Reducing jitter and improving data reads. What’s the difference?
I'm surprised you are asking this. The difference is obvious.
Jitter is the variation in the periodic presentation of data bits or data words over time.
Improving data reads means the ability to read data without errors is improved.
There seems to be a lot of overlap. Besides, scattered background laser light is clearly in the latter camp. So is obtaining absolute level of the disc during play. The Silver Rainbow Foil and the demagnetization we’re not sure.
There is no overlap. You can get perfect reads, but deliver high jitter. You can also deliver low jitter with lots of errors in the data. They are two different aspects.
Those tweaks are only going to have a minimal effect on jitter? That sounds an awful lot like wishful thinking. I would call the effects subtle. Subtle but powerful.
Subtle is right. The only tweak that I found that actually reduced jitter significantly for a CD is to coat the top surface with a thick rubbery compound to reduce vibration. I used to do this for customers 12 years ago. You could also buy rubbery rings you could glue-on, but these were not as effective. I have tried every thing on the list, so I know the relative level of improvement. They have minimal effect, period.
Even the anti-vibration coating holds no comparison to the jitter you get with a Synchro-Mesh reclocker after the Transport. Not even remotely close.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio