There are even digital audio extremists who would seek to correct anyone not sharing their particular point of view. New products that don’t align with our cynics’ a) existing world view or b) wallet depth must be squashed underfoot lest sales figures gain momentum and another industry scam is perpetrated.Ĭase closed – ironically – by closed minds. Such is the combined power of mutual cynicism that it is invariably self-reinforcing. “Listening? Pah! That’s all part and parcel of the scam!” comes the snorted retort. As such, solicitations to try it for oneself are shot down. Actual listening would bring it too close for comfort. Our mob’s next step is to ensure ongoing physical distance between it and the product that “couldn’t possibly make a difference”. “Well, this ‘ere world globe suggests the world is not flat after all…but it’s nothing more than a toy – BURN HIM!” The product is either rubbished in theory or the (perceived) absence of proof from the manufacturer pointed to as proof of its snake-oil status. The ensuing pile-on is as ugly as it is predictable. The first responder bowls in with a “that looks suss to me”-type comment. It usually unfolds thusly: A thread is started with a link to a deluxe cable or doohickey seeking opinions on the same. A mentality that kicks really kicks into being when said pack is confronted with something new that requires potential reassessment of current thinking. The implications of returning to this standpoint are not insignificant: 1) manufacturers of deluxe digital cables and noise filters are perpetrators of a scam large enough to make county fair-bought potions, that promise to cure arthritis and the common cold, look like they have a sound basis in science 2) that review sites and their staff are at best prone to the powers of suggestion or, worse, flat out liars 3) that anyone buying such products have been totally hoodwinked.Īn exceedingly long bow needs drawing in order to assimilate the ‘bits are bits’ position.Ĭompounding the issue is the pack mentality endemic to internet-based discussions. None too dissimilar to the mechanics of the same-sex marriage debate, there are detractors: those who not only wish to hold tight to the comfort of their world view that bits are bits and that’s all that matters, but would also wish metaphorical fire and damnation on anyone who sees things differently.įor the sake of argument, let’s assume that electrical noise cross-contamination isn’t a factor in the quality of digital audio, that bits are bits and that’s all that matters. The latter’s internal oscillators, implemented to re-clock the incoming data stream, are extremely sensitive to electrical noise, which can easily disturb their timing accuracy. Look into its eyes: lights on, nobody home.Īlso influencing a DAC’s audible performance, perhaps to a degree greater than jitter, is the electrical noise (EMI/RFI) ingested by said DAC when umbilically connected to its source, often a consumer grade PC, to DAC. Jitter causes D/A converters to perform sub-optimally, lending the resulting sound an emotionally distant quality.
It comes unstuck when digital audio devices like D/A converters play receiver (point B) where the arrival timing of each bit matters bit-to-bit mis…timings are referred to as jitter. So too when sending a print job out over USB. If points A and B are computers seeing a file being relocated from one to the other, the ‘bits are bits’ logic holds fast. The corollary: if all binary data gets from point A to point B – and error checking mechanisms ensure it does – then data transmission is all that matters. Number 2? “It’s just ones and zeroes, mate”. It’s the number one mantra turned meme to infect mainstream thinking on digital audio.
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