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Principles of Digital Audio
Nice Primer
Review written by: Percy Mistry From MN USA
I think its a great first book for anyone wanting to know more technical details about the workings of the CD, digital audio in general, digital interfaces and some DSP.
What I like most about this book was it was easy to read and simple to understand, unlike some other books that are just plain cryptic.
great book
Review written by: Ibrahim Atakan Kubilay From
This book really deserves to be called 'The Ultimate Digital Audio Bible'. It has anything and everything. From basic DSP to video, it's not limited to audio topics. When I read the reviews, I would not hope to read the book from the start, just use it as a reference to explain specific standard highlights. But this book is very readable. I loved it. If you are a computer eng. major who wants to dwell in DSP in any field, this book is great. I don't agree with the prejudice that the book is not very readable. There are sections that are more difficult, but the author explains things in very good analogies and examples. I must mention that I'm a comp. eng. a few months away from MS, so I may not be doing justice to the average reader. But I would never expect to find myself reading through that 700+ book with pleasure. Don't think, buy it. Then try and conceal this secret gem from others.
Good reference for electronics engineers
Review written by: calvinnme From Fredericksburg, Va
First off, this book is in its fifth edition, and Amazon has lumped together reviews of all editions of this book. So the oldest review shown, written in 1998, is speaking of the 3rd edition, and reviews written prior to 2005 are talking about the 4th edition.
This book is more about the principles of digital audio hardware design than anything. The author, also a college professor, starts with the absolute beginning and the binary number system, sampling, quantization, aliasing, and dither and then moves into all of the topics that you need to design and analyze modern digital audio systems. However, if the information in the first two chapters is news to you, chances are the rest of the book will be over your head. The book is full of flow charts, frequency response diagrams, and detailed block diagrams of actual systems. What it is lacking in is any kind of signal processing mathematics to explain the detailed theory behind what is being covered. There is a chapter entitled "Digital Signal Processing", but it barely introduces and defines the terms. It does show some assembly code for performing some simple filtering tasks, though, but that's the extent of the coverage. If you didn't know DSP before you read this chapter, you certainly won't know it after you read this chapter. The book does a pretty good job of discussing some of the more popular audio standards including MP3. I think this book is best suited for someone with an electronics/electrical engineering background that already knows the theory of digital signal processing and wants to apply that knowledge to the actual design and analysis of digital audio processing systems. Amazon shows the table of contents from the 4th edition, so I show the detailed table of contents for the 5th edition here:
Sound and Numbers
Fundamental Theory
Digital Audio Recording
Digital Audio Reproduction
Error Correction
Digital Audio Tape
Optical Disc Storage
Compact Disc and SACD
Recordable CD
Interconnection
Perceptual Coding: Theory and Applications
MPEG-1 and MPEG-2
MP3 Codec
MPEG-4 and AAC
Psychoacoustic Models
Surround Sound Coding
Lossless Coding
DVD-Video and DVD-Audio
Recordable DVD
HD-DVD and Blu-ray
Minidisc
Desktop Audio
Network Audio
Downloadable and Streaming Internet Audio
File Formats
Digital Rights Management
Watermarking and Encryption
MPEG-7
Digital Radio and TV Broadcasting
HD Radio
Satellite Radio
Digital Audio Workstations
Digital Signal Processing: Theory and Applications
Sigma Delta Conversion and Noise Shaping
Definitive!
Review written by: S. J. Mccoll From New Zealand
Prof. Pohlmann's book has become a firm favourite on my technical bookshelf. I enjoy his easy-going style and commend him for writing an informative and interesting book. I cannot imagine why anyone would not feel the same!
The "bible" of Digital Audio
Review written by: M. Beitchman From San Francisco, CA
Mr. Pohlmann's book is the most encompassing treatise on Digital Audio that is available today. As an employee at Dolby, I can tell you that you won't find an engineer at Dolby who does not own a copy of Digital Audio. The book can be used in many different ways. Whether you are an expert or a novice, this book will come in handy. I would equate this book to drinking directly from the source of a mountain spring. Don't think about it, just buy it.