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January
2003 |
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| Tech
Tips - Audio Testing for Optimal Results, is designed to provide
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One of the most important quality checks of an audio device is its noise or signal-to-noise ratio. Noise can be expressed many different ways; as absolute noise, as a ratio, and as weighted, unweighed or band-limited. There are many possible sources of noise in audio circuits — poor design, a malfunctioning part or faulty power supply filtering. Even the characteristics of the measuring instrument will affect the result. The wide number of factors involved in measuring noise makes it difficult to make valid performance comparisons between devices. Click here to learn more
Designed for the mass market, consumer PC sound cards can vary greatly in quality, features and characteristics. A typical, inexpensive PC sound card has the capability to record and play .wav file format 16-bit PCM stereo digital audio at a 44.1 kHz sample rate. Here are some audio performance considerations concerning the recording and playback functions of PC sound cards. Click here to learn more
Distortion measurements for audio signals can be made using conventional analog analysis techniques or by converting the signal into its digital representation by means of a precision ADC, then applying DSP analysis techniques. The results of these two methods are slightly different, with the DSP technique sometime reporting more distortion and noise, sometimes less. hy is this?
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