Jitter's not relevant whilst the signal is in the digital domain (providing it's not so large as to cause data transmission errors), it's only relevant at the points where Analogue to Digital and Digital to Analogue conversion takes place.
Using an external DAC (Benchmark or any other), usually requires the DAC clock to be synchronised to the incoming data stream. The process of sysnchronisation adds jitter to the DAC clock as it 'speeds up' and 'slows down' to keep in step with the input signal. This jitter is made worse by any clock jitter already present in the signal that the DAC clock is trying to lock to - so it's cumulative. The Benchmark DAC uses a process called Aynschronous Sample Rate Conversion (ASRC) which does not require the DAC clock to lock to the incoming signal. However ASRC introduces some other distortions, so even if it eliminates jitter, it doesn't completely eliminate the effects of jitter. Any SPDIF source would benefit from an external DAC that eliminted the effects of jitter - if such a thing was possible. IMO you should choose your DAC based on how it sounds in your system rather than by its specification and marketing blurb: some people love the Benchmark DAC, others prefer something different. -- Patrick Dixon www.at-tunes.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Patrick Dixon's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=90 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=26030 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
