Slow down guys. Lots of incorrect information in this thread already. I'm assuming everyone is posting in good faith.
First digital streams have no jitter. Jitter occurs in conversions due to a clock not being perfect. No where in a .wav file for instance is timing encoded other than the rate of conversion. No timing is in it.
Now SPDIF embeds the clock in the format. So a receiving DAC has to lock onto that stream to extract timing. Usually with a PLL. Jitter can be in that signal and various DACs vary in their ability to filter it out or lock onto it.
USB does not work that way. Clocking is done at DAC chip by a free running clock that does not lock onto anything. Usually this is very low in jitter.
So the Op describes his DAC not locking onto an SPDIF source with skips and dropouts. It could be due to an overly jittery SPDIF signal or a DAC with poor ability to lock on. A reclocker in the middle of that could clean up the signal so he gets a good lock.
Now generally if you have a good lock it is very, very, uncommon for jitter to be at audible levels. Cannot say it cannot happen, but almost never does. At that point one source might have more or less jitter, but they won't result in slightly better or worse sound quality in terms that are perceptible.