
Demonstrations of sampling, quantization, bit-depth, and dither [video] - nathankot
http://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml
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rr56
Excellent video, such a pleasure to watch. Even with all the equipment and
setup problems, labs are such a good memory...

(Just a minor thing but I thought that the video suggested that the Gibbs
phenomenon was a result of the finite decomposition instead of, unless my
memory is misleading me, being a sort of fundamental feature of the piecewise
smooth square wave function)

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agumonkey
Most xiph videos are of very high educational quality.

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TheOtherHobbes
There are a lot of basic errors in this. It may impress someone who doesn't
know anything about the technology - nice vintage gear collection - but that
doesn't keep it from being factually wrong.

Just one example: the true SNR of a professional reel to reel tape master
recorder is somewhere around 100dB - e.g. a Studer A series (around 75dB SNR @
30ips) with Dolby SR noise reduction (about 25dB of noise reduction.)

Anyone who knows so little about recording equipment they think this is
equivalent to 13 bits of digital resolution shouldn't be making videos about
this subject.

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chipsy
Well, it is equivalent. Not in terms of what a played back sound is like,
because tape and digital both introduce characteristic artifacts, but in terms
of "this signal peak is so many dB above the noise floor."

If you actually code some audio DSP(and I do), you quickly learn that there
are a lot of ways to color sound that aren't quantified except in a very broad
statistical sense, but are measurable in audition. What digital is very good
at is the basics of reproduction with a (statistically) uncolored result. At
artistic effect, it is somewhat more limited; a lot of compute time and
engineering has to be thrown into reproducing some straightforward analog
world things and model accuracy still has room for improvement even now.

If you want to quibble with the video, do so on its terms. It isn't saying
that digital is better, it's saying that digital is better at a very specific
task.

