Computer Audio Asylum

Posted by Slider (A) on March 29, 2008 at 18:33:46

In Reply to: RE: The data does cause clock jitter posted by audioengr on March 29, 2008 at 16:30:06

But I haven't heard your stuff so can't comment on that.

I think we've talked about this before, but separate return paths don't really effectively address the problem since the signals generally all share the same source and return pins. Better to have a close layout with an extremely low impedance return path (typically an uninterrupted ground plane directly above the signal traces) except this isn't always possible if you want the digital filter and all of the other high jitter signals isolated from your clean clock and D/A convertor.

One method that works pretty well for me is generating the clocks in an isolated section (using BB ISO 150 device) along with the D/A convertor and analog stage, and then clocking the data across the barrier. Not perfect, and everybody has their own way, but you have to break the jitter path at some point.