An analog signal is carved directly into the grooves in the record, thus deforming the PVC material in response to the signal. Vinyl records are typically made of a semi-rigid form of PVC, or polyvinyl chloride. In addition, a turntable (record player) has its own material properties, capabilities, and limitations as well. A vinyl record has particular material properties that determine how it behaves, what it’s capable of, and what its limitations are. Let’s consider the most common analog media format, which is a vinyl record. This is a question for neuroscientists, so for our purposes, we’ll avoid that discussion entirely and instead ask the question: “do analog media sources actually produce a true continuous audio signal in the first place?” Analog media Yet the question remains as to whether or not the human brain can actually tell the difference, especially with higher resolution digital audio. You could say that since a digital discrete signal is merely an approximation of the actual sound, no matter how good it may be it will never fully match the actual exact continuous analog signal and so that should be the end of the argument. And the bit rate of 16 bits was the largest that could be easily used and still fit a reasonable amount of sound material on a standard compact disc. By a formula known as the Nyquist Theorem, this sample rate of 44,100Hz is the minimum required to produce sounds with tones covering the full range of typical human hearing. This choice of values for CD audio is not by coincidence. The difference in level between each step is determined by the total number of potential steps, known as its bit depth.Īs an example, CD audio files have a sample rate of 44,100Hz (Hz stands for Hertz, which is the unit of measurement describing how many times an event repeats each second-meaning it produces 44,100 new audio signal steps every second) and a bit depth of 16 bits (each bit is a binary digit, so that a 16-bit digital signal has a total of 2 to the power of 16, or 65,536 possible numeric values between its minimum and maximum value). The speed of the cycling of discrete steps in a digital sound signal is known as its sample rate. If the discrete steps in the digital sound change frequently enough, and if the steps themselves are able to be close enough together in level, then the resulting approximation is close enough to a continuous analog signal that it can fool our ears, and our brain. So, in effect, digital sound attempts to approximate the continuous signal of analog sound. This is very similar to the way a video is made from a series of still images that are cycled through fast enough to give the illusion of smooth motion (hence the original phrase “motion pictures”). discrete signalsįirst, it’s important to understand exactly what the difference is between analog and digital sound.Īnalog sound utilizes a continuously changing audio signal meaning that the pressure fluctuations fed to a speaker from its signal is (at least ideally) an exact reproduction of the original sound at every moment in time.ĭigital sound, on the other hand, is made up of a series of discrete steps in its audio signal that change quickly enough that they give the illusion of a continuous signal when fed to a speaker. We’re about to step heavily into the world of math and science, so hold onto your hats! Continuous vs. And the answer to the question, “could digital audio ever outperform analog?” actually has two parts. Instead, let’s explore the requirements of a scenario in which digital sound could be equal to, and perhaps even surpass, analog sound. Guest post Erik Veach of the Bandzoogle BlogĮver since the advent of the compact disc, and the widespread consumer access to digital audio that it brought, people have debated over whether or not digital audio could ever adequately replace its analog predecessors.Īs downloadable and streaming digital formats have increased in prevalence and complexity, the discussion has only amplified, with many diehard analog “purists” decrying the loss of musical soul they feel is notably missing in modern digital audio formats.īut I’m not here to argue against or for the purists.
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