[Laser] discrete vs op amp sensitivity

[glennt at charter.net]

Hi all!

I took a moment to quantify the difference between the dynamic range of a 16 bit sample and a 24 bit sample. Since the sample is a voltage measurement, the dynamic range is expressed in dBv. A little thought will show that the dynamic range is from one bit to the level associated with however many bits the sample has, thus the dynamic range of an n-bit sample is:

   20* log10(2**n).

Thus a 16 bit sample (standard music CD) has a dynamic range of 96 dBv and a 24 bit sample has a dynamic range of 144 dBv. A 24 bit sample has 48 dBv more dynamic range than a 16 bit sample.

73 de Glenn wb6w