Computer music article in December issue
Barry Diament -- Thu, 11/12/2009 - 07:15
I enjoyed the article on computer based music systems in the December issue.
One thing that caught my eye though, was the suggestion that SPDIF connections offer lower jitter.
I don't believe this is the case and would suggest comparing a good SPDIF connection with a good Firewire connection - for jitter, bandwidth, etc.
Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
The point of the article was to try to include as many different points of view as possible.
I, too, have not found any general trends to indicate that one particular digital output method is inherently superior to another. Even Toslink has its advantages (galvanic isolation).
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Hi Steven,
Actually, my experience has been that a good Firewire connection beats AES/SPDIF. That's why my eyebrows went up at the mention of lower jitter as an asset of SPDIF. (Of course implementations vary but lets say SPDIF at its very best. Useable to be sure but believe convenience, perhaps ubiquity, is the asset, not its jitter performance.)
As to Toslink, like many things in audio, it giveth and it taketh away. You get galvanic isolation in exchange for lost bandwidth (and increased jitter). Reminds me of a battery power supply I've recently tested for my ULN-8 interface (A-D, D-A, mic pres, dsp, etc.). The first thing I noticed was a steep drop in the noise floor. Not that the '8 is noisy but when turned up a lot (for quiet parts of very dynamic recordings), sometimes I can hear some faint noise in the background. With the battery, it was dead silent at any level. With no music playing, the system might as well have been off -- not a scrap of noise. The price? The stupendous bass of the ULN-8 (flat in phase from just above DC to Nyquist, among many other attributes of this superb device) was gone. In its place, a somewhat "thicker", hifi bass. (And this with a full charge. I won't even get into what happens as the battery gets used.) Like I said, it giveth and it taketh away.
Just my perspective.
Still, I enjoyed the article as I'm in the midst of creating a music server of my own (and will be releasing a 24/192 files-on-disc format on Soundkeeper with our next release).
Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
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