Audioquest Jitterbug

[ismarketing]

I've had two in my system for the past week and have been VERY impressed. I run a 20012 Mac Mini with Audirvana feeding a Dev 120. The little bugs have made everything clearer - less noise/something in the way of the music, and to my biggest surprise, significantly enhanced imaging. Everything feels a good bit more life like and natural. Guitar strings ring out now in a much more real way.

For context - The Jitterbugs make much more of a difference than upgrading my stock usb cable to a decent one from Wireworld, and about as much of difference as upgrading 20+ year old AQ speaker cable with new Nola Audio wire (at about a 10th of the price).

Given what readers of this site have invested in systems, trying one or two of these things is a can't miss opportunity.

[Confused]

Anyone tried?  I ordered 2 from Amazon today.

Now I'm using USB I was planning on trying a REGEN from Uptone, based on all the CA posts, but since there's a wait, (and its an order from the States, and they're apparently working on a new power supply for it) I thought I'd hold off.  But in reading the reviews for that, the AQ Jitterbug caught my eye and as the general consensus seems to be that they work to some degree, and also complement the REGEN.  So I figured why not - I know I need to improve my source (Mac Mini) now I'm using USB.

Anyway, at a shade under £80 for two (which can apparently be used in parallel on the same source), what can possibly go wrong...

After you have had some time to bed them in and get used to them, it would be interesting to see if you can form a view on sound quality, Mac Mini + USB + Jitterbugs vs Mac Mini + AIR Ethernet.

[rwjr44]

I've had two in my system for the past week and have been VERY impressed.  I run a 20012 Mac Mini with Audirvana feeding a Dev 120.  The little bugs have made everything clearer - less noise/something in the way of the music, and to my biggest surprise, significantly enhanced imaging.  Everything feels a good bit more life like and natural. Guitar strings ring out now in a much more real way.

For context - The Jitterbugs make much more of a difference than upgrading my stock usb cable to a decent one from Wireworld, and about as much of difference as upgrading 20+ year old AQ speaker cable with new Nola Audio wire (at about a 10th of the price).

Given what readers of this site have invested in systems, trying one or two of these things is a can't miss opportunity.

How do have them connected?

[ismarketing]

I've had two in my system for the past week and have been VERY impressed.  I run a 20012 Mac Mini with Audirvana feeding a Dev 120.  The little bugs have made everything clearer - less noise/something in the way of the music, and to my biggest surprise, significantly enhanced imaging.  Everything feels a good bit more life like and natural. Guitar strings ring out now in a much more real way.

For context - The Jitterbugs make much more of a difference than upgrading my stock usb cable to a decent one from Wireworld, and about as much of difference as upgrading 20+ year old AQ speaker cable with new Nola Audio wire (at about a 10th of the price).

Given what readers of this site have invested in systems, trying one or two of these things is a can't miss opportunity.

How do have them connected?

One is in front of the USB cable to the Dev 120, and the other is in front of the wireless dongle for my Logitec keyboard.  Both are directly connected to usb ports on the Mac Mini.

[rwjr44]

I've had two in my system for the past week and have been VERY impressed.  I run a 20012 Mac Mini with Audirvana feeding a Dev 120.  The little bugs have made everything clearer - less noise/something in the way of the music, and to my biggest surprise, significantly enhanced imaging.  Everything feels a good bit more life like and natural. Guitar strings ring out now in a much more real way.

For context - The Jitterbugs make much more of a difference than upgrading my stock usb cable to a decent one from Wireworld, and about as much of difference as upgrading 20+ year old AQ speaker cable with new Nola Audio wire (at about a 10th of the price).

Given what readers of this site have invested in systems, trying one or two of these things is a can't miss opportunity.

How do have them connected?

One is in front of the USB cable to the Dev 120, and the other is in front of the wireless dongle for my Logitec keyboard.  Both are directly connected to usb ports on the Mac Mini.

Thanks

[Hifi_swlon]

Arrived and plugged both into Mac mini, one in a spare port the other into the USB cable serving the Dev.

Initial reaction on a short listen - disappointment.

Not sure what I was expecting, but if the reviews were accurate and the increase from these things is a '10', right now I've not got little hope for the REGEN at a '15'.

I didn't want to 'try' and hear something, that to me would be placebo. If there was a difference, it wasn't enough to be immediately obvious, and that's using them both. But let's leave then in for a few days and remove them, and see if I can detect any change and maybe eat my words.

As a technical note, they are wider than the spacing of the Mac mini's USB ports, which limits options a bit as they cant be plugged in next to one and other. Not an issue for me as I only have 1 cable, but might be an issue for some, or if trying to actually get the mac's auto-USB thing to get them on the same bus.

[mauidan]

Arrived and plugged both into Mac mini, one in a spare port the other into the USB cable serving the Dev.

Initial reaction on a short listen - disappointment.

Not sure what I was expecting, but if the reviews were accurate and the increase from these things is a '10', right now I've not got little hope for the REGEN at a '15'.

I didn't want to 'try' and hear something, that to me would be placebo.  If there was a difference, it wasn't enough to be immediately obvious, and that's using them both.  But let's leave then in for a few days and remove them, and see if I can detect any change and maybe eat my words.

As a technical note, they are wider than the spacing of the Mac mini's USB ports, which limits options a bit as they cant be plugged in next to one and other.  Not an issue for me as I only have 1 cable, but might be an issue for some, or if trying to actually get the mac's auto-USB thing to get them on the same bus.

Not surprising, since the Dev doesn't use/need the 5vdc USB buss power that the Jitterbug was designed to clean up.

Try leaving one in the mini spare port, and take out the other one into the USB cable serving the Dev.

[Hifi_swlon]

Arrived and plugged both into Mac mini, one in a spare port the other into the USB cable serving the Dev.

Initial reaction on a short listen - disappointment.

Not sure what I was expecting, but if the reviews were accurate and the increase from these things is a '10', right now I've not got little hope for the REGEN at a '15'.

I didn't want to 'try' and hear something, that to me would be placebo.  If there was a difference, it wasn't enough to be immediately obvious, and that's using them both.  But let's leave then in for a few days and remove them, and see if I can detect any change and maybe eat my words.

As a technical note, they are wider than the spacing of the Mac mini's USB ports, which limits options a bit as they cant be plugged in next to one and other.  Not an issue for me as I only have 1 cable, but might be an issue for some, or if trying to actually get the mac's auto-USB thing to get them on the same bus.

Not surprising, since the Dev doesn't use/need the 5vdc USB buss power that the Jitterbug was designed to clean up.

Try leaving one in the mini spare port, and take out the other one into the USB cable serving the Dev.

Well, I had heard that the 5v cleanup was only part of the picture, the rest being stopping unwanted noise getting to the DAC - whatever that means.

Have tried a few configurations and still not convinced. Maybe the Mac mini's USB are OK, or the Devialet has decent USB input, or my USB cable's too low-end, or my hearings not good enough, or the jitterbug doesn't actually do anything useful. Or it's doing something very subtle and I'm missing it because I was expecting more.

Will leave them in this week and listen, and then remove and see if can detect any change that way round. If not, there will be a couple available pretty soon if anyone else wants to try!

[GuillaumeB]

or my USB cable's too low-end

What USB cable are you using?

Guillaume

[Hifi_swlon]

or my USB cable's too low-end

What USB cable are you using?

Guillaume

The bottom-end Audioquest - the green one.

I've got a Vertere d-fi for my Hugo but it's mini USB so can't compare. Previously I had a Supra USB but sold it after listening and finding no difference to a stock cable. Have never tried anything higher-end except at the Chord stand at the head-fi show where I was unconvinced (much to the reps disappointment) in changes between cables. But in fairness I did say to them I don't listen to headphones much, wasn't familiar with the music and there was tonnes of background noise from the room. So I'm neither a sceptic or believer, just have never experienced high-end cables directly to see what's what. I can't really justify the cost of a Mac mini on a cable either - for me those funds would be better spent on a new source (if on hifi at all).

If I'm not feeling the love by the end of the week, maybe another local member wants to try them in their system...