AURORA Electron Devices® — Technical Lexicon

Entry 5.6

Jitter

Technical Lexicon of Pattern Conservation in Stereophonic Electroacoustic Reproduction

Lexicon IndexTheory

0. NARRATIVE FORMULATION

“Unwanted variation in the instants of a reference timing sequence.”

1. DEFINITION

Jitter is the temporal deviation of clock events or digital transitions from their ideal instants. Within audio, it becomes relevant when it translates into errors or modulation of the resulting representation, particularly in the digital-to-analogue conversion process.

2. POSITION WITHIN THE THEORY*

The term must not be extended generically to every mechanical or acoustic instability. Ringing, speed fluctuation, dispersion, phase noise and variation of transients are distinct phenomena requiring their own designations and models.

3. RELATIONSHIPS AND OPERATING CONDITIONS

4. PERCEPTUAL TRANSLATION

Effects attributed to jitter may be described as harshness, blur or instability, but such descriptions are not specific. Levels, filters, resampling and analogue output must be controlled.

5. MEASUREMENT, EVIDENCE AND LIMITS

Measurement must characterise the spectrum, amplitude, correlation and transfer of jitter through to the analogue output. A value measured on the connection does not automatically demonstrate an audible effect. Perceptual tests must use known manipulations and realistic levels.

6. TRANSLATION WITHIN THE AURORA Electron Devices® TECHNICAL-SCIENTIFIC FRAMEWORK

In digital-source projects consistent with the 'AURORA' framework, clocking, buffering, power supply, interfaces and conversion are treated as a system. The aim is to reduce the output’s sensitivity to pertinent timing instabilities, not to promote the clock as the sole determinant of digital quality.

7. OPERATIONAL SUMMARY

Jitter = timing error in a digital reference sequence; not a general synonym for every temporal incoherence.

Claudio Angelo Chiappini, Theory of Pattern Conservation in Stereophonic Electroacoustic Reproduction — Technical Edition, Version 1.0. ORCID 0009-0007-0742-5780. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20768488

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