Earlier, sounds of all types were recorded and stored in analog form. Many of you might have used the magnetic tape recorders or even the classical music devices – gramophones. These audio storage devices had become very popular a few decades ago, but the way of storing audio has completely changed since now. These days, one rarely uses a tape-recorder or a phonograph to listen to their favorite music.
Why audio is stored in digital format in the first place?
Nowadays, audio signals are recorded and stored in digital form, i.e. in terms of 0’s and 1’s rather than in analog form. These signals represent some discrete values stored against regular time intervals. Storing audio in digital form has many advantages over the same in analog form. First of all, digital data is less prone to distortion due to noise in the transmission process and they also don’t degrade with time. Next, digital signals are easier to process. Another important factor is that an audio signal stored in digital form is extremely easier to reproduce than in analog form. All you need to do is plug in the storage device and press a few buttons. Of course, one can’t think of doing such with a gramophone record!
Need for Digital to Analog Converters
To play a song, today, all you need to do is connect your headphones or speakers with the digital audio source, be it an mp3 player, smartphone, or a computer. But have you ever thought what underlying processes and hardware inside these devices make it possible to convert the digital data into nice music or song?
Yes, we are talking about Digital to Analog Converters. Digital to analog converters (ADCs) are electronic circuits which take the abstract values stored in digital form, which are defined only for discrete-time values and retrieving the intermediate data values by using various methods like interpolation. The output signal now becomes of continuous nature and is sent to an audio amplifier. Finally, the amplifier sends the signal to the speakers in the form of current and voltage signals, producing the audio output.
These digital to analog converters could be found in all types of audio players. Mp3 players, mobile phones have these DACs integrated with the main circuit-boards. Computers also have these digital to analog dac audio converters embedded in the audio cards.
A large variety of digital to analog dac audio converters are available which differ from one another in terms of their form and the quality of sound they produce. Many devices have built-in DACs integrated into their circuit. External digital to analog audio converters, however, are known to produce better sound quality by minimizing noise and signal processing errors.
Data Acquisition - Digital to Analog Converters (DAC)
