R/E/P > Reason In Audio
George....what's the resolution of analog?
Nika Aldrich:
jazzius wrote on Fri, 14 May 2004 19:38
why does it sound better then?
Surely analog works at a higher resolution then digital?....electrons, atoms, eeeerrrrrr.....quarks?! (yeah, i don't actually know what the hell i'm talking about!)
"Better" is a subjective term.
Some people may like analog equipment for some projects because the way that analog systems are implemented add noise and distortion in pleasing ways. Some people like digital equipment because good digital systems do not add that distortion.
Clearly, for poorly designed analog or poorly designed digital systems the performance degrades, and digital systems, when poorly designed, generally add distortion that is very "non-musical." Therefore, many people like analog equipment over mediocre digital equipment, and some people also like good analog equipment over good digital equipment just because they like the more "euphonic" noise and distortion.
Nika.
ted nightshade:
It's true, implementation is everything, and it's very difficult to do, analog or digital! Kudos to those who do it well.
raw-tracks:
I could be way off base here, but shouldn't the correct answer be that analog recording has INFINITE resolution. Here is the way I see it:
In a digital system, the sound is stored as samples. Each sample is basically a representation or picture of the audio at that given time. You have the sample rate, which is how many times a second a picture is taken. You also have the bit depth, which represents how many ones and zeros we have to take that picture with. The way I have always understood it, was that the bit depth is the resolution. Therefore, you can have 16 bit resolution, 20 bit, 24 bit, etc. At any given bit depth, the chances of that picture being a perfect representation of the actual audio that is taking place, are next to none. In other words, the system will have to decide how to represent a value that is in between the numbers it is given to work with. I guess this also applies to what is happening in between samples as well.
In an analog system, it is not taking snapshot of the audio. It is continuously representing what is happening. Therefore, it is my belief that analog resolution is infinite.
malice:
raw-tracks wrote on Fri, 14 May 2004 22:16
I could be way off base here, but shouldn't the correct answer be that analog recording has INFINITE resolution. Here is the way I see it:
Unfortunately it has not infinite resolution...
Unless I don't understand physics right
those quanta you know ...
well, even if they are very very small
malice
sfdennis:
I'm surprised the thread got this far without anyone mentioning this:
Digital Word Length <=> Analog Noise Floor
Digital Sample Rate <=> Analog Bandwidth
So for example, in an ideal converter system at 96kHz would correspond with an analog bandwidth of 0-48kHz. A digital word length of 24 bits would correspond with an analog noise floor of about -132dBFS, notwithstanding dither.
The correspondences are not perfect for many reasons, and you have to take some care in applying them, but I always start with these. Ignoring distortion for a moment, all real instruments are bandwidth limited and have a non-zero noise floor.
-Dennis
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