USB signal timing goes mainstream. Just an FYI

The deeper meaning of any of this post continues to elude me. I can though report that adding a 10m clock to my dac (Antelope Zodiac Platinum) connected via USB to an Innuos Zenith Mk3 results in noticeable improvements in resolution, impulse rendition and spacial imaging, presumably as a result of better timing on the USB connection as well as the actual d-to-a conversion. (This differs from USB reclocking since it actually addresses the dac‘s own clock and thereby indirectly the USB link in asynchronous mode). Timing accuracy in any case has nothing to do with RMI/EFI and ground level noise rejection by the dac. That in turn seems to best be achieved by passive filtering and galvanic isolation. And by the way: the choice of the clock’s power supply and power cord as well as clock cables has major impact on SQ.

I am not going to argue with you.  I sat with MPEG int he 90s and learned a great deal about what we cannot measure well. Mostly i learned that there is much i don't know and it best to begin with empirical data rather than accepted rules.


I actually agree that we cannot hear distortions at -155 db> In fact I thin we are strained at -90 dB. That said, we also seem to be very sensitive to some distortions. As


I don't think you really ant to hear a long explanation why, and i certainly don't feel like typing it.  Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'll close with a quote from on of th epioneers of audio and sound from way back:

“if it measures good, and sounds bad, it is bad. If it sounds good, and measures bad, you’ve measured the wrong thing.” – Daniel Von Ricklinghausen, Chief Engineer of HH Scott to the Boston Audio Society, 1954

Man, I just clicked the link you posted and couldn’t get past all the pop ups that I had to wait ten seconds before it went away and the next one popped up!

Sheesh

This link might be better as far as popups at least I didn't get any.

https://semiengineering.com/retimers-replacing-redrivers-as-signal-speeds-increase/

I almost regret posting this.  Don't take much into that article except to point out that timing (not just bit recovery can be a real issue, and that when that bit transition is used in part to determine fully half the reconstructed waveform (the "digital" interface is quasi analog in this regard) imagine how much more impactful it is for those of us who care about this backwater.


The article is neither directly relevant to audio nor particularly leading edge. It was simply in my morning feed and an interesting counterpoint to some tirades. Not worth seeking out.  Want a better discussion of why jitter matters?, see the blog at Sonogy research (somewhere in there)