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Implications of Esoteric G-0Rb atomic clock

The latest TAS (March 2008) has an excellent piece by Robert Harley: a review of the Esoteric G-0Rb Master Clock Generator, with sidebars on the history and significance of jitter. This Esoteric unit employs an atomic clock (using rubidium) to take timing precision to a new level, at least for consumer gear. It's a good read, I recommend it.

If I am reading all of this correctly, I reach the following conclusions:

(1) Jitter is more important sonically than we might have thought

(2) Better jitter reduction at the A-D side of things will yield significant benefits, which means we can look forward to another of round remasters (of analog tapes) once atomic clock solutions make it into mastering labs

(3) All of the Superclocks, claims of vanishingly low jitter, reclocking DACs -- all of this stuff that's out there now, while probably heading in the right direction, still falls fall short of what's possible and needed if we are to get the best out of digital and fully realize its promise.

(4) We can expect to see atomic clocks in our future DACs and CDPs. Really?

Am I drawing the right conclusions?
Ag insider logo xs@2xdrubin
Ag insider logo xs@2x
drubin OP
3,265 posts
 
Let me give this one a bump. Must have chosen the title poorly because I thought this would stimulate some discussion.
rja's avatar
rja
2,356 posts
 
I own several Japanese CDs that state they were mastered using a Rubidium atomic clock.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
I read some of the article but the price of the trio left me speechless.
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drubin OP
3,265 posts
 
>I read some of the article but the price of the trio left me speechless.

Sure, but that's sort of beside the point. The technology, if worthwhile, should trickle down. What's important, I think, is what this product tells us about the problems with digital today, the merits of various claims being made about vanishingly low jitter, and what we may be able to look forward to in the future.

Rja, that's interesting. Which label? Are they good-sounding CDs?
dgarretson
2,586 posts
 
It's a fascinating product review & survey of the jitter problem. If as Joe Harley observes, the ear can easily discern improvements in word clock accuracy down to +/-0.05 parts per billion (translating into jitter reductions on the order of tens of pico seconds), then it would appear that there's still a long way to go toward true SOTA in digital sound. Better clocks are far from an exercise in diminishing returns.

JH makes interesting observations. Unlike the crystal oscillators found in conventional CDP clocks, the rubidium-based clock in the Esoteric does not exhibit frequency fluctuations as a result of instability in the power supply. This correlates with my own experience that improving the quality of DC power into a VCXO Superclock greatly improves its sound. He recounts the luddite position of the Audio Engineering Society in the early 90's (opposing the very notion of jitter), and the gradual acceptance of the concept in the general community. He provides a nice working definition of the signature sound of jitter as "loss of space & depth; softening of the bass; hardening of timbre; a glassy sound on initial transients (most noticeably on the leading edge of upper-register piano attacks); a metallic sheen overlaying the treble; and an overall flattening of the soundstage & homogenization of instrumental images with the stage." Finally, JH notes that the rubidium clock option elevated the Esoteric P-03/D-03 well above the music servers that he had formerly favored over the Esoteric. Perhaps there is hope after all for ye olde compact disk.
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