What does Jitter sound like?

Rotarius....THANK YOU!!

Over-clocked under-flow buffer bits blah blah blah blah...

The question was WHAT DOES JITTER SOUND LIKE, and the conversation degraded into a brain battle of engineers. If small amounts of jitter affected sound like small amounts of other distortions, then the above question would have a real answer such as could be given to the following questions:

What does mistracking sound like?
What does a ground-loop sound like?

These are things we can identify. Instead, we're arguing about whether we can even hear it or not, and the final answer (assuming it's something we actually can hear) seems to be "it sounds like less clarity." With an answer like that, you might as well be saying "ummmm... it just sounds worser."

The question was WHAT DOES JITTER SOUND LIKE, and the conversation degraded into a brain battle of engineers

Sorry Dusty...the propellerheads do run on don't they...I'll take your advice and put some more scotch on the bridge of my glasses and go sharpen some pencils.

In the meantime - I believe there is a Stereophile Cd with an example of jitter.

In fact - it would be great if Steve or someone equally knowledgeable would put up a website with downloadable jitter examples...

Dusty,

I suspect jitter as experienced on most decent CD/SACD players sounds just like angels dancing on the head of a pin.

db

Like some deleterious affects in audio, it may be easier to appreciate & to describe in its absence. Sometimes you don't know what you got till its gone. But dancing angels it most definitely is not.

if anecdotal observations are not taken seriously, what is the purpose of asking for advice to assist in the purchase of components ?

there are many threads on this and other discusssion forums asking for opinions on a variety of topics. the elicited opinions would be based upon the perceptions of audiogon members. if such perceptions are too be discounted as to their worth, what is to be gained from initiating threads whose basis is listening experience ?