AQ JitterBug with high-end music server/streamer and high-end DAC?

Save your $$ ....full stop...

Its performance improvement quotient is minimal at best (if at all) to nil, even with its own AQ mini-DAC stablemates, the AQ DRAGONFLY or AQ BEETLE.

I passed on the JITTERBUG in a head-to- head bake-off (in...out) with these mini-DACs
- as a secondary “filter” link with my high-end mobile cans with the DRAGONFLY; (just upgrading the cable was a better result) and
- also as a further added-in “filter” link with the BEETLE for my TV output via a top-end Toslink cable. The  high-end glass Toslink cable swap-in was a better choice than the JITTERBUG again.

MY TAKE

Everything in this hobby is built to its pricepoint. The audio  performance follows in lockstep. This is no pathway on the Yellow Brick Road to audio OZ.

Similar idea, the Wyred4Sound Remedy reclocker.


Works best with older DAC's and really bad sources like Apple TV and the like. Internet dongles and appliances.


I upgraded my DAC to the Mytek Brooklyn and there was no benefit anymore.

That's kind of what I expected.  I'll give the JitterBug a shot just because, as I have one already and once I get my higher end DAC and streamer, why not.

The Jitterbug works well for me with a really bad source - my iPhone while connected to Apple Carplay in my VW.  Actually quite a nice improvement it makes there and I think I got it for $49.  I would never use it in a home hi-fi setup though.

I prefer ifi Audio iSilencer3 With iPurifier3 works well with Pangea USB Premier SE cable to Mac Book Pro

I attached a Jitterbug from a Seagate 8 TB HD into a Cambridge Audio 851N streamer and heard an immediate improvement.  The sound seemed warmer and less harsh.  I was not using an audiophile grade USB cable, so I'm not sure if that made a difference.  For my money, it was worth the $69, and added one to my car a short time later with satisfying results.

I've recently added the Audioquest Diamond USB 3.0 to the connection from the HD to the 851N and have not yet tried adding the Jitterbug.  I'm still reveling in the dramatic difference in the sound that the Diamond cable made to my system.

I tried the Jitterbug and it completely wrecked my sound.  It sucked all the life outta my recordings and I returned it.