5.2: Digital vs. Analog

Understanding Sound From Ear to Engineer · LibreTexts

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    From LibreTexts, under CC BY-SA 4.0, as the source states it; its equations are written in TeX, which the PDF shows typeset. This page at LibreTexts.

    Digital vs. Analog

    Analog audio is a continuous electrical signal that directly represents sound waves. It captures every nuance but is subject to noise, distortion, and degradation over time (for example, tape hiss or vinyl wear).
    Digital audio, on the other hand, represents sound as discrete numerical samples. This allows for cleaner storage, editing, and replication without quality loss, but depends heavily on proper sample rate, bit depth, and digital-to-analog conversion.

    This page titled 5.2: Digital vs. Analog was last modified on Fri, 01 May 2026 02:54:59 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Geoffrey Dunbar.