AudioQuest JitterBug USB Filter Review

[100rounddrum]

The DAC performance is the only link in the chain that gives you an indication of audible difference.

The Jitterbug is marketed a product that assists the DAC in doing one of its functions, namely mitigating the effects of jitter from source + transmission. But the test showed that it fails to help even a "bad" DAC like the Schiit Modi 2.

Also, the teardown shows that the Jitterbug isn't anything but a simple passive filter. It does nothing that any modern run-of-the-mill DAC shouldn't already do 100 times better on its own.



Why would parasitic noise from the USB power rail elevate the treble?



Other than ground loops, noise via USB should only be of concern if the DAC is exceptionally badly engineered.

It literally is in the openingspost... Input noise from USB modulates with the signal, and the distortion is audible as a more fatiguing treble, not necessarily more quantity of treble.

 

[Killingbeans]

It literally is in the openingspost... Input noise from USB modulates with the signal, and the distortion is audible as a more fatiguing treble, not necessarily more quantity of treble.

I just looked, but couldn't find it. Are you talking about the marketing blurb from AudioQuest?

 

[100rounddrum]

I just looked, but couldn't find it. Are you talking about the marketing blurb from AudioQuest?

I quote from the openingspost “If anything, a bit of noise sometimes helps give that illusion (due to increased high frequencies).”

 

[Helicopter]

I will admit my Schiit Hel plugged into a PC with magnetic HDD and into the wall adapter for power sometimes acts up when I am about to get a phone call or text message, or when the HDD is working.

The thing is, the problem is infrequent, and a device like this is incapable of changing it.

 

[100rounddrum]

I will admit my Schiit Hel plugged into a PC with magnetic HDD and into the wall adapter for power sometimes acts up when I am about to get a phone call or text message, or when the HDD is working.

The thing is, the problem is infrequent, and a device like this is incapable of changing it.

Do you have healthy hearing? It could also be hearing damage that prevents members from hearing any difference.

I mean I recently read a post that someone found the HD800 and HD650 to sound the same. So hearing damage could be the trend here.

 

[Killingbeans]

I quote from the openingspost “If anything, a bit of noise sometimes helps give that illusion (due to increased high frequencies).”

I stand (partly) corrected. The full quote is this:

I also don't know how noise causes sound depth to decrease. If anything, a bit of noise sometimes helps give that illusion (due to increased high frequencies).

Meaning that noise (not USB power rail noise specifically) can give a pleasing amount of elevated treble(or just increased volume?) that results in an illusion of more depth.

The part about fatigue comes from the blurb?

 

[100rounddrum]

I stand (partly) corrected. The full quote is this:



Meaning that noise (not USB power rail noise specifically) can give a pleasing amount of elevated treble(or just increased volume?) that results in an illusion of more depth.

The part about fatigue comes from the blurb?

No, you can make every headphone to sound the same with EQ. Subjective quality of sound doesn’t exist, everything is the same once EQ’ed with a graph.

And every modern amp and DAC sounds the same.

Ever heard about QUALITY of sound, ie. low distortion treble that is smoother on your human ears vs treble with high distortion?

 

[Helicopter]

Do you have healthy hearing? It could also be hearing damage that prevents members from hearing any difference.

I mean I recently read a post that someone found the HD800 and HD650 to sound the same. So hearing damage could be the trend here.

These are unmistakable interference. Anyone who can have a conversation without hearing aids would hear it, but it is a quirk. I never had this happen with my Schiit Modi3 or Modius. It only happens for a few seconds every couple hours or so. I think the HDD noise might be a ground loop, and the phone thing is obviously RF. My son has a Crosley all in one that makes the same cellphone RF noise.

 

[Killingbeans]

No, you can make every headphone to sound the same with EQ. Subjective quality of sound doesn’t exist, everything is the same once EQ’ed with a graph.

And every modern amp and DAC sounds the same.

I tend to agree with you. Some will have comfort zones that are more restricted than others, but for the most part if you respect those, audible differences will be a rarity.

The comment Amir made in the OP was a hypothetical one about adding an audible amount of noise to a signal. The real world is a different matter.

 

[100rounddrum]

I tend to agree with you. Some will have comfort zones that are more restricted than others, but for the most part if you respect those, audible differences will be a rarity.

The comment Amir made in the OP was a hypothetical one about adding an audible amount of noise to a signal. The real world is a different matter.

Yes. Quality of sound, ie low distortion vs high distortion, has no audible difference between different headphones. Every headphone has the same audible quality of sound.

I have some free earbuds from an airplane ride, I can make them sound exactly the same as the Sennheiser HE-1 with EQ.

 

[100rounddrum]

In fact, we have no ears. They’re not objectively called “ears” in the absolute sense, since there are so many languages that use a different word to describe our ears.

Thus with that fact, it means we have no ears, and no hearing either, since that’s also a subjective English term. It’s all placebo.

Who is to say that our “hearing” is real? Is there a measurement for it? I’m not talking about hearing tests, but measurements of our “hearing”.

 

[amirm]

In fact, we have no ears. They’re not objectively called “ears” in the absolute sense, since there are so many languages that use a different word to describe our ears.

Thus with that fact, it means we have no ears, and no hearing either, since that’s also a subjective English term. It’s all placebo.

Who is to say that our “hearing” is real? Is there a measurement for it? I’m not talking about hearing tests, but measurements of our “hearing”.

This is off topic. Create a different thread if you want. It doesn't belong here.

 

[100rounddrum]

This is off topic. Create a different thread if you want. It doesn't belong here.

My point is, everything sounds the same, yet it can sound different. The fact that there is a measured lower distortion with the Jitterbug, means it’s objectively better.

Again, some people don’t hear that, many others including me do. That’s the part where people either agree or not, but fact is there is a small measured difference, and I can hear that.

 

[Veri]

Again, some people don’t hear that, many others including me do. That’s the part where people either agree or not, but fact is there is a small measured difference, and I can hear that.

Uh-huh.... so can hear stuff down 120dB in level, is that right? Downright impressive, if not, erm, impossible.

 

[Killingbeans]

The fact that there is a measured lower distortion with the Jitterbug

but fact is there is a small measured difference

In this review? Where?

 

[100rounddrum]

In this review? Where?

First post. If you don’t see well, I suggest to see an eye doctor.

Jitterbug measures a couple of 0.000x times better than without, so it objectively improves the sound of the source. Again you may be not able to hear that, but I can.

 

[Veri]

First post. If you don’t see well, I suggest to see an eye doctor.

This is getting hostile, again if you mean something so far down in level only the analyser can pick it up, you've got to be kidding if that's your sole argument in the whole "I can hear a difference" stance. You are kidding yourself.

 

[100rounddrum]

This is getting hostile, again if you mean something so far down in level only the analyser can pick it up, you've got to be kidding if that's your sole argument in the whole "I can hear a difference" stance. You are kidding yourself.

Who is to say our ears can’t pick it up? My ears are healthy, and they can pick the sound difference up that is measured.

Is there an objective study that says our ears can’t pick up that low difference in level, when they are healthy (very important factor)?

 

[Veri]

Who is to say our ears can’t pick it up? My ears are healthy, and they can pick the sound difference up that is measured.

There are actual, science-based thresholds on what is and isn't audible. That little line at -120dB tends to be the hard limit at where things become simply impossible to hear. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-thresholds-of-amp-and-dac-measurements.5734/

If you are human, that is

 

[100rounddrum]

There are actual, science-based thresholds on what is and isn't audible. That little line at -120dB tends to be the hard limit at where things become simply impossible to hear. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-thresholds-of-amp-and-dac-measurements.5734/

If you are human, that is

That study is based on a potential threshold, not an absolute one. Thus meaning it’s pointless in every single way.

Until the day comes that our hearing can be perfectly measured (not tested, but measured), it is a fact that I’m hearing a difference with the Jitterbug that has and can be measured.