Audioquest Jitterbug - "Removes Parasitic Resonance"

"A dual-function USB and data filter that has no peer in the market, the amazingly effective and extraordinarily affordableAudioQuest JitterBug dramatically reduces the noise and ringing afflicting both the data and power lines on USB ports."

Is my USB port afflicted by noise and ringing of which I am unaware? Will this help?

 

If you can't hear the distortion and ringing from your USB port, your system, and or your hearing aren't resolving enough to tell the difference, so don't waste your money.............

In all honesty, I've no clue.

 

There is a discussion over at CA by some folks that have actually heard/used the Jitterbug.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...t-jitterbug-vs-uptone-regen-24407/index2.html

Additionally, if it was some sort of oil, wouldn't it look like this.....

 

Would it not be better to try the actual product BEFORE passing judgement?

 

Ultimately yes. But USB audio is the new frontier for the "absolutely terrible problems you had no idea you were having" games. The OP's comment of "Is my USB port afflicted by noise and ringing of which I am unaware?" has a very solid point. There's also the matter of Audioquest being pretty shameless. I won't apologize for being skeptical of the company that brought us $1000 CAT5 cables.

 

Indeed. The power of Placebo is a audio markerters wet dream. Dont doubt it.

 

I haven't heard the product in the OP, but I do have a Regen on order, and after that will be upgrading to an externally powered PCIe USB card (the SOtM card). I've always assumed USB > * when it came to digital audio but after hooking up my Schiit Gungnir with both USB and Optical (from motherboard onboard sound, using WASAPI out of JRiver), the Optical sounds significantly better. Now, I'll have a hard time explaining why it sounds better, but it's one of those things where "it just does." USB feels "dry" I guess, less impactful, less musical perhaps. My audio vocabulary is lacking, hence my first statement

In any event, you're probably asking - well if Optical is better, why not just stick to it? Because I am using onboard Optical out, my options for different sample rates are very limited, meanwhile my library has redbook, 24/96, 24/192, 16/88.2, 24/176, etc... USB would cure that. And, if after the USB upgrades I *still* prefer Optical? I can sell the USB upgrades for basically what I paid for them. So, I want to give it a shot, on the hunch that I can actually surpass the performance of my optical out AND get the benefits of USB compatibility with my library.

Hope that helps, but there are some pretty big names in digital audio extolling the virtues of products that clean up a USB signal, specifically the 5V lead buried in the cable. Even on a non-USB powered DAC, this part of the USB signal can help when attended to.

I'm not an expert in this stuff but I have read a nauseating amount of info on all this and it all makes sense, based on so many good reviews.

As far as USB cables go, my understanding is that as long as they are 90 ohm the entire length of the cable, there is little difference. The Supra USB cables from ebay are selling like hotcakes due to being true 90 ohm cables. They're not monoprice-level cheap, but they're very reasonable.

 

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-333558-audioquest-jitterbug-usb-filter.aspx

I think I can concede on the "minimizes jitter and packet errors" part. But "thereby restoring music's warmth, dimensions, depth, resolution, dynamics, clarity, and resolution" is bulls**t of the purest grade to me.

 

I say this post will hit 6 pages by Sunday. Anyone else care to guess? Whoever is closest without going over wins.

 

Geez, it's $49, not $49,000...

 

People like you are why real audiophiles don't post here anymore.

 

The thing is, some people actually have USB problems that need fixing, and little gadgets like this for $50 (really about as cheap as one can bring a specialty product like this to market) isn't bad.

It's just that they can't help themselves in regards to that second part you mention. It's Audioquest, so even when they make products of objective value, they have to claim to add a scoop of magic.

 

How many folks here have used dedicated jitter reduction devices?

 

As been mentioned, with many very serious inventions the resolving system is fundamental, and if we don´t have it we can just imagine how it could´ve sounded.

 

There's a rather gushing review here that is heavy on testimony and rather light on any technical details (quote: "As AudioQuest did not have measurements to share with us yet, I’ll be curious to see what John Aktinson at Stereophile has to say about the JitterBug once he’s put it on the test bench."). Interesting the apparent level of confidence the Stereophile review will happen in the future. More interesting, the review doesn't acknowledge the existence of other products from iFI and Schiit (there are others like the Uptone USB Regen) that are similar, which I find somewhat disingenuous or worse. It's like products in this category didn't exist until AudioQuest made one.

Oh, and that review makes gratuitous shout outs to Jaguar, BWM and Porsche.

AudioQuest's "media roll out" for the Jitterbug seems to be a success. But I share others' skepticism of AudioQuest's veracity.

 

Ahem, I think you dropped a zero.

http://hothardware.com/news/10000-e...dio-fidelity-if-youre-stupid-enough-to-buy-it

 

For CAT5? If I'm gonna drop a grand or more on a data cable, it damn better be at least 5e!

 

You kid, but I've seen "expert tests" proving CAT6 "sounds better" then CAT5.

 

Is Stephen Meijas still with AQ after leaving Stereophile? Curious if he had a hand in writing the AQ product description.

 

I don't think this is true. I've done listening tests and with lower jitter you do get improvements in many areas, notably clarity, resolution, and soundstaging. I'm not sure on warmth but generally speaking I don't think AQ is exaggerating here.

 

If one is having problems with EMI/RFI, cables specifically designed to shield against this should improve things. If one isn't having these problems, there's no need to employ the solution for them, because there isn't a solution to problems you don't actually have.

I don't doubt this product does what it says it does in regards to jitter, but I do doubt that its a panacea that improves any situation its used in.

Full disclosure: If I was a heavy user of computer audio, I'd have already bought this, if for no other reason then spending money on my stereo releases endorphins in my brain. But of purchases I've made what I'd compare it most to is the USB to SPDIF converter I once bought despite not having the problem it solves. It also claimed to reduce jitter, and I'm sure it did, it's just that there weren't audible jitter problems that needed correcting in my system.

 

Rolltide, the product is specifically designed to reduce jitter.

 

While I agree that lowering jitter it a worthy goal in audiophilia, AudioQuest is trying to leverage a rather silly product name. Power supply noise, ground plane noise, and what some refer to as "USB packet modulation noise" can cause audible problems with some USB DACs. In some cases, those problems might manifest as increased jitter. But without any technical detail from AudioQuest, we really don't know what the JitterBug does and if it does it any better or worse than existing products. And while the word "jitter" exists in the product name, there's not enough publicly available information to conclude that the JitterBug is "specifically designed to reduce jitter".

 

That wasn't lost on me?