What does Jitter sound like?

I would like to announce that it is in our plans to release either a CD or a range of audio files which will describe in accurate terms what Jitter is and, more importantly what it sounds like. This can be learned and experienced even on highly Jittery systems. The goal of this work is to make it audible and obvious on an average higher-quality boom-box.

Having said that, I can tell you what Jitter does NOT let you hear.

With Jitter, you can't hear the bow direction when a cellist plays even the most beautifully recorded solo works.

With jitter, you can't hear the size of a string section, you just hear the notes they are playing.

With Jitter, you can't hear the conductor breath.

With Jitter, you can't easily appreciate the conductor's work. There is something missing from the ensemble, that "leadership" which unites all those sound-emiting devices into a perceived whole, a single idea.

With Jitter, you can't hear the circle breathing when Joshua Redman plays his tenor sax.

With Jitter, brushes don't sound anywhere like brushes. It sounds like sandpaper or some other noise.

Getting rid of Jitter is like getting a new "perfect fit" pair of eyeglasses. You always thought you could see quite well, and you certainly never lost your way going home from work. But suddenly, you are surprised!

Liudas

Gonzalo,

In Digital copy generations, there is no more Jitter in the 2nd generation than there is in the 100th generation, since every time you repeat the loop you go back to the hard disc and all the Jitter that the laser added is again gone. Jitter only has meaning during the real-time ADC procedure or the real-time ADC procedure. Other than that, you can send Digital files to CD's, Flash Drives, up to the Mars Rovers and back again, and then burn your CD and it will have the same amount of Jitter if burned under the same circumstances as your first copy.

Actually, many people burn copies of CDR's because they are making a copy which is even BETTER than the original white CD, because after they burn it, the CD playback mechanism reads it (for various reasons) with less Jitter, given a signal to the DAC with less Jitter, which sounds better.

These various reasons include the substrate material, reflections, focussing, vibrational issues, etc.

Liudas

Shardorne, yes, you are right. I'm not too sure about the warped or uneven disc causing Jitter, though. My extensive experimentation shows that it is not this slow visible-to-the-eye movement of the lens which causes the Jitter one hears. Indeed, you can even put your finger onto a turning disc and you can cause a lot of low-frequency vibrations that way, but it isn't audible. What is audible then is if you go too far and cause a digital error. But Jitter itself is of a much more high frequency nature, as you say, such as from electronic oscillations and RF noise induction and the like.

Liudas