Recently I did a read-up on Digital-Analog converters (DAC/ADC).
This a deep technical rabbit hole to fall down for sure, but also quite a burgeoning industry is being made selling high quality DACs to audiophiles to listen to high res streams of music. And studios whom we may send stems also have various systems in place. So it raises questions for the home producer...
Sigma Delta DACs- today’s most common- it seems do conversion between PCM sampling and DSD inside the chip. There is also oversampling, and filtering at various stages. Apparently as a result with these type of ADC/DAC, some sample rate frequencies may be “native” than others to a chip in that the generate less error/noise than others depending on the chip design with respect to the DSD part. Forgive me if I muck up a the engineering with the above.
While there seems to be much debate and hyperbole over these differences in the audiophile world, one thing that does seems to be generally agreed upon is that one ought to avoid format conversions as much as possible throughout the entire chain of signal from musician to ears.
That seems wise.
But it made me wonder: is one sample rate more “native” to the DP’s converters than another? Do anyone know if our DP machines perform or sound different or better at 48/24 vs 44.1/24? Or is it equally facile inside the box?
My natural inclination was to just work at 48/24, the video standard. because I assumed simply that a “little more must be a little better” and disk storage is cheap, and I had no intention of pressing CD’s.
I guess there are equally relevant questions about whether a DAW does processing with equal fidelity at different frequencies? it’s all just “math” but math includes errors and rounding. And whether the “distribution system” (which for me consists of BandCamp and about 5 followers, at least for now!) converts WAV files better at one setting vs another...? More rabbit holes to explore!
This a deep technical rabbit hole to fall down for sure, but also quite a burgeoning industry is being made selling high quality DACs to audiophiles to listen to high res streams of music. And studios whom we may send stems also have various systems in place. So it raises questions for the home producer...
Sigma Delta DACs- today’s most common- it seems do conversion between PCM sampling and DSD inside the chip. There is also oversampling, and filtering at various stages. Apparently as a result with these type of ADC/DAC, some sample rate frequencies may be “native” than others to a chip in that the generate less error/noise than others depending on the chip design with respect to the DSD part. Forgive me if I muck up a the engineering with the above.
While there seems to be much debate and hyperbole over these differences in the audiophile world, one thing that does seems to be generally agreed upon is that one ought to avoid format conversions as much as possible throughout the entire chain of signal from musician to ears.
That seems wise.
But it made me wonder: is one sample rate more “native” to the DP’s converters than another? Do anyone know if our DP machines perform or sound different or better at 48/24 vs 44.1/24? Or is it equally facile inside the box?
My natural inclination was to just work at 48/24, the video standard. because I assumed simply that a “little more must be a little better” and disk storage is cheap, and I had no intention of pressing CD’s.
I guess there are equally relevant questions about whether a DAW does processing with equal fidelity at different frequencies? it’s all just “math” but math includes errors and rounding. And whether the “distribution system” (which for me consists of BandCamp and about 5 followers, at least for now!) converts WAV files better at one setting vs another...? More rabbit holes to explore!