Best way to hook-up my stuff

[DrWho]

can i propose an honest idea?

i've read a lot about how people try to tweak this cable, use this setting, update this and that and i was wondering if it really was worth the trouble.

"The source of jitter comes from our imperfect ability to convert the right notes into digital information that is aligned with itself in time in the same way the infinite information in an analog waveform is aligned with itself in time and our imperfect ability to convert the digital signal into a set of approximated values (notes) played at the right time in relation to each other. The right note played at the wrong time is the wrong note.... That is digital jitter."

I would agree 100% and yet i wonder if we will really hear the difference. Granted we could compare a signal divided into 4 parts with one divided into a thousand parts and notice an obvious difference there. But there must be a point to where the speakers themeselves are the source of most error. When a person talks into a microphone, theoretically no added energy should be needed to make the speaker truly replicate the sound (the old 2 cups and a string thing). however, the speakers and amps that we're using now are pumping freakish loads of energy to "replicate" a person singing. To talk about something so delicate as the DACs and stuff makes me think of a football player attempting brain surgery.

all that to say, it makes more sense to improve the raw designs and concepts versus tweaking the current "faulty" model. Granted, we're talking very small differences in quality and maybe huge differences in price. Or maybe im just wacked out...i dunno. has any1 ever actually 'unbiasly' heard a difference?

btw, plz don't take this in any negative aspect...things like this can get touchy and i wanted to propose my honest thoughts.

[Prana-Bindu]

When I did the comparison I described above (Theta Jade vs. Onkyo Integra), I was expecting the difference to be almost impossible to hear. The difference was clear and it was worth the money I had put into the new transport and cable. As both units were feeding the same digital processors, and the only difference was in cables, transport mechanisms and the addition of a jitter filter to the Onkyo, the differece in sound HAD to come from jitter and/or the transports' reading errors.

You shouldn't judge without hearing it for yourself, so all I can do is encourage you to audition gear for yourself (if it's worth the time, effort and cash to you). The difference was like upgrading from $500 speakers to $5000 speakers; not much to people who don't listen to music like some of us do, but a world to those of us who enjoy the texture, presence and charm of well-reproduced tunes.

I'm skeptical about many audio tweaks claimed to be stark improvements (I still can't tell whether that Auric Illuminator goop actually improves the sound or just helps read scratched discs), but I've been surprised too many times to rule anything out before trying it out myself.

Here's a great way to get you started down the hopeless path of insecurity about your system's abilities: pick out a well-produced recording of a piece with which you are very familiar. Listen to it a few times over a few weekdays in the middle of the day. Then listen to it at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning (at the same volume, ideally). The claim is that the power is cleaner late at night because it is not being used as much by other users. If you can tell a difference with THAT, imagine what different equipment will do. You'll be building isolation platforms, suspending your cables on sorbothane feet, installing dedicated AC lines, building bass traps and quadratic diffusors, and listening to test cd's....