Berner99 on most DACs it would look smooth. There is a trend on most audiophile non oversampling DACs not to have an output filter. Depending on the bandwidth of their analog electronics in those DACs, it would either look much like a staircase or a staircase with rounded edges.
Basic technical question about digital source signals
Forgive if this is a stupid question, but the current thread about digital vs analog made me curious: if you look at an analog music signal you see (I think) summations of sine waves i.e. a signal waveform which is "smooth". I realize that there are many contributions to digital sound, but starting with the most basic, if you look at the output from a digital source e.g. on an oscilloscope, would it appear "smooth" i.e. has all the stairstepping that occurs when you convert digital to analog been smoothed out or would the signal appear jagged to some extent?
Thanks for your time.
Thanks for your time.
Showing 10 responses by audio2design
Cleeds, In that video, he is showing the output of a DAC with an analog reconstruction filter. It is filtering out the stair-steps. Which goes back to my post, on most DACs, there would be no stair-step evident. On non oversampling DACs or any DAC without an analog filter, there would be evidence of stair-steps. |
You are equating accuracy with preference. That never ends well in the audiophile world. People will make up all kinds of justifications why their preference is "more accurate". But the key phrase here is "make up". Given the number of people who prefer nonoversampled DACs something seems wrong/incomplete with this theory |
https://www.stereophile.com/images/712an.AN41fig03.jpg Not broken, a design decision to go NOS without a filter. https://www.stereophile.com/content/holoaudio-may-level-3-da-processor-measurements Or in this case, the option to run NOS or not without a filter. |
I think there would have to be a "theory of digital audio" at least on reconstruction to break it. Of course, it also presumes that the subsequent filters are linear. itsjustme260 posts11-16-2020 9:13amsuch a design decision breaks the theory of digital audio.Not really, it presumes that subsequent filters (mechanical limits in your speakers and your ear, which respond per F=MA; inherent limits in subsequent components) achieve he filtering. There will be no aliasing after the DAC. Yes, there could be HF noise residue; but hearing is highly attenuated above 22 kHz (if present at all) anyway. |