Does a DAc that Reclocks Remove Jitter from Sonos Connect

@mzkmxcv,

Do you own a SONOS Connect to make an suggestion like...no benefits can be heard from any mods to reduce jitter at the source.

I own one and I know exactly what OP is experiencing. The Connect Box has a very lackluster soundstage and no decent DAC can entirely eliminate incoming jitter. That’s part of the problem, the other issue is it’s mp3 compressed audio.

I have been on fence for a while to try the Wyrd4sound mod. Not sure if it would improve the SQ even if jitter is eliminated at its source.

mp3?  on Sonos? I only use flac from a linked  2Tb NAS or a  lossless Deezer service account.

I did one experiment when Deezer went lossless on Sonos. I played a CD through my Mark Levinson No. 37 transport and my Reimyo DAP777 DAC  and compared it to the same source being streamed via Deezer lossless through Sonos Connect with Bridge  using the same Reimyo DAC-- easy to switch between them-
No audible difference.   Some of the remastered CD's on Deezer are actually better than my old originals.   This is not hard proof of anything but it suggests that the story is not simple.

@lalitk

I do not, but as stated, even an $80 DAC can reduce jitter to beyond human audibility (not present in 16Bit content either).

Also, do you know what jitter sounds like? It sounds like radio static. Jitter has nothing to do with soundstage as you stated. Soundstage can only be affected (before reaching the speakers) by something such as channel crosstalk, not an increased noise floor, the soundstage in an 8Bit file is the same as in a 32Bit file.  
  

mzkmxcv seems to have it right.

After considerable additional online research I found another excellent discussion forum with informed contributors that explains that digital jitter (unlike the analog jitter of vinyl and tape) relates only to frequency modulation, has nothing to do with stereo stage or presence and is lost in the noise floor of any decent modern digital recording. In simple terms, digital jitter in an actual music recording or digital stream is virtually inaudible except under very rare circumstances.
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,109948.0.html

@jefflz

virtually inaudible except under very rare circumstances

Pretty much.

If @audioengr’s measurements are accurate, the SONOS Connect has 9ns of jitter (which I see in the table on the graph, but then for his product, I see it reading 70psec and not 7psec, so not sure), and if your DAC does not jitter reduction, 9ns translates to a noise floor that’s -68dBFS (CD is -96dBFS) or a bit more than 11Bits. Now, he also states that’s a difference of 450x, I don’t know where that number comes from, as the time difference is >1200x more, the bit-depth is <2x more, and the number of bits is ~800x more.

Also keep in mind that the noise floor in 11Bit is still audible, but faintly so. Most all music/tv/movies have 105dB as their peaks/clipping point, and most rooms don’t have a noise floor lower than 30dBC (my open-floorplan living room is ~46dBC, using an actual calibrated mic, not a phone app) even if treated with a good amount of acoustic panels. 105-30=75, not far off from 68. This is also why 24Bit offers no audible benefit for listening, higher bit-depth is only useful for the actual production of the music as they can gain the various recordings of the instruments and whatnot while still having a low noise floor.