Analog technology records waveforms as they are, while digital converts them into sets of numbers. Digital recordings can be cleaned up, remastered, and easily copied. Digital technology accomplishes this through sampling, with the higher the sample rate, the more accurate the recording. Lower sample rates may be difficult to distinguish on portable devices, but the loss in quality is more noticeable on better sound systems.
The key difference between analog and digital technologies is that the former records waveforms as they are, while the latter converts analog waveforms into sets of numbers, instead recording the numbers. When played, the numbers are converted into a voltage stream that approximates the original wave.
Analog technology brought us Chuck Berry, Elvis and The Beatles on vinyl records, 8-tracks and cassettes. Using today’s digital devices, original studio recordings can be cleaned up, remastered, and distributed as digital files that sound better than those long-playing records (LPs) ever did. While tapes and LPs wear out with use, a digital recording sounds exactly the same no matter how many times it’s played back. It is also easily copied and moved between storage devices.
It might seem counterintuitive that a technology that converts an analog waveform into numbers would sound better than one that records the waveform as-is, but digital technology accomplishes this feat through sampling. When a waveform such as music is recorded with a digital recorder, the music is sampled several thousand times per second. For a CD quality recording, the average sampling rate is 44,000 times per second. That’s 44,000 numbers stored for every second of music. The higher the sample rate, the more accurate the recording, although there comes a point of diminishing returns considering the file gets larger as the human ear ceases to be able to hear a difference beyond a certain point. When the device plays the digital file, the waveform is reconstructed, one bit at a time at the speed of light.
You might compare digital technology to drawing a cartoon on the bottom edge of a notepad, changing the drawing slightly on each subsequent page. If you repeat the drawing throughout the block, then flip the pages, the figure appears to move smoothly whichever way you drew it. He may cross the page, sneeze, bend over, or run. Likewise, the digital device reproduces numbers so fast that the samples combine to “reshape” the analog waveform back into its original form.
When buying digital music online, some people choose a lower sample rate for smaller files. When playing MP3 music on a portable device or an inexpensive portable player, it may be difficult to distinguish between music sampled at 44,000 times per second and music sampled at slower speeds. However, when playing the files on a decent car stereo, home stereo, or surround sound system, the loss in quality will be more noticeable.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
