2. digital
  3. 140110-20253

DAC's : The missing feature: Signal quality

One thing I wish DAC's would provide is some idea of how much jitter and noise a particular input provides. This is something which I think with a little work could be gleaned from the input circuits.

I want something that tells me "woah, that's a really dirty signal coming in, but i"ll do the best I can with it."

One common source of noise is ground loops. Another may be high jitter from a source like Apple TV. This would also help us evaluate the benefits (if any) of various signal cleaners and reclockers.

Best,
E
erik_squires
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Depending on your budget Ifi Audio has a Usb -3 purifier$129 a steal,  that removes 40 dB of noise , plus regenerates a totally new signal
parts quality excellent

I have 2 iFi SPDIF iPurifiers in my home theater system to reduce jitter.  Makes big difference for movies.  For 2-channel, my Synchro-Mesh reduces jitter more.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

ianrodger
164 posts
 
I remember a Darko review of a DAC, Schiitt from memory, where he stated that the pulsing (my word) of an input light meant that the upstream source signal was not as good as it could be, due to jitter (again, my word).So, the technology out there.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

There is no way this was a jitter detector.  This was a classic S/PDIF receiver error detector.  Even my DAC has this.

Most logic families used in DACs are too slow to make these type of determinations.  We are talking about gates with propagation delays of 1nsec trying to detect a jitter of 10psec.  Not going to happen.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

erik_squires OP
16,185 posts
 
Hey Steve! I saw your purifier on your web site. One thing that caught my eye was incompatability with XMOS based inputs. Is this because they require a +5 V input?
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

erik - Purifier??  I don't know what product this is.  Do you mean the Short-Block?

There is no incompatibility with XMOS-based USB interfaces.  Sometimes they need +5V from the USB cable depending on the design.  The SB cuts this voltage.  It doesn't matter because it out of production now.

I would highly recommend this product for USB:

https://sotm-usa.com/collections/sotm-ultra/products/copy-of-tx-usbultra-regenerator-1

This is the ONLY thing I have tried that makes my USB almost as good as my Ethernet interfaces.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

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