What is the difference between digital and analog audio?
In: Technology
Audio engineer, here. Something I can finally contribute to on this sub! [This article](https://www.klipsch.com/blog/digital-vs-analog-audio) does a really good job describing the basic process in a straightforward way.
“No matter which recording process is used, analog or digital, both are created by a microphone turning air pressure (sound) into an electrical analog signal. An analog recording is made by then imprinting that signal directly onto the master tape (via magnetization) or master record (via grooves) . . . Digital recordings take that analog signal and convert it into a digital representation of the sound, which is essentially a series of numbers for digital software to interpret.”
**Where an analog recording is similar to the fluency of film, a digital recording is stop motion photography.** Analog audio is an exact representation of the sound, whereas digital audio captures bits and pieces of the signal in ones and zeros (binary). This makes it seem like digital audio is inferior from a sonic standpoint (~~spoiler: it is~~), but digital audio has advanced to a point where the difference is negligible or even unnoticeable to the trained ear, with the exception of a few scenarios (namely heavy gain).
Edit: it is my **opinion** that analog audio/equipment sounds better than digital.
Latest Answers