d/a converters i didnt know i had but are they useable

[darrin_h2000]

i was thinking about the d/a converters that are in my minidisc recorder , according to sony if you go in via optical digital input tha d/a conversion is 24 bit.

which may be good news because the analong outs on my hard disc are only 18 bits.

will it be an advantage to go out toslink from my korg d8 to md and then through my effects to my computer to burn cds?

 

[elbenj]

darrin,

I don't think you are correctly stating what you mean.
In a D/A conversion there is not a bit rate issue because
the signal has become analog.

And for the same reason, analogs outs can,t be be 18 bits
because a analog signal is not express in bit rates.

I think what you mean is that the D/A converters are only
capable of converting 18 bit digital audio which is referreing
to whats going to and or through the converters and not whats
coming out. Make sense...?

All digital interfaces spdif, toslink,AES/BIU are capable of transferring the 24 bit audio but it only becomes and issue
when it has to be converted or downsampled to its final
destination which is where the converters come into play.

And of course its point of origin which was probably a A/D converter that converted a analog signal to digital at a specific frequency and bit rate. That signal will stay that frequency or bit rate until its converted again by a D/A converter.

Hope I was clear on this, if not holla back

 

[regebro]

1. No, an analog out is in itself not expressed in bit-depth, BUT the D/A conversion is, so it is not incorrect to say that an analog output is 18 bits.

2. MiniDisc has a lossy compression scheme that means the soundquality will degrade by converting to minidisc.

3. If a switch from 18 to 24 will be of benefit depends on what you are going to do with the analog signal. Few analog devices has the dynamics required to make use of that increase in bit-depth. It also, as elbenj correctly points out, means that the digital source has to be more than 18 bits. Otherwise it's ueless.

4. The quality of a D/A conversion is not only bit-depth, but sample rate, dithering, if any, and the quality of the analog poarts of the output. Therefore, staring blindly on just one piece of specification is not telling you anything. In fact, staring on specs will not tell you anything in any case. You need to make a double-blind test to see what is best.