[rangkasa]

I plan to connect my rig with Airport Express and one the fellow Head-fi suggest to use jitter reducer.

I am trying to educate my self since I am pretty new to audiophile.

My first question will be can I hear jitter . . . or only an experienced audiophile can hear jitter in the sound. How much improvements can I get if I use an anti-jitter box such as PACE CAR?

 

[rangkasa]

Oh . . . one more thing how critical is it for listening enjoyment to use anti jittery box

Thanks

 

[Oliver :)]

I assume you will hook up a dedicated DAC to the APX unit? As you can read on Stereophile, the jitter is actually quite high if you use the analog output but if you use the digital out it will all be fine. Regardless of those measurements, I never heard any jitter problems when using the analog out. It's not audiophile level but sounds ok otherwise. Just be sure your network is all on G- or N-level speed, with no B devices slowing it down. Too little network bandwidth can result in signal dropouts and those you will hear.

 

[bigshot]

Jitter is inaudible at the levels it occurs in even the cheapest stereo equipment. The whole concept of jitter exists to sell mysterious black boxes to unsuspecting home stereo enthusiasts.

My advice is to set up your system and see how it sounds. If something seems wrong, figure out the problem and find out how to fix it. If you try to correct theoretical problems before they even exist, you are going to waste money.

See ya
Steve

 

[rangkasa]

Thank you for the warning

 

[poo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif My advice is to set up your system and see how it sounds. If something seems wrong, figure out the problem and find out how to fix it. If you try to correct theoretical problems before they even exist, you are going to waste money.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[Oliver :)]

Was jitter ever really an audible issue? Last time I roamed the grounds of vintage DACs I saw quite a number of jitter-boxes but seemingly they pretty much dried up at least ten years ago.

 

[krmathis]

I say; drop an jitter reducer.

I have been using AirPort Express (I own two) since it was released in the summer of 2004, and the last 2 1/2 years with its optical out to an external DAC. So far had no audio jitter problems, and not more than a couple of handful dropouts.
Just hook it up and enjoy!

 

[audioengr]

Someday you will have a resolving system and then jitter will be important. All of us are at different stages of development of our audio systems. Mine is completely modded and has been upgraded for more than 30 years. It has to be world-class or I could not develop world-class products.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

 

[bigshot]

Not being able to hear jitter in a system is no reflection on anyone's "life journey" or the quality of their equipment. The only reason to spend money on black boxes to remove error that is 100 times below the range of audibility is to assuage one's OCD.

Jitter is a hoodoo.

See ya
Steve

 

[blessingx]

If you want to tackle jitter, I suggest this experiment.

 

[lan]

My system is also basically fully modded. I would have to agree that unless you are going for a high level of performance, it doesn't matter. The same ideology exists in other topics where high performance is wanted.

 

[wilsynet]

If the effects of jitter aren't audible, then why do companies like, say, Benchmark advertise that their designs are jitter-immune?

 

[bigshot]

Just about all home stereo components are "jitter immune".

See ya
Steve

 

[wilsynet]

We'll have to agree to disagree I suppose. You probably also think that cables make no difference.

In my experience, on a sufficiently resolving system, jitter matters.

If you're listening to home stereo equipment purchased from Best Buy, I agree that the results to your ears, anyone's ears is likely indistinguishable.

But here's an article in Stereophile with nice graphs and EE sounding terms and buzz words like "Journal of the Audio Engineering Society":

Stereophile: Jitter, Bits, & Sound Quality

Here's another page by Benchmark:

Benchmark Media -- Jitter and Its Effects

I guess these guys are just full of hooey. And yet Benchmark sells one of the most popular DACs out there, considered by many to represent incredible value, to be superior to the Sony Receiver you bought at Best Buy that is, as you say, immune to jitter, and here Benchmark is claiming that for them, what makes them better basically comes down to jitter reduction.

[ Personally, I don't care for the Benchmark sound; I'd rather have an Empirical Audio DAC or one of the various NOS DACs. ]