Jitter reduction, best device?

This may have been addressed in other threads, but how does one know for sure that jitter is the issue when not satisfied with the digital sound?

I use a Meridian 518 and besides jitter, I rely on its gain function which overcomes the low recording level of many discs issued in the 80s. I would also recommend the EAD 7000 Mk I-III. Still serviceable, and handles jitter and sound is warm. I use an EAD Theatermaster 8000 that incorporates the jitter technology of the above dac. Reasonably priced used. Another possibility is the Apogee Big Ben which is a reclocking device that is not often seen on Audiogon because of its professional use, but many on Ebay and supposedly does a bang up job as to lowering jitter

Mig007, I also have a EAD DSP-7000 Mk II with the balanced output option that I picked up on the 'Gon. Sounds great with my Haflers and my GFP-750 in passive mode. Have you ever experimented with the 4x/8x oversampling switch? I've never opened mine.

By the way, to the original poster Boleary3 - I just want to be clear that I am not claiming the 518 to be the best device to reduce jitter. I am quite certain that Audioengr may be able to supply you with a more qualified answer. I found the 518 to be a budget alternative in taming the jitter as a result of the path I took with my PC audio endeavor. I was ultimately pleased with its performance and versatility. I just couldn't see investing big bucks for marginally better performance for an audio "transport option" that is still being developed.

I have fiddled with that switch on an EAD Theatermaster Classic and noticed little difference if any. Really did not experiment. I've since switched the processor out with an EAD Theatermaster 8000. The 518 may not be the best anti-jitter device, but it certainly is the best bargain for taming digitalis.

Again, thanks for the responses, this has really been a pleasure and an education. I recently acquired the MSB Gold dac and yesterday I flipped the upsampling switch. It made a big difference in reducing the the edginess of the sound.Prior to the msb I just used an M-Audio Audiophile usb dac connected to my computor. It sounded significantly inferior to my cd player so I hardly used it. Now the computor, with the msb, upsampled, in the chain sounds far better than the cd player. At this point Im wondering how big a jump in sound quality an anti-jitter device will make. If the new more expensive devices will make a substantial improvement I'll patiently save my nickels and dimes (as well as my marriage!)and get one in the hopefully not to distant future. If nearly the same improvement can be gotten with a used older device for less than half the price of the latest available I'll be impatient and get one now. If, on the other hand, adding another device in the chain won't make that big a difference why add an anti-jitter device? Obviously I'm a newbie at this and have done just enough reading to be dangerous.....but hey, you gotta start somewhere......Thanks in advance for any more replies that happen here.