Jitter
TL;DR
Jitter is timing error in digital audio - tiny variations in when each sample is played. Excessive jitter causes subtle distortion and reduces spatial clarity. Modern DACs with good clocks reduce jitter to inaudible levels.
Jitter is variation in the timing of digital audio samples. Ideal digital audio has perfectly evenly-spaced samples; jitter is when samples arrive slightly early or late.
Effects
- Broadening of frequency content (“sidebands” around notes)
- Reduced imaging precision
- Subtle “digital haze” (contested in blind tests)
Sources
- Poor clock recovery in older DACs
- USB streaming from noisy computer power supplies
- Cheap S/PDIF transports
Modern reality
Any decent modern DAC ($100+) has jitter well below the threshold of audibility. Chasing “jitter-killer” solutions above $500 investment is diminishing returns. The ES9038Q2M chip has integrated jitter reduction.
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