Jitter reduction, best device?

Mig007, I also have a EAD DSP-7000 Mk II with the balanced output option that I picked up on the 'Gon. Sounds great with my Haflers and my GFP-750 in passive mode. Have you ever experimented with the 4x/8x oversampling switch? I've never opened mine.

By the way, to the original poster Boleary3 - I just want to be clear that I am not claiming the 518 to be the best device to reduce jitter. I am quite certain that Audioengr may be able to supply you with a more qualified answer. I found the 518 to be a budget alternative in taming the jitter as a result of the path I took with my PC audio endeavor. I was ultimately pleased with its performance and versatility. I just couldn't see investing big bucks for marginally better performance for an audio "transport option" that is still being developed.

I have fiddled with that switch on an EAD Theatermaster Classic and noticed little difference if any. Really did not experiment. I've since switched the processor out with an EAD Theatermaster 8000. The 518 may not be the best anti-jitter device, but it certainly is the best bargain for taming digitalis.

Again, thanks for the responses, this has really been a pleasure and an education. I recently acquired the MSB Gold dac and yesterday I flipped the upsampling switch. It made a big difference in reducing the the edginess of the sound.Prior to the msb I just used an M-Audio Audiophile usb dac connected to my computor. It sounded significantly inferior to my cd player so I hardly used it. Now the computor, with the msb, upsampled, in the chain sounds far better than the cd player. At this point Im wondering how big a jump in sound quality an anti-jitter device will make. If the new more expensive devices will make a substantial improvement I'll patiently save my nickels and dimes (as well as my marriage!)and get one in the hopefully not to distant future. If nearly the same improvement can be gotten with a used older device for less than half the price of the latest available I'll be impatient and get one now. If, on the other hand, adding another device in the chain won't make that big a difference why add an anti-jitter device? Obviously I'm a newbie at this and have done just enough reading to be dangerous.....but hey, you gotta start somewhere......Thanks in advance for any more replies that happen here.

Further to Mapman's question, which was not answered. How does one know if jitter is a problem? "Digitalis"? Does that mean the shrill (un-tubelike) sound of many CDs?
Mike19

Mmarvin19,

I've read a good bit on line about this and it is still clear as mud to me how to diagnose a jitter problem as opposed to other forms of unpleasant things in sound reproduction.

I think I understand what jitter is and how some kinds can be offensive and others not, similar to various distortions found in vinyl playback. In both cases, the only thing I find I can trust is my ears to tell me whether things are going right or not.

I would consider buying a jitter reduction device if I knew how to conclusively diagnose a jitter issue, but I don't.

I have found different DACs can make a world of difference in regards to good digital sound but I have no clue about how much jitter is introduced by any particular device, though I do believe all devices, even those with the best clocking mechanisms introduce some.

After all, nothing is perfect. In the end, all I know for sure is to trust what I hear.