brimac

It's interesting that this discussion around jitter draws such passionate postings. There's such a clear dividing line between both camps; both equally adamant supporting what they believe. Computer audio has the potential to bring our systems to the next level; it's common consensus that hi res is a workable model that has legs, unlike SACD or DVD A. it's technology that will be implemented across a broad customer base; your neighbor may not know anything about jitter but he may buy a Logitech Duet. Computer audio exposes high end excesses like 30k CD transports and casts doubt on the high end's credibility for many. If bits are bits and a $500 computer gets those bits to the DAC, people question whether extreme products like the aforesaid transport ever represented value. And so we have our suspicions that jitter audibility is just another creation of this industry to hose fear and sell product. Perhaps computer audio can save the high end, but i don't think so. The high end stopped being broadly relevant a long time ago. It's actually a laughingstock and held up to derision in the mainstream press, and among average music listeners. Something tells my this discussion about jitter only contributes to that perception. And then we have computer audio. It represents value in spades to audiophiles. we've switched out our insanely expensive cd players and, at least in my case, have improved on them sonically, not to mention all the other benefits that are part of the package. So what does the high end industry do in the face of the trend towards file-based music delivery systems? Well, music servers like Sooloos and Blue Smoke. Wow, there goes more credibility. Many thousands of dollars more than a computer, with less flexibility and questionable advantages. They just don't seem to get it, the high end. And now the high end is talking to us about jitter. You know what, i just don't buy it. I like Ashley's approach; maybe people that think like that are the messiahs to take us out of the barren wastelands of the high end and deliver us to the promised land. 'Cause let's face it, the current priests of the high end are lost and preaching the same old story. You just need to look at all the very expensive CD players introduced at CES to understand that they just don't get it. On a separate note. The people here who are concerned about jitter are becoming increasingly rude and are resorting to personal attacks upon those who aren't really too worried about jitter. Perhaps they feel threatened, i don't really know. i do know that Tim and Tog and Ash articulate their perspectives cleverly and raise the tone of the discussion while staying well-mannered and interesting. Comments casting aspersions on their motives, reasoning, hearing, or the resolving nature of their music systems seem to be an attempt to discredit their beliefs by discrediting them personally. Who knew Carl Rove was an audiophile?

I think modern day jitter artifacts sounds like glasses on versus glasses off. If you hear a difference, then jitter will be just as audible. But if you're listening for differences between having your glasses on or not you're probably not listening to the music anyway so it's sorta pointless.

If you want to see if playing back from solid state sounds better in your system, try loading a small library on your USB memory stick. I've done so, and can't say it was any improvement; it's loading the data into ram just like your regular drive does. Try as i might, I'm just not getting any joy finding tweaks that work on the computer end of the system. Maybe that's a good thing? Nevertheless, my Macbook Pro sits on Rollerblocks that sit on a BDR shelf for Source as well as my external firefire 800 drives, just in case, lol. I do wonder about jitter and how audible it is in our systems; or if it's just audiophile nervosa.

at least let me help you fulfill your quest for a good cheap red wine; have you ever tried an Italian wine called Rocca Ventosa? About 7 bucks a bottle up here in The Great White North, decant it, give it a little air, and swill. it's no Amarone, but it's eminently drinkable. Now, back to the Balvenie, ah, the sweet sweet balvenie! Cheers! Brian

Hi Tim, Think i might have good news for you and others interested in the AVI ADM 9.1. We've been talking to Ashley about importing the ADM 9.1 for online North American distribution; we hope that very soon we will be offering the 9.1 for 30 day home trial throughout Canada and The United States. Also of note, Ashley and I agree that pricing should be as close to UK retail as is possible; it's conceivable we may be able to offer the 9.1 at $1999 by going direct to the consumer and bypassing the retail channel. You should start seeing our ads in the very near future. Thanks go out to Chris for bringing this breakthrough computer audio product to our attention; thanks Chris! So, a belated Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Thanks, Brian Burke The Mac Group

Well, it looks like we're doing it. For years I've wondered how to tie in our Apple computer dealership to high end audio, and it looks like we now have good reason to proceed. Products aimed at the music server market are becoming more available from mainstream manufacturors like Blue Circle (USB Thingee) and Wadia (iTransport). We take inquiries every day now on the subject and audio has become a part of our business, with lines like Audioengine (amazing value) and Vuum. And so we're building a high end 2 channel section and a mid to high end video section! Both should be good sized stores in their own right, with at least 1000 square feet each. Some of the people we've talked to are Bel Canto, the afore-mentioned Blue Circle, Nuforce, PSB, Reference 3A, etc. Our focus will be exclusively on digital; we won't sell turntables, much as I like them. We will offer services around the digital lifestyle, such as LP to digital, CD to Hard Disc, HIRES download to disk, and such. We will take trade ins (happy to get them!) and sell used product as well. And of course we will sell Macs as digital music servers., not CD players. We believe we are with the trend, with media becoming more and more network sourced as opposed to physical media such as CD's and DVD's. Some of the things I've learned on Audiogon and other audiophile oriented sites will be incorporated as well. We will have in home demo of equipment, as long as we have a demo product to offer. To avoid any complications with this policy we will charge a minimal fee for the trial, fully refundable with any purchase of audio hardware anytime. This allows us to offer the home trials, but covers us from abuse if the customer is one of those 'borrow from a dealer and buy online' types. We will demo pretty much everything we sell, just as we do now with Macs. We will work with our customers to maximize value. IMHO, there is just way too much overpriced audio gear in the marketplace. Primarily this is a result, I believe, of less sales volume coupled to a diminishing customer base as one result of the pricing, with growth taking a hit as well. Representing value will likely be a difficult sell to our existing customers, so we intend to attach a lot of service to the products. As well, we will seriously look at products from companies coming out of the computer audio crossover space, such as Audioengine. We believe we will find value there as the computer industry is well known for the tiny margins we nessessarily have to deal with. The idea of selling any larger product with a 20% profit margin or higher almost feels larcenous to us! Hello cables! Because of our financial resources and the existence of a functioning and profitable existing business with systems infrastructure in place, we will be able to provide more service and resources to our clientele for audio and video. We have a lot of experience as retailers and will be professional in our dealings with customers. Indeed, one of the reasons we are expanding into this space is the perceived lack of these services from many existing high end retailers, which, in our region anyway, tend to be smaller, marginalized dealers with limited resources. I welcome comments on our new undertaking, and specifically request that you help provide a road map that would meet your needs from a store such as I've outlined above. I thank you in advance and greatly look forward to your perspective!