Joe and all, BUT, doing it mathematically can produce an ideal waveform. That is something difficult to accomplish with analog components which have inherent non-linearity and harmonic generation that is absent in the pure mathematical treatment. The downside of doing it mathematically is in the conversion from the continuous analog stream to the "number soup" that must occur and then back again to analog.
The one opposing argument is that the digital treatment has finite bin sizes and moves stepwise from one bin to an adjacent bin - analog covers the same ground in a continuous manner with no steps. The more bits in the ADC (or DAC), the closer the digital can be to an analog signal, but there still will be stepwise changes in the (number represented by the amplitude) in any digital transformation - digital smoothing helps a great deal, but is never perfect. Which is better depends on the listener's ears - most listeners cannot determine the difference. Consider the "better" audio quality of CDs as opposed to vinyl disks (I know there are some that will differ and consider the analog "better", but digital can preserve the full dynamic range and impulses where the analog can squash the peaks). Also give consideration to the fact that MP3s have been touted by some as "more Hi-Fi" than CD quality! (Yes, I have seen those claims). That is perception alone - a compressed signal cannot carry the full information of the original content no matter what the advertizing hype may indicate. Many such things are only in the ears and mind of the listener - same goes with analog modulation vs. digitally generated signals - (yes, even CW is a form of modulation although not usually thought of as such). 73, Don W3FPR On 11/7/2011 10:16 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote: > It's still nothing more than doing mathematically what was previously > done in circuitry. > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
