Apple vs PC for Music System

Toufu - jitter is jitter, but looking at artifacts at a 60hZ or 120Hz framerate on video is really not as critical as the brain-ear function. If you were to look really close with a magnifying glass at each pixel, you would probably see differences in clarity even with video. Just like digital audio however, there is built-in jitter in the raster-scan of the display and other contributors. Just changing the cable may not be enough to make it really low to see a significant improvement.

The eyes can tolerate more jitter in the video signal than in the audio signal I believe. People are used to looking at non-HD video with fuzzy displays. It's what you are used to.

People are also used to audio jitter from CD's. Once the jitter is eliminated, it is obvious what you have been missing. If you have never heard this, then you probably dont miss anything.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

M3pilot - Both Mac and PC can be great using USB, particularly with Vista. However, not all USB devices are the same, and not all USB ports on a give computer are the same. The S/W driver and how the USB protocol works is critical. The clock in the USB device is critical as well as the overall design. USB can also support both 44.1 and 96, depending on the USB device.

For WiFi devices, it does not matter whether it's PC or Mac. They are identical. Both bit-perfect data delivery. Just a matter of personal preference for the GUI. The problem is in the jitter of the end-point devices. Most of them only support 16/44.1.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Toufu - sending data without errors and playing it back real-time with low-jitter are two very different challenges. If it was so easy to eliminate jitter, why would CD's be plagued with this for 20 years?

Steve N.
Empirical Audio