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View Full Version : Re: Digital quality - is there a difference?


Arny Krueger
August 2nd 04, 11:53 AM
"Steve Jorgensen" > wrote in message


> If a card is neither syncing with nor doing sample rate conversion on
> an incoming singl, you'll get pops because occasionally, a sample is
> to there yet when the card's clock is ready, or a sample in the input
> is skipped because the card's clock has gotten ahead. I think the
> card can also just lose the signal for a few samples when this
> happens.

I dunno, when my digital inputs are out of synch they sound absolutely
horrible - like noise.

When my digital inputs are synched properly they sound absolutely
wonderful, no tics or pops ever.

> With sample rate conversion, to the extent that the sender and/or
> receiver have timing jitter, there will be jitter mapped onto the
> sound, and it will get muddy and unclear.

This would have to be restricted to real time sample rate conversion, right?

I always do sample rate conversion with PC software, and I've never seen
that kind of sample rate conversion of digital data add or subtract jitter.
I know of no theoretical reason why it would.

> Jitter means the clock's
> rate is not perfectly constant, so it gets a bit ahead, then a bit
> behind with respect to real time, imposing a slight alternating time
> compression/decompression.

That can happen at the point of analog <-> digital conversion. It can also
happen when you do real time sample rate conversion. Good reasons to avoid
both wherever you can, I guess.

Noel Bachelor
August 4th 04, 10:48 AM
On or about Sun, 01 Aug 2004 06:44:18 GMT, Logan Shaw allegedly wrote:

> Laurence Payne wrote:
> > A justification might be the SB cards' inclusion of an on-board
> > sample-player engine - the SoundFont system. This would require to
> > work at a set sample rate.
>
> Call me crazy, but why couldn't the SoundFont thing work at its
> required sample rate and then have the sample rate conversion
> convert the SoundFont's output to the rate that the D/A is going?
> It doesn't seem like this would be a lot more expensive to build
> given that either way you include stuff that does sample rate
> conversion...

But if that is seen as a primary function of the card, it will sound
better if it has the short path. The digital in is probably seen as a
minor sideline that few gamers will use, and it's easier to blame the
other gear if it sounds lousy anyway.


Noel Bachelor noelbachelorAT(From:_domain)
Language Recordings Inc (Darwin Australia)