @AndrewOld post above. The Jitterbug is still return eligible (Amazon) until mid March so I still have time to evaluate it further.

 

[bpcans]

The jitterbug is probably a moot point for me since I’m now using an optical connection to my MacBook Pro. For the brief time I used it, I perceived a minor improvement so it was interesting to re-read what @Rob Watts had to say in the @AndrewOld post above. The Jitterbug is still return eligible (Amazon) until mid March so I still have time to evaluate it further.

Gadget67, in all fairness to myself, I purchased the Jitterbug on a whim when I was running a far less expensive USB cable from my MacBook Pro to my then Chord Qutest DAC. Now that I have an HMS/TT2 combo, the AQ Jitterbug is a nice reminder of where I came from to get where I am now. I’ve been listening to music all morning, and the sound is definitely better without the bug .

 

[Gadget67]

Gadget67, in all fairness to myself, I purchased the Jitterbug on a whim when I was running a far less expensive USB cable from my MacBook Pro to my then Chord Qutest DAC. Now that I have an HMS/TT2 combo, the AQ Jitterbug is a nice reminder of where I came from to get where I am now. I’ve been listening to music all morning, and the sound is definitely better without the bug .

I’m definitely leaning towards returning it...

 

[Icenine2]

Playing back Allman's Fillmore on MFSL SACD and original MFSL Gold Disc. I have upsample up all the way. The Gold disc at first listen sounds better than the SACD.

 

[Icenine2]

Only had the M for a few days and I had been using the White USB input but changed it to the violet auto (like the color). Am I correct there is no difference in these two?
Also out of nowhere the DX buttons went on and changed color along with output. I unplugged it and it went back to off. I read somewhere the buttons will color code with output but I can't get it to do it again. Anyone know how to do that? Thank you.

 

[Gadget67]

Only had the M for a few days and I had been using the White USB input but changed it to the violet auto (like the color). Am I correct there is no difference in these two?
Also out of nowhere the DX buttons went on and changed color along with output. I unplugged it and it went back to off. I read somewhere the buttons will color code with output but I can't get it to do it again. Anyone know how to do that? Thank you.

Here’s a link to Chords online manual; scroll down to 5.3 concerning the incoming sample rate.
https://chordelectronics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/M-Scaler-manual-V1.2.pdf

 

[Icenine2]

Sorry. I'm referring to the two right DX buttons DX down DX up that are non functional

 

[Gadget67]

Sorry. I'm referring to the two right DX buttons DX down DX up that are non functional

Well, they aren’t completely non-functional; you can use them to cycle between high and low brightness levels by pressing the two buttons simultaneously. Otherwise I have no clue! I’ll have to pay attention to what (if anything) they might do.

 

[Icenine2]

No clue here either. I saw Drew on moon audio video review and he said the colors change once in a while on their own and just to ignore it

 

[DJJEZ]

Sorry. I'm referring to the two right DX buttons DX down DX up that are non functional

If you press the dx buttons they cycle through colours but do nothing

 

[ZappaMan]

Well, they aren’t completely non-functional; you can use them to cycle between high and low brightness levels by pressing the two buttons simultaneously. Otherwise I have no clue! I’ll have to pay attention to what (if anything) they might do.

i didnt know it turned on dim mode.

 

[Gadget67]

i didnt know it turned on dim mode.

Here’s a pic of the manual page.