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AudioQuest - Jitterbug USB Filter

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:18 pm
by Err
This is from the same company that brought us $1,000 interconnects. They now offer a $49 USB filter.

It's sad that one of the companies selling this also sells legit equipment. In fact, I bought my turntable here. Their customer service is top notch by the way.

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-333558-audioquest-jitterbug-usb-filter.aspx?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_term=aqjitterbug&utm_campaign=social%20traffic

I can only find one review and they don't attempt to measure noise reduction.

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/audioquest-jitterbug/?utm_campaign=Hi-Fi%2B+Weekly+Emails&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email-395

We should make a USB passthrough connector that has a resister on the powered pins and sell it for half the price. I'm guessing that if you crack this thing open that's all it is.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:59 pm
by Losbot
A dual-function USB and data filter that has no peer in the market
Maybe because nobody else has felt the need to screw over the public like that?

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:14 pm
by FlyingPenguin
Okay, being a former sound engineer, and knowing what audiophiles are like, I read up a bit on this.

It's basically a noise filter for the DC power line on a USB jack. If you're such an audiophile that you use an expensive USB DAC instead of a built-in sound card for audio in and out (and even a cheap DAC costs $200, and good ones start at $500 and up), then this might matter to you.

However, IMO, a good DAC should have plenty of internal DC filtering and shouldn't need one of these. My guess that this is targeted at people who buy bargain DACs that have poor USB DC filtering (you get what you pay for).

While I think it's a waste of money, it's not exactly snake oil.

However, looking around, it sure looks like AudioQuest bought a lot of reviewers on audiophile blogs, because the reviews are absurd. People with $1000 DACs saying that this thing dramatically cleaned up noise from a device an an adjacent USB jack, for instance. I doubt this would add any useful filtering over whatever filter was in his $1000 DAC.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:24 pm
by Err
FlyingPenguin wrote:Okay, being a former sound engineer, and knowing what audiophiles are like, I read up a bit on this.

It's basically a noise filter for the DC power line on a USB jack. If you're such an audiophile that you use an expensive USB DAC instead of a built-in sound card for audio in and out (and even a cheap DAC costs $200, and good ones start at $500 and up), then this might matter to you.

However, IMO, a good DAC should have plenty of internal DC filtering and shouldn't need one of these. My guess that this is targeted at people who buy bargain DACs that have poor USB DC filtering (you get what you pay for).

While I think it's a waste of money, it's not exactly snake oil.

However, looking around, it sure looks like AudioQuest bought a lot of reviewers on audiophile blogs, because the reviews are absurd. People with $1000 DACs saying that this thing dramatically cleaned up noise from a device an an adjacent USB jack, for instance. I doubt this would add any useful filtering over whatever filter was in his $1000 DAC.
My biggest beef with the reviews I've found is that you can measure noise but I can't find any before and afters. I do agree that this may help on a budget DAC but some proof would be nice. Granted, most gear aimed at audiophiles is subjective. Two people can listen to the same piece of equipment and think differently. However noise can be evaluated.