AD Converter: What does it do?

boomoperator · May 3, 2016

@Andrew: Incorrect. It's called bit depth.
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Check! Typ-o..

django · May 9, 2016

Andrew said: ↑

Not quite. That's PCM Pulse Code Modulation, which is the most used method, but most certainly not the only one.
Direct Stream Digital uses different approach of sigma-delta modulation a sequence of single-bit values at a sampling rate of 2.8224 MHz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital

Also the "square steps" are not there, it's just an approximation. Interpolation, which takes place in DA converter restores the original waveform up to the sampling rate set as maximum.
If those squares were really there, then 22k sine wave on 44.1kHz sample rate would sound like square wave, not sine. And that's not the case.
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Interesting. I did know the squares aren't really there and by trying to be brief i didn't even explain that properly, but I didn't know about DSD this is all new to me! Like all things a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

spaddu · May 9, 2016

What does AD and DA Converter do?

This:

Von_Steyr · May 9, 2016

Death Thash Doom said: ↑

Well they are a crucial part of our/anyone's signal chain when recording anything onto any digital storage medium.
At the most basic an analogue to digital converter does exactly that, Converts the incoming analogue signal into binary digital data which can then be edited and manipulated in all manner of ways that is not possible in the analogue domain, The digital to analogue converter does the exact opposite. Instead of rattle on I can highly suggest downloading these papers written by Dan Lavry of Lavry Engineering who offers some of the finest A/D and D/A converters money can buy, They're free and should give you a good solid grasp of what's what http://www.lavryengineering.com/lavry-white-papers/
It's actually getting/or got to a point where finding shoddy DA/AD converters is pretty rare in even budget audio interfaces, Not mind blowing great but definitely so much better than it was at a much better price than 10 years ago
What most people want is as neutral as possible (or "transparent" is one of those terms that is used often), So what you hear putting in is what you hear coming out, However there have been (and probably still are) some units which have their own sound or character, Universal Audio's UA292 Master or the one which came before that one IIRC is one that springs to mind instantly as a really great converter which had it's own unique sound. I got the chance to use one several times and against the old Digidesign 192 I/O converters it sounded great, alive and vibrant but that isn't really what the majority of user's want (But hell I'd of chosen to use the UA292 over those crummy Digidesign 192 I/O in a PT HD rig if they we're the two options I had available, Although Avid now let people use their own choice for interfacing with Pro Tools), They want as said reference quality with no areas of weakness, Such as stereo imaging, Jitter (awesome that it really isn't a problem these days) and no hype anywhere. This is why up to a certain price point you'll see tons of I/Os with expansion options in a dedicated all-in-one audio interface but after that it gets quite different feature wise but the conversion quality and if included mic pre-amps usually are improved but mainly you'll find units up in this area offer more line level inputs which enables to choose your own preferred signal path before going ITB, Along with Lavry, Prism, Antelope, Apogee (MAC only), Burl, Cranesong, Benchmark, Universal Audio as mentioned, Metric Halo (MAC only), Lynx, RME, Audient, Focusrite and there are loads I can't think of off the top of my head but you get the idea I hope, Have a search around the "Gearslutz" forums as you'll find everything under the sun already covered/long threads about the pros and cons plus shootouts galore
Here is a decent SOS mag article also which might help and of course searching their site will yield plenty of great information http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan09/articles/daconverters.htm
TapeOp magazine is also definitely worth checking out even though the physical copy of the magazine is no longer used, They've got tons of the old articles up along with good forums.
So all in all the A/D section takes your voltage information converting it into ones and zeros which are stored on a disk drive then the D/A section pickups the ones and zeros converting it back into voltage information as smoothly as possible. Depending upon how you've set the bit-depth and sampling rate will affect how much headroom, dynamic range and frequency with which the information that is available is captured (and played back). 24-bit, 44.1kHz or 48kHz works just fine for Me multi-tracking, Sometimes it can be beneficial to utilize 24-bit, 88.2kHz or 96kHz but quite honestly I've never noticed/heard any benefits of going higher than that sample rate wise *but I'm no audiophile and nor do I claim to possess a pair of "golden ears"*

Hope that is of some use to you, I'm sure they'll be more members that have decent wisdom and links to draw upon

Dean
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A lot of producers were pissed when E-MU released 1820m(1616m,1212m)which had the same converters as digidesign`s flagship pro tools hd 192,at that time it crushed many more expensive interfaces on testing and in practice,while costing a fraction of the price,still sounds great for ITB mixing and mastering.

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AD Converter: What does it do?

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AD Converter: What does it do?

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