Q. I read and enjoyed the recent article on audio from video players and how video players’ DACs are sufficiently good that there is no audible difference between them and dedicated CD players. This triggered a follow-up question. There are companies that advertise modifications to Blu-Ray players which include new analog input circuit boards to increase audio fidelity. According to these sources, the enemy is digital jitter. They claim that because an HDMI input necessarily interweaves audio and video information, the result will always be digital jitter, up to “7 nanoseconds” worth. Most of that is engineering-speak that is over my head. My question is if this is true, and more important, does it matter? I don’t doubt that they can show on paper that some aspect of the audio has improved, but is it likely that I will be able to hear a difference? Sometimes I feel like companies have consumers continuously seeking the Holy Grail of perfect specs, but that in reality, some of these expensive products and tweaks will not result in increased “real world” fidelity or enjoyment for 99.9% of those consumers. Thanks.—D.H.
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