Test your basic knowledge |

Digital Audio

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Sony sigma- delta modulation based technology that bypasses the decimation and interpolation steps found in PCM converters






2. The ability of a digital system to perform complex DSP without running into problems with overflow or loss of resolution






3. Anytime bit depth is reduced the gap gets bigger so more dithering is required






4. Apple Lossless; Windows Media Lossless; DTS HD Master Audio; Dolby True HD; FLAC






5. More aggressive lossy data reduction techniques that require further manipulation of the stereo field; Examples are 'Intensity' & 'M-S'






6. Unit of measurement that is equal to one billionth of a meter






7. Samples are duplicated and the playback sampling rate correspondingly increased; Significantly raises the Nyquist limit to a range well beyond human hearing; Processing 'pushes' the distortion resulting from quantization error into these higher frequ






8. HD Audio format; Lossless Compression; 24- bit/96 kHz; 5.1 Surround or 24- bit / 192 kHz stereo sound






9. 4.38 GB; SS/SL






10. 'Reconstructing' part of digital audio






11. Process of building a complex tone by starting with the fundamental frequency and adding pure tone harmonics






12. Smallest interval measurable by a scientific instrument; Defined by bit rate (sample rate x bit depth)






13. (Amplitude Based) Amplitude: Voltage; Quantization; Bit Depth; Quantization Intervals; Quantization Noise; [Signal:Quantization Noise Ratio]; Dither; Dynamic Range






14. 8.75 GB; DS/SL






15. Multi-Bit Words; (Pulse Code Modulation)






16. VBR; Most common & best data reduction technique; Codecs that encode data by determining how dense or sparse areas of the audio are; Can result in buffering issues






17. Series of dots and dashes representing the letters of the alphabet; Most common letters are represented by the shortest dots and dashes; Example of entropy coding






18. Discrete incremental distinctions made between the value of one sample and the next; Breaks down bit depth into a series of evenly spaced intervals






19. Serial Copy Management System; main difference between AES3 & S/PIDF






20. Joint-Stereo Technique; Since the human brain is unable to localize sounds at high frequencies well sounds above 9 kHz threshold are encoded in mono






21. Method of sampling data at a higher resolution (higher sample rate) as a means of reducing harmonic content during D/A conversion; (x2) oversampling gets rid of all odd harmonic content






22. The number of compressions or rarefactions in one second; The higher the frequency the more compressions & rarefactions per second; Measured in Hertz






23. The loudest point of a Full Scale system






24. Difference in brightness between land and pit on a CD Physical Format






25. Sum of all harmonics; Sum of sine and cosine waves which have frequencies f - 2f - 3f - 4f...






26. Six channel (five speakers and one subwoofer for bass) digital surround sound system by Dolby






27. Sample Rate x Bit Depth x # of Channels






28. Uses entropy coding as the basis; Computer data compression algorithm that packages files such as .ZIP & .RAR






29. Visual graph that shows how loud a sound is at different frequencies






30. 'Capturing' part of digital audio; Never captures a signal perfectly






31. Amplitude meter that takes the square root of all instantaneous amplitudes and averages them to find a mean and squares that value; Useful with particularly complex waveforms






32. Splits the input signal and mixes it with an analog copy so that no latency is present






33. A frequency specified for a filter (digital or electronic) the marks the point at which the frequency content of a signal is altered +/- 3dB






34. High channel count; 64 channels on one cable; Coaxial cable with BNC connector or fiber optic with ST1 connector






35. Pertaining to hearing or sound; Combination of the intensity of air pressure molecules with amplitude






36. A time regulator that makes all samples and bits to align when working with interconnected digital devices; Basically a signal that all of the digital devices refer to when operating.






37. Only 2 digits used; The value of each place (ones - hundreds - etc.) are as follows from greatest to least: 128 - 64 - 32 - 16 - 8 - 4 - 2 - 1






38. 12cm plastic disc; 1.2mm thick; One- sided; Red Laser; 1.6 microns between tracks; 125 nanometer pits






39. Having a repeated succession of waves or curves as in a sound waveform






40. Data reduction technique that selectively removes original information in order to significantly reduce the file size; Some data is lost; Files can be reduced up to 99% in size (90% with no perceived sound quality loss); Bit rate effects the perceive






41. Occurs as data is assembled into meaningful bits or information and as left & right channels are separated






42. A network communications protocol that specifies how machines will exchange data; Uses a broadcast system in which one machine transmits its message on the communication medium and the other machines listen for messages directed to them






43. DAW's and software must buffer when converting or bouncing and this latency can add up if not monitored






44. 1st commercially successful AoE format for the transmission of digital audio - video - and control signals over 64- channel 100Mbps Ethernet networks






45. Digital and analog processing capability is combined on a single microchip allowing for 1- bit resolution at high sample rates






46. Signal that uses variable voltage to create continuous waves resulting in an inexact transmission






47. ADPCM; Pulse code modulation that produces a digital signal with a lower bit rate than standard PCM; Records only the difference between samples






48. Reduces the percieved distortion due to quantization error; Low level white noise source is introduced to make the profile of the quantization 'noise' more irregular; Useful when reducing the number of bits per word in a signal (i.e. when converting






49. 1.) Taking a series of evenly- spaced measurements 2.) Signal contains no frequency components higher than half the sample rate






50. Psychoacoustic model of data reduction used for general audio compression that aims to transmit only features perceptible to the human ear; Useful for mastering streaming media