DAC's : The missing feature: Signal quality

@celander Exactly.

To answer the question about what we would use externally, jitter, noise and distortion measurements. I don't think we need to have all that test gear in place though.

For instance, there's circuitry which is making choices about adjusting the DAC to the incoming signal. Knowing some basic statistics about that. Like, what is the incoming long term variance? How often are there outliers?

The complicated view techs might see could be reduced in my mind.

I know at least one DAC even claims to compensate for impedance mismatches, so this must be measurable.

Best,
E

Alternatively, maybe this should be a gadget? Why am I telling you guys all my best ideas ?

Best,
E

Erik, I presume one could adjust the sensitivity of the LED indicator (or use a multi-colored LED) that reports distinct levels of jitter. Seems like one would need some sort of jitter level sensor on the output digital stream just prior to final analog conversion. That sensor could be calibrated to feed a signal to the LED to indicate jitter level. Not convinced that the DAC jitter reduction would not overwhelm whatever jitter level you’re trying to detect in the input cable. But presumably one could put a similar sensor on the input side of the DAC input circuit. 

Erik:
I always like that you are thoughtful about our hobby and I conceptually like your idea. If a DAC sounded exceptional to me, and it had this feature, and it could be demonstrated to make a difference by allowing the user to rationally react to it, then I would consider it a value add that might affect my purchasing decision. But, it probably wouldn't be a major reason to buy a DAC (for me) and might not survive a company's internal cost benefit analysis, if I am DAC manufacturers' target audience (I'm a 50 something male passionate about audio that owns or has owned more than 6 DAC or CD players in the last 5 years.) As a former R&D guy in an unrelated field, I've seen forwarding thinking ideas die many times because a company didn't think there was an increase in profitability attached to the concept.
Regards
Al     

thank you @astewart8944 - Like I was thinking, maybe this is better as an external gadget.

To put this another way, most of us have no way to tell if a digital source is very poor, mediocre, or great. I'd like a little gadget that could tell me.

Best,
E