Mcelio, Stereophile measured 258ps jitter on Toslink output. Jitter
artifacts on analog output corresponded to about 2400ps jitter.
Little jittery is very loose term. To me 258ps is still OK (requires some
suppression) while 2400ps is pretty bad. I remember reading that 50ps is
already audible and very good clocks are much better than that.
Jitter is a system thing - even 1ps AE would still suffer higher jitter
created by system noise since Toslink transitions are pretty slow. Coax
output would be faster but then you have to pay attention to characteristic
impedance of the cable and impedance matching. I have both AE and
DAC plugged into power conditioner to avoid any system noise that could
possibly come from mains. In addition Benchmark DAC1 has pretty good
jitter suppression. Benchmark DAC1 in comparison to CDP (Cambridge
CD4SE) sounded too clean at first. Many people perceive jitter also as
poor image and harshness, perhaps because noise screws-up everything.
My AE is first generation (model A1264), perhaps I should upgrade to
second generation that has lower jitter (but not always) - discussion
below:
[url]http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/466-measurements-
first-and-second-generation-apple-airport-express/[/url]
Interesting review of latest AE:
[url]
http://kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express-audio-quality-2014.htm
[/url]
artifacts on analog output corresponded to about 2400ps jitter.
Little jittery is very loose term. To me 258ps is still OK (requires some
suppression) while 2400ps is pretty bad. I remember reading that 50ps is
already audible and very good clocks are much better than that.
Jitter is a system thing - even 1ps AE would still suffer higher jitter
created by system noise since Toslink transitions are pretty slow. Coax
output would be faster but then you have to pay attention to characteristic
impedance of the cable and impedance matching. I have both AE and
DAC plugged into power conditioner to avoid any system noise that could
possibly come from mains. In addition Benchmark DAC1 has pretty good
jitter suppression. Benchmark DAC1 in comparison to CDP (Cambridge
CD4SE) sounded too clean at first. Many people perceive jitter also as
poor image and harshness, perhaps because noise screws-up everything.
My AE is first generation (model A1264), perhaps I should upgrade to
second generation that has lower jitter (but not always) - discussion
below:
[url]http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/466-measurements-
first-and-second-generation-apple-airport-express/[/url]
Interesting review of latest AE:
[url]
http://kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express-audio-quality-2014.htm
[/url]