Absolute measurement of sampling jitter in audio equipment

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Audio Signal Processing
• Metrology

Background:

• Sampling jitter is a critical parameter affecting audio fidelity.
• Existing methods for jitter analysis may lack precision or separation capabilities.
• Accurate characterization of temporal fluctuations is essential for high-performance audio equipment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a time-domain analysis method for quantifying sampling jitter in audio equipment.
• To enable the distinct evaluation of jitter originating from audio players versus audio recorders.
• To differentiate jitter from phase-independent noise using multi-channel audio signals.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing time-domain analysis of temporal fluctuations in zero-crossing points of recorded sinusoidal waves.
• Simultaneously feeding a playback signal into multiple audio recorders for comparative analysis.
• Employing left and right audio channels to isolate jitter from noise.

Main Results:

• The proposed method successfully identified jitter values in the picosecond range for audio players.
• Demonstrated the capability to separately assess jitter in playback devices and recording devices.
• Successfully distinguished jitter from phase-independent noise through channel analysis.

Conclusions:

• The developed time-domain method provides a robust approach for analyzing sampling jitter in audio equipment.
• This technique is valuable for the performance evaluation of audio devices, signal generators, and clock sources.
• The ability to separate jitter from noise enhances the diagnostic power for audio system analysis.