Digital I/O, Setup, and Utilities
193
02R User’s Guide
Dither
When you connect a number of digital audio devices together, you may
find their digital word size is different. For example, the 02R uses a 20-bit
word size for input and output and a 32-bit word size for internal
processing. Professional digital equipment uses a 24-bit wordsize, while
consumer digital equipment uses a 20-bit wordsize. In order to obtain the
best possible signal quality, the 02R has a dither function for its internal bus
and stereo bus outputs.
Dithering is a mathematical process where a random noise is added to the
least significant bit of a digital word. With very low level signals, the
quantization error becomes correlated to the signal level. This creates a
small but measurable amount of distortion. By adding dither, the
correlation between the signal level and the quantization error is cancelled,
allowing the digital system to encode amplitudes smaller than the least
significant bit. If you change the word size as a signal passes from one
digital system to another, being able to add dither allows you to maintain a
high quality signal.
Shown below is the DIGITAL I/O 4/5 page—Dither.
Dither ON/OFF
You can turn the dither function on or off for the stereo bus and for the
internal buses 1 through 8. The internal buses are paired for the dither
function.
Word Length
You can add dither to compensate for any word size from 16-bit to 24-bit.
1.
Use the [DIGITAL I/O]
button to locate the
DIGITAL I/O 4/5 page.
2.
Use the CURSOR buttons
to select the ON/OFF
icon for the desired bus
and press the [ENTER]
button to change the
value.
3.
Select the Word Length
with the CURSOR
buttons and press the
[ENTER] button.
DIGITAL
I/O
