What is sample rate/sample frequency?
Sampling rate Sampling rate is the number of sampling processes performed per second in an AD converter that converts an analog signal to a digital signal.
The unit is “Hz”, and the higher the value, the faster the analog input signal can be converted to a digital value, resulting in higher sound quality. However, the amount of data grows proportionally, so choose the right frequency for media and devices with limited storage capacity.
It is said that in order to accurately record and reproduce a certain sound, it is necessary to sample at a frequency that is approximately twice the frequency of that sound. The sample rate used on music CDs is 44.1 kHz. In this case, the voice waveform is shredded 44,100 times per second, and the voice information at each time is converted into digital information.
Human beings generally have 20 Hz for individual differences, but they can perceive sounds from around 15 kHz to 20 kHz as sound, and this frequency band is called the audible range.
Difference Between Sample Rate and Bit Rate
Sample rate and bit rate are used to describe the sound quality before and after the compression of the audio data.
The sampling rate is a value that represents “the number of sampling processes performed per second”.
For example, at the standard sample rate of 44.1 kHz, that means sampling 44,100 times per second.
The higher this number, the smoother the sound and the better the sound quality. In other words, the numerical value of the sample rate represents the quality of the sound.
On the other hand, the bitrate is a value that indicates “at how many levels the volume is rendered”.
For example, in the case of 16 bits, which is the standard bit rate, the amount of information is divided by 2 to the 16th power (= 65536 steps). If the number of bits is low, the sound quality will be uneven, and as with the sample rate, the higher the bit rate value, the more information can be reproduced and the sound quality will be better.
