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Advantages and disadvantages of digital sound

From the point of view of a normal user, there are many benefits: the compactness of modern storage media allows you, for example, to transfer all the disks and records in your collection to a digital representation and save for many years in three small ones.

one-inch hard drive or on a dozen or two CDs; you can use special software and thoroughly “clean” old records from reels and records, removing noise and crackle from their sound; It can also not only correct the sound, but also beautify it, add richness, volume, restore frequencies. In addition to the listed manipulations with sound at home, the Internet also comes to the rescue of the audio lover. For example, the network allows people to share music, listen to hundreds of thousands of different Internet radio stations, and also to show your sound creativity to the public, and for this you only need a computer and the Internet. And finally, recently, a large number of various portable digital audio equipment has appeared, the capabilities of which even for the most average representative often make it easy to carry a collection of music with a duration equivalent to tens of hours on the road. . .

From a professional’s point of view, digital audio offers truly endless possibilities. If the previous radio and sound studios were located on several tens of square meters, now they can be replaced by a good computer, which surpasses ten of those studios combined in capabilities and is much cheaper than one in terms of cost. This removes many financial barriers and makes recording more accessible to both the professional and the simple amateur. Modern software lets you do what you want with sound. Previously, various sound effects were achieved with the help of ingenious devices that did not always live up to technical thinking or were simply handcrafted devices. Today, the most complex and hitherto unimaginable effects are achieved by pressing a couple of buttons. Of course,

Of course, digital technology has its drawbacks, too. Many (professionals and amateurs) note that the analog sound was heard with greater intensity. And this is not just a tribute to the past. As we said before, the digitization process introduces a certain error in the sound, in addition, various digital amplifier equipment introduces the so-called “transistor noise” and other specific distortions. Perhaps there is no precise definition of the term “transistor noise”, but we can say that they are chaotic oscillations in the high frequency region. Although the human hearing aid can perceive frequencies up to 20 kHz, it appears that the human brain picks up higher frequencies. And it is on a subconscious level that a person still feels analog sound cleaner than digital.

However, the digital representation of data has an indisputable and very important advantage: with a saved medium, the data it contains does not distort over time. If the magnetic tape becomes degaussed over time and the recording quality is lost, if the record is scratched and pops and crackles are added to the sound, then the CD / hard disk / electronic memory is readable (if preserved) or not , and there is no aging effect. It is important to note that we are not talking about audio CDs here (CD-DA is a standard that establishes the parameters and format for recording on audio CDs), since even though it is a carrier of digital information, the effect of aging still won’t get away. This is due to the peculiarities of storing and reading audio data from an audio CD.

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Digital Audio Storage Methods – PART 2

Due to the use of the new SBR (Spectral Band Replication) technology, the codec performs notably better than other formats at low bit rates; however, the quality of encoding at medium and high bit rates is generally inferior to the quality of almost all the codecs described. Therefore, MP3 Pro is more suitable for streaming audio over the Internet, as well as creating previews of songs and music. however, the quality of encoding at medium and high bit rates is often lower than the quality of almost all the codecs described.

Therefore, MP3 Pro is more suitable for streaming audio over the Internet, as well as creating previews of songs and music. however, the quality of encoding at medium and high bit rates is often lower than the quality of almost all the codecs described. Therefore, MP3 Pro is more suitable for streaming audio over the Internet, as well as creating previews of songs and music.

Speaking of the methods of storing sound in digital form, one cannot help but remember the data carriers. The familiar audio CD, which appeared in the early 1980s, has become mainstream in recent years (which is associated with a sharp reduction in the cost of media and drives). And before that, digital data carriers were magnetic tape cassettes, but not ordinary ones, but specially designed for so-called DAT recorders. Nothing extraordinary: tape recorders are like tape recorders, but the price for them has always been high, and that pleasure was not too difficult for everyone. These recorders were used primarily in recording studios. The advantage of such recorders is that despite the use of familiar media, the data on them was stored in digital form and there was practically no loss during reading / writing on them (which is very important for studio processing and recording. sound storage). Today, a large number of different storage media have appeared, in addition to the usual compact discs. The media are improved and every year they become more accessible and compact. This opens up great opportunities in the field of creating mobile audio players. Today a large number of different models of portable digital players are already on sale. And we can assume that this is far from the peak of the development of this type of technology. This opens up great opportunities in the field of creating mobile audio players. Today a large number of different models of portable digital players are already on sale. And we can assume that this is far from the peak of the development of this type of technology. This opens up great opportunities in the field of creating mobile audio players. Today a large number of different models of portable digital players are already on sale. And we can assume that this is far from the peak of the development of this type of technology.

Digital audio storage methods

There are many different ways to store digital audio. As we said, digitized sound is a set of signal amplitude values ​​taken at regular intervals. Thus, first, a block of digitized audio information can be written to a file “as is”, that is, a sequence of numbers (amplitude values). In this case, there are two ways to store information.

The first is PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), a method of digitally encoding a signal by recording the absolute values ​​of the amplitudes (there are signed or unsigned representations). In this way, the data is recorded on all audio CDs.

The second method – ADPCM (Adaptive Delta PCM – adaptive relative pulse code modulation) – records signal values ​​not at all, but in relative changes in amplitudes (increments). Second, you can compress or simplify the data so that it takes up less memory than when it was written “as is.” There are also two ways here.

Lossless Data Encoding (Lossless Encoding) – is an audio encoding method that enables data recovery from a fully compressed stream. This method of data compaction is used when it is essential to maintain the quality of the original data. For example, after mixing sound in a recording studio, the data should be saved to the file in its original quality for possible later use. Today’s lossless encoding algorithms (for example, Monkeys Audio) can reduce the volume of data occupied by 20-50%, but at the same time ensure one hundred percent recovery of the original data from the data obtained after compression. Such encoders are a kind of data archivers (such as ZIP, RAR and others), only designed for audio compression.

There is also a second encoding path, which we will dwell on in a little more detail, lossy data encoding (lossy encoding). The purpose of such encoding is to achieve the sound similarity of the reconstructed signal to the original by any means with the least possible amount of packed data. This is achieved through the use of various algorithms that “simplify” the original signal (eliminating “unnecessary” details for the hearing impaired), leading to the fact that the decoded signal is no longer identical to the original, but only sounds similar. There are many compression methods, as well as programs that implement these methods. The most famous are MPEG-1 Layer I, II, III (the latter is the well-known MP3), MPEG-2 AAC (advanced audio encoding), Ogg Vorbis, Windows Media Audio (WMA), TwinVQ (VQF), MPEGPlus, TAC and others. On average, the compression ratio provided by such encoders is in the range of 10-14 (times). It should be noted that at the heart of all lossy encoders is the use of the so-called psychoacoustic model, which is simply involved in “simplifying” the original signal. More precisely, the mechanism of such encoders analyzes the coded signal, in the process of which the signal sections are determined, in certain frequency regions of which there are nuances inaudible to the human ear (masked or inaudible frequencies), after which are removed. of the original signal. Therefore, the degree of compression of the original signal depends on the degree of its “simplification”; Strong compression is achieved by “aggressive simplification” (when the encoder “considers” various nuances unnecessary), such compression naturally leads to strong quality degradation, as not only imperceptible but also significant sound details can be removed .

As we said, there are a lot of modern lossy encoders. The most common format is MPEG-1 Layer III (known as MP3). The format gained its popularity quite deservedly: it was the first widespread codec of its kind, achieving such a high level of compression with excellent sound quality. Today, there are many alternatives to this codec, the choice is up to the user. Unfortunately, the scope of the article does not allow us to provide tests and comparisons of existing codecs here, however, the authors of the article will allow themselves to provide some information that is useful when choosing a codec.

So the advantages of MP3 are the widespread use and a fairly high encoding quality, which is objectively improved thanks to the development of various MP3 encoders by enthusiasts (for example, the Lame encoder). A powerful alternative to MP3 is the Microsoft Windows Media Audio codec (.WMA and .ASF files).