Review of Audioquest JitterBug - USB Data & Power Noise Filter.

[Music Path]

 

LOL

 

[sheldaze]

I plan to bring this to a headphone meet, taking place nearby in a week. Upon initial listen, to my ears it is not a subtle change. I cannot describe in much detail the change (only listened to a few songs), however I like the sound. But what frequencies are added/subtracted/etc. I am not yet comfortable to say. Here is the chain:
 
MacBook > Audirvana+ > JitterBug > USB 2.0 > Bifrost Uber > Pyst > Element > Headphones
 
I really hope to get some feedback from other people's ears, and post it here in about a week, along with any thoughts I have as I listen to this over the course of the week.

 

[castleofargh]

can't any of you just loop the sound with on ok-ish soundcard and record a piece of song(same piece and short for copyright reasons) with and without?
I always wonder why there are no such things done for all those gizmos. I'm very sure that just like the wyrd and other magic boxes, the effect can go from bad, to nothing in the vast majority of cases, to actual improvement with a few badly designed DAC usb inputs.
if people did this, we would have incentives to use it with some DACs more than with others, and find out when it's just pure snake oil and people's placebo.

 

[sheldaze]

  can't any of you just loop the sound with on ok-ish soundcard and record a piece of song(same piece and short for copyright reasons) with and without?
I always wonder why there are no such things done for all those gizmos. I'm very sure that just like the wyrd and other magic boxes, the effect can go from bad, to nothing in the vast majority of cases, to actual improvement with a few badly designed DAC usb inputs.
if people did this, we would have incentives to use it with some DACs more than with others, and find out when it's just pure snake oil and people's placebo.

I would not use the word "placebo" to describe what I heard. Instead I would characterize it as a "delta", which may or may not be called "pleasant" or "better" (or "worse") based upon the source material and the DAC. To me, there was definitely an alteration. Now this alteration may be recordable, but I still would not think it helpful - unless one recorded every type of music available (not even sure what that means).
 
So I chose more to focus on the alteration. Which way that alteration goes, I have yet to characterize. And I thought it would be helpful to have a group, rather than just my ears, to listen and provide feedback. Not scientific - nope. But I don't think this is the science thread, so it's the best I could provide 

 

 

[Krutsch]

  can't any of you just loop the sound with on ok-ish soundcard and record a piece of song(same piece and short for copyright reasons) with and without?
I always wonder why there are no such things done for all those gizmos. I'm very sure that just like the wyrd and other magic boxes, the effect can go from bad, to nothing in the vast majority of cases, to actual improvement with a few badly designed DAC usb inputs.
if people did this, we would have incentives to use it with some DACs more than with others, and find out when it's just pure snake oil and people's placebo.

Here's the part that I find amazing: if you look back to a previous post in this thread, JA from Stereophile runs measured, objective tests with the Jitterbug and found no deltas. So, if you think the JA knows what he is doing (and I do), then the results are in: it's snake oil.
 
And, yet, JA goes on to say he hears a delta and anoints it as recommended. Huh?
 
I can play the subjectivist with the best of them, but I am baffled by this whole discussion. How can you improve electrical noise issues emanating from a USB's power supply without an external power supply?

 

[castleofargh]

Originally Posted by sheldaze /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I would not use the word "placebo" to describe what I heard. Instead I would characterize it as a "delta", which may or may not be called "pleasant" or "better" (or "worse") based upon the source material and the DAC. To me, there was definitely an alteration. Now this alteration may be recordable, but I still would not think it helpful - unless one recorded every type of music available (not even sure what that means).
 
So I chose more to focus on the alteration. Which way that alteration goes, I have yet to characterize. And I thought it would be helpful to have a group, rather than just my ears, to listen and provide feedback. Not scientific - nope. But I don't think this is the science thread, so it's the best I could provide 

 

and there is nothing wrong with that. if anything, you're a consumer, it shouldn't be up to you to prove or disprove anything. but as the manufacturers rely on marketing instead of transparency, because being honest isn't making enough money nowadays, the consumer is often the only one that can  check things.

now about appreciation and deciding if a change is a good change, here is what I think. when I buy a piece of art or some music, I'm fine using my subjectivity to evaluate the goods. now when it's about an electrical device that claims to improve signal and make a digital signal warmer(I really can't get over this)...  then I do like to see proof of the claims, as they are very easy to measure and have nothing to do with taste or subjectivity. again it should be the job of the manufacturer to provide evidence for their own claims, I'm not trying to blame the users here.
 
if you take the same idea with the wyrd, they did clearly say that they didn't make any claim of improvement. so if we get some, great, if we don't, well they didn't lie. it's still a magic box, but at least the marketing is honest.
 
 here the website writes

measurably reduces unwanted noise currents and parasitic resonances. It also reduces jitter and packet errors

well if it's measurable, where are the measurements? under what particular condition?
 
claims without evidence! each time they occur, my spider alarm goes off.  even if the product ends up doing what it claims to do, it's really poor practice to make claims without backing them up.

 

[Hi Rez]

  So this pairs well with usb regen? Anybody tested it?

Just received the Jitterbugs yesterday - yes, and yes.  
 
For me the Jitterbug was additive.  Adding the Regen wasn't a subtle change.  The Jitterbugs lowered the background noise further, but were more subtle.  This was in both my home system (2 Regen x 2 Jitterbug) and my work transportable system (1 Regen x 1 Jitterbug).  
 
For me it was easier to observe the change in my work system as the Jitterbug could be quickly swapped in and out.  I actually believe they made a larger effect on my home rig, but the time required to swap them in and out makes it harder to positively confirm.

 

[mks100]

Apologize in advance for skimming through and not seeing this if someone already posted.  Can it be placed on the DragonTail downstream?  I thought it was intended to be placed at the PC's USB port?  Thanks in advance.

 

[mks100]

Contacted AudioQuest this afternoon.  Either configuration works.

 

[porridgecup]

My desktop PC has 10 USB ports. Obviously I'm not going to buy 10 of these things to stuff every port. Should I only put one in the port horizontally touching the port I use to connect my DAC as well as one for the DAC itself?

 

[Mediahound]

  My desktop PC has 10 USB ports. Obviously I'm not going to buy 10 of these things to stuff every port. Should I only put one in the port horizontally touching the port I use to connect my DAC as well as one for the DAC itself?

If it's up to Audioquest, they would have you put one in every USB slot, including your wifi router: https://instagram.com/p/6iMC-rqHcA/?taken-by=_audioquest_

 

[Krutsch]

 
If it's up to Audioquest, they would have you put one in every USB slot, including your wifi router: https://instagram.com/p/6iMC-rqHcA/?taken-by=_audioquest_

No kidding... I enjoy being a subjectivist, sometimes, but this thing is ridiculous.
 
Bill Low is truly a genius. He understands that if its *only* $49.00 US, people will have to try one and their expectation bias does all the work. But don't stop there; put another one in an unused port - hear the magic?

 

[Mediahound]

 
No kidding... I enjoy being a subjectivist, sometimes, but this thing is ridiculous.
 
Bill Low is truly a genius. He understands that if its *only* $49.00 US, people will have to try one and their expectation bias does all the work. But don't stop there; put another one in an unused port - hear the magic?

Exactly. He believes even if the product makes your sound worse, it's a good thing:  https://youtu.be/mo-MjUuxTUI?t=4m23s

 

[Krutsch]

 
Exactly. He believes even if the product makes your sound worse, it's a good thing:  https://youtu.be/mo-MjUuxTUI?t=4m23s

Wow... every audiophile on earth should listen to that interview. He's a real salesman.
Head-Fi'ers on this thread should ensure they have their Jitterbugs plugged in while they watch and listen to Bill tell it like it is... 

 

 

[IBPhoenix09]

  My desktop PC has 10 USB ports. Obviously I'm not going to buy 10 of these things to stuff every port. Should I only put one in the port horizontally touching the port I use to connect my DAC as well as one for the DAC itself?

That configuration would work certainly. I'm not sure if, aside from having the first one in signal path, if the placement of the second matters as much. Might be an interesting experiment. Which DAC do you use and are your usb ports all on the same bus(are they all grouped together)? Since the limit is two per bus if your usb ports are on different buses you could theoretically have more than two.