#Analog to digital converter card series#
In particular, DACs are often used to convert finite-precision time series data to a continually varying physical signal.Īn ideal DAC converts the abstract numbers into a conceptual sequence of impulses that are then processed by a reconstruction filter using some form of interpolation to fill in data between the impulses. OverviewĪ DAC converts an abstract finite-precision number (usually a fixed-point binary number) into a physical quantity (e.g., a voltage or a pressure). Very high speed test equipment, especially sampling oscilloscopes, may also use discrete DACs. Discrete DACs would typically be extremely high speed low resolution power hungry types, as used in military radar systems. The audio DAC is a low speed high resolution type while the video DAC is a high speed low to medium resolution type. These two applications use DACs at opposite ends of the speed/resolution trade-off.
#Analog to digital converter card drivers#
They are also used in televisions and mobile phones to convert digital video data into analog video signals which connect to the screen drivers to display monochrome or color images. Digital-to-analog conversion can degrade a signal, so a DAC should be specified that has insignificant errors in terms of the application.ĭACs are commonly used in music players to convert digital data streams into analog audio signals. Due to the complexity and the need for precisely matched components, all but the most specialized DACs are implemented as integrated circuits (ICs).
There are several DAC architectures the suitability of a DAC for a particular application is determined by three main parameters: resolution, maximum sampling frequency and accuracy. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) performs the reverse function. In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter ( DAC, D/A, D–A, D2A, or D-to-A) is a device that converts a digital signal into an analog signal.
8-channel Cirrus Logic CS4382 digital-to-analog converter as used in a sound card.