What does jitter sound like?

**TheOctopus** · December 23, 2020, 10:25 PM

This has been debated since digital came to be. Jitter. How audible is it? How much jitter is bad? Have a listen and hear jitter

. what does jitter ACTUALLY sound like?

**TheOctopus** · December 23, 2020, 10:41 PM

Oh by the way, Rubidium clocks suck!

Jitter and clocks - YouTube

**gadawg** · December 24, 2020, 12:44 AM

Originally Posted by TheOctopus

Oh by the way, Rubidium clocks suck!

Jitter and clocks - YouTube

Why? I’ve read this several times and would like to understand why a clock that theoretically is much more accurate would be worse? Is it that they are poorly implemented? Do Rubidium clocks have some other limiting factor that takes away from their precision? Appreciate any insight as a clock is in my future next year and starting to read up.

Thanks!

George

**TheOctopus** · December 24, 2020, 01:28 AM

Because Rubidium is a secondary frequency clock. Meaning it is not as accurate and needs to be calibrated against a primary frequency standard or the Caesium atomic clock. Having said that, if you watched the video above and heard the examples of actual audio files with drastically exaggerated jitter, then you probably noticed that it is not as obvious as people may think. So I believe that comparing a Rubidium to a Caesium clock in audio would be similar to arguing which of the gnats that flew overhead, heading south, had a bigger set of balls.

But it is only a matter of time before the Caesium atomic clock chips are commercialized. DARPA has already made them a reality.