What does "bit perfect" mean?

Posted by: CharlieP on 07 March 2009

Can any one explain this, or point to a source where I/we could become more educated about how digital audio is stored on a CD and on a hard drive?

I was (perhaps in my ignorance) of the opinion that the signal from a CD is a high-frequency analog representation of a pulse-width-modulated square wave. How is this stored on a hard drive? Surely it is different than character bytes or floating point numbers?

I have personally heard too many "spooky" things in digital audio playback to believe it can be as simple as copying a text document or numerical data. All CD players, for example, do not sound the same, etc.
Posted on: 07 March 2009 by Adam Meredith
quote:
Originally posted by avole:
Basically, CD players sound different because the built-in DACs are different.


That and the transport, software, power supplies, audio sections and general circuit implementation. They also can sound different depending on the surface on which they are supported and .... (cont page 94)
Posted on: 07 March 2009 by 'haroldbudd'
quote:
Originally posted by CharlieP:
Can any one explain this, or point to a source where I/we could become more educated about how digital audio is stored on a CD and on a hard drive?

I was (perhaps in my ignorance) of the opinion that the signal from a CD is a high-frequency analog representation of a pulse-width-modulated square wave. How is this stored on a hard drive? Surely it is different than character bytes or floating point numbers?

I have personally heard too many "spooky" things in digital audio playback to believe it can be as simple as copying a text document or numerical data. All CD players, for example, do not sound the same, etc.


CharlieP, it is as complicated as you think, and even more so when you look into " the other side" read this book, it is right up there with the other Clasics such as "Don Quixote" and "Tron", make sure you get the second edition.

And Fair warning, if you have a wife or girlfriend or a partner, they will look at you like as a complete nerd/geek when they glance over your shoulder to catch a glimpse of what you are reading.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Audio-Second-art-science/dp/0240808371

atb

oh, and " bit-perfect" means this,......


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