pc audio paranoia: jitter induced in system?
Feb 24, 2006 at 1:31 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

uzziah

Headphoneus Supremus
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been thinking about the pitfalls of pc audio, and started thinking about possible problems (jitter i assume) induced in the pc. so say you use accurate rip and it tells you your data from your rip is perfect, but does this take into account spaces between data signals (jitter)? your data goes to your hard drive, gets stored all over the place, and then when you go to play it back is it possible to induce more jitter issues? i recall reading somewhere where someone suggested having all your audio files on one hard drive, or something to that effect. it seems strange to me that folks can be so concerned with the quality of their digital audio cables, but no one seems to think about the cables inside the computer. am i missing something or aren't the cables inside just as important as the one from your sound card or motherboard? perhaps someone could help me understand all this. i guess when i hear folks talking about their cd players being superior transports to pc, i tend to wonder if a pc can ever really be considered a high end transport? perhaps someone can help me understand the issues here, but it seems like there are so many possibilities to induce jitter into audio playback in pc audio.

assuming one is using an external dac of course
 
Feb 24, 2006 at 3:47 PM Post #2 of 4
It doesn't matter how data is read off the CD or HDD, as long as it has all the right bits, because the data is buffered and clocked on the soundcard itself. Other than the soundcard, no other PC component should have an effect on jitter.
 
Feb 24, 2006 at 4:15 PM Post #3 of 4
So far what i have read conclusion Is computers can maybe be even better than highend cd transports or as good if you get analog to digital conversion part out from computer and also to good quality optical/coax output part with low jitter oscillators.

So far i really dont know but i am thinking getting squeezebox 3 mainly for this reason. They even advertise low jitter on their digital output and have audiophiles forum. People seem to think it as excellent digital transport.

Now you cant get sound from games/movies with that. I know but its only for music listening
smily_headphones1.gif
I use external dvd player for movies because it get too damn expensive when you have hundreds of dvds to store them even with todays low harddisk prices. Music compresses nicely with flac and doesnt take that much space.

Only problem with this solution is price. Its more expensive than average sound card or usb solution like m-audio transit.
 
Feb 24, 2006 at 4:49 PM Post #4 of 4
Quote:

Originally Posted by needgoodphones
It doesn't matter how data is read off the CD or HDD, as long as it has all the right bits, because the data is buffered and clocked on the soundcard itself. Other than the soundcard, no other PC component should have an effect on jitter.


ah soooooo... this is very interesting. i was wondering about this myself.
 

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