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Since last January's "The Jitter Game," Stereophile has been able to measure and report on clock jitter in digital processors and CD players under review. In the intervening nine months, the technique has been improved with a second-generation Meitner LIM Detector (the jitter-measurement instrument), more sensitive measurement methods, and improved interpretation of the results.

First, Ed Meitner redesigned the LIM Detector. He added a "phase-detected" output that integrates the jitter, producing a flatter output with…

I hadn't. I'd been so darn happy striding about the streets of New York listening to Tom Russell and Carla Bley that I hadn't been paying attention. Gimlet-eyed, I now began examining my fellow pedestrians for the telltale flash of the distinctive white-and-chrome player and the giveaway white headphone cable that announced the iPod's earbuds.

What an astoundingly acute observer of the human condition Stereophile's editor proved to be! Of…

Parts choices are said to have been made with an emphasis on sound quality, availability, and "time to market" considerations. Parts vetted include PortalPlayer's own MP3 decoder and controller chip, a…

The formats the iPod accommodates at the moment offer a wide range of options that balance disc storage space against sound quality. And this, not the iPod's size, is the revolutionary part: the consumer gets to choose which set of tradeoffs…

Description: Portable data-storage device capable of playing compressed (MP3, AAC) and uncompressed (AIFF, WAV) digital audio files. Internal hard drive size: 30GB as reviewed; 10GB, 15GB, and 40GB also available. Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz. Maximum output power: 30mW/channel.
Dimensions: 4.1" H by 2.4" W by 0.73" D. Weight: 6.2oz (176gm).
Serial number of unit reviewed: U23220DNNLY (auditioning); O2326CEFLV (measuring).
Price: $499. Approximate number of dealers: not specified.
Manufacturer: Apple Computer, Inc., 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA…

Great lines of numbers
all bright and shiny
all through the ether
some huge some tiny
all through the ether...
—Brian Eno, "Bottom Liners"

One of the most ballyhooed bits of news buoying the music industry recently was Apple's launch of its iTunes Music Store website, which offers AAC downloads of songs for 99 cents each. Despite the fact that the service is available only to owners of Apple computers (indeed, is accessible only through the iTunes4 software), which means that the 90% of computer users tethered to PCs can't use it yet (PC…

To measure the iPod's technical performance, I used Bias Peak 3.0 running on my Macintosh PowerBook to prepare uncompressed AIFF files of the 16-bit test signals I use to assess CD players, and prepared a playlist using Apple's iTunes program. Plugging the iPod into the laptop with its FireWire connection automatically updated the contents of its hard disk; from then on, I merely selected the appropriate track with the iPod's menu button.

With a full-scale signal, the output clipped at the two highest levels of the volume control. The maximum distortion-…

iPods & MP3s

Editor: Almost two years ago, after reading a thread at rec.audio.high-end—go to groups.google.com and enter "what makes a CD player high-end" in the search field—I held a brief e-mail discussion with Kalman Rubinson, both about the iPod and the sound quality of MP3 files compared to 16-bit PCM. According Mr. Rubinson, while MP3 was okay for very casual listening, it did not cut it for serious listening over a decent system.

Having connected my 15GB iPod to my Krell and B&W Nautilus rig…

Gordon Rankin: Well, first let me tell you that we actually used to build push-pull amps—they were EL34-based units—for a good five years before we tried our first single-ended amplifier. In any case, as a musician I would say the detail of the output of a single-ended amp seemed more pure and less distorted in some ways.

Scull: How did you get single-ended, Gordon?

Rankin: I'd gotten a pair of single-ended transformers and a bunch of tubes from a kid at the…