What does Jitter sound like?

I think a good A/B switching with zero lag would be the best way to hear jitter and describe exactly what it does to the sound

I can't do pefectly zero lag as the DSP amp takes two seconds to switch some pretty clunky relays - but this is close enough. I also would need to run it through my DSP amp as this has a multitude of inputs (toslink or SPDIF) and precise volume level matching capability. If the improvement cannot be heard through this DSP with AKM AK4382 192Khz/24 bit DAC's and a Crystal CS3310 analog attenuator and Burr Brown op amps then it is probably not worth the trouble as I would also need to upgrade this amp which is probably several thousand.

If I need to go to completely separate signal paths then it negates the possibility of A/B ing properly without moving and while seated at the listening position (with a remote in hand). If this were the case, then I am not really sure I could give up the convenience of the DSP unless the difference was truly impressive...

Having samples with jitter to compare would be meaningless unless the amount of jitter is quantified. Adding jitter to the point of making it an order of magnitude higher (nano seconds) than most decent players would not prove anything to me. Can anyone demonstrate that music through a cdp with around 300-400 ps of jitter as tested by stereophile would somehow gain astonishing resoluton by decreasing the jitter to say 100 ps as claimed by lessloss and the like? Does jitter get increasingly irrelevant as the sampling frequency is increased in the same player with a cheap clock, switching power supply and all?

Rotarius,

Having samples with jitter to compare would be meaningless unless the amount of jitter is quantified.

I agree. If you are interested there is an AES Paper published where they studied the audible effects of jitter:

Theoretical and Audible Effects of Jitter on Digital Audio Quality Benjamin, Eric; Gannon, Benjamin
AES Preprint: 4826 => these guys are from Dolby Labs so I suspect the work was thoroughly conducted but you never know. Certainly many audiophiles seem to disagree as they claim audible improvments when jitter is reduced from around 1 Nanosec to 200 psecs.

The AES paper concludes that 30 nanoseconds was the threshold of audibility on music....but specifcally designed test signals brought the threshold down to about 20 nanoseconds of jitter. They tried to use forms of jitter that are most easily audible - principally by minimizing the effect of masking (where a loud signal will mask a nearby frequencies at lower signal levels - jitter can be simulated to give the greatest frequency separation between the real audio signal and jitter induced distortion such that it has highest chance of audibility).

As I mentioned I am willing to test a solution if one exists for a few hundred....my jitter straight from my CD players must be around 1 nanosec (if specifications can be trusted). So I probably have what many would regard as levels of jitter that should be just about audible.

Shadorne - this paper is more meaningless than my jitter samples. The system and music tracks used for this test was a joke. No conclusions can be drawn from this study IMO.

At least with my jitter sample (requested by many on Head-Fi), you can hear the difference between a standard CD and a re-written CD. It will prove that the jitter with your CD player and a commercial CD IS audible if you hear ANY difference.

Steve N.

It will prove that the jitter with your CD player and a commercial CD IS audible if you hear ANY difference.

Excellent - if it is indeed proven then you might consider an AES paper to corect these misleading studies - that is probably how to best spread the word..