Jitter reduction, best device?

I agree you are probably better off trying a different DAC rather than trying to adjust what you have.

How about a tube dac? I can vouch for the mhdt DACs based on my very positive experience with the Paradisea. These can cost under $500 used.

Or the Benchmark is another way to go worth considering for around a grand.

i would stay away from the benchmark if you are thinking of using the usb port, it is inferior to the coax port.

i would agree that a jitter device will not perform miracles of converting a inferior signal to a fantastic signal. won't happen.

i have multiple setups using jitter devices and external dacs and they "all" have made a big difference in the sound. all connections induce jitter and some devices handle it better than others. why not use a jitter device to clean up the signal before it gets to the dac. garbage in, garbage out. another low cost dac is from audio alchemy if you want to go an inexpensive route. ps audio was at rmaf and they went over some new equipment that they will be coming out with that deals with the jitter issue.

the new audio research dac sounds promising. i heard it at rmaf and it sounded good and the AR rep indicated that they got the usb port down where it is equal to the other ports. something that the current dacs can't claim.

also, if you are using a music server, i isolate mine from the jitter device by using a toslink cable instead of a copper cable. there is no chance of any noise of the computer or the AE to get on this type of cable. if you isolate the jitter device, then you can use a coax or aes cable from the jitter device to go into your external dac.

Boleary3
I believe the Digital lens outperforms all the others, you mention.I got two in my system.One is hooked between the ML-31 transport(extremely well designed) and Sonic Frontiers sfd2-mk2 dac.The sound is awesome.I just can't imagine how it could further improved.The jitter reading I am getting is 14 and when the transport warms up it goes down to 13.I can confirm that the digital lens DOES improves the sound.If you decide to get another dac ,consider the Sonic Frontiers tube dac.
George

For my lawnsale system, I found the Meridian 518 to be the missing link in my PC audio experiments. Jitter without a doubt was my issue and the 518 delivers. I have further utilized this unit as a digital switcher for my sources including the (I know) XM signal out of my HD satellite box.

With solid state amps (Haflers) I'm running my Cal Alpha DAC. With My Rogue 120's I'm running my Museatex Melior DAC (unmodded).

For Redbook, I'm content with my Toshiba SD 9200 into the 518 with either DAC as mentioned above.

Oh by the way, the 518 is also my preamp, running through my DAC directly to my amps. Besides the features I HAVEN'T mentioned, I believe that the Meridian 518 delivers all around in my camp for the price of a cable.

Wow. Appreciate the responses, email included. Though I won't be getting another dac anytime soon, I'll keep the above recommendations for future reference. So has anyone ever published comparisons of the various devices that reduce jitter? From the reading I've done and the posts in this thread, it certainly seems that the digital lens and the meridian 518 are among the best.