DAC improvements slowing down?

Its not these technologies that will deliverthe best DACs, its clever design that reduces jitter, eliminates computer dependency and reduces noise and distortion. These are much more important than 192 versus 96 versus DSD.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

AZjake, If you are happy with the sound of your system, just enjoy your music and all the great new cds that continue to be released. You don't have to keep chasing the state of the art if you don't want to. You'll never catch it anyway.

If you feel that something is lacking in your system, a better Dac can make the cds you already own sound better, as can better speakers, amps etc.

There are so many threads here asking about the best DAC at different price points, but Steve N. always states the correct answer...jitter control is the most important factor in producing the best sound from a DAC.
Design elements such as good isolation from noise and vibration would also be found in a good DAC or CDP.

It's not the DAC chip that plays the most important part in the chain. So in the case of an external DAC, the different components become very important, such as a good transport or dedicated computer and software, and the right cable to carry the signal to the DAC where it will be reclocked.

Well stated Steve.

I see mentions of jitter. I believe most jitter on modern DACs is around 2ns and the BBC did studies that said people could not distinguish below 50ns of jitter. Can anyone tell me what jitter sounds like?