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USB to SPDIF interfaces - how to evaluate?

I've been reading up on USB/SPDIF interfaces and having a hard time determining what are the right measurements to evaluate and what audibility threshold exists for these measurements.

The linked site from Audiophilleo has some interesting comparisons:

http://www.audiophilleo.com/comparison.aspx

The comparison highlights Phase jitter (in two different frequency bands) and period jitter. Should I be worried about both? Is period jitter below 5 picsoseconds (ps) really audible? Are there other specs that are even more important to the performance of the USB/SPDIF interface?

Why would additional power improve the performance of these interfaces, which is something that is observed regularly in listening evaluations?

Finally, is the price of this jitter reduction about to decline to a very low level as software and hardware experiences the performance improvements regularly seen in the IT industry? (So does this type of equipment fall outside of standard audio equipment economics?)
jult52

Showing 1 response by extravaganza

extravaganza
373 posts
 
Looking at your system I found reason,why your system sounds bright-Monitor audio bx speakers.Some years ago I had MA rs6 wich sounded bright too.They need some warm sounding amp in order get balanced sound from these speakers.
V-link doesn't sound bright.It has nice separated highs,a little bit extented,a that's what I hear with Dynaudio and Harbeth speakers.
People evaluating audio gear usually by listening to it and expectations which will confirmed or not.This is influenced by personal experience.For expample many people raving abaut vlink interfaces.I am not,because I like masive ,mascular midrange which vibranting into the room from speakers.And v-link doesn't do that,do nice highs and bass,separating everything fine,but midrange is too smooth and too thin for me.Stereophile noticed that ,but they did it in very diplomatic way:)
Actually I don't care abaut jitter if the system sounds good to me
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