PCM Digital Audio
Separate sample data and channel order from transport, connector, compression, and converters.
Digital Audio
From Digital Format To Vehicle Source
Use the Sources Encyclopedia when the question moves from PCM, sample rate, clocks, and transport into phones, head units, Bluetooth profiles, USB host roles, projection, volume groups, and physical line outputs.
Program Level Is Not One Number
Stored sample amplitude, reconstructed peak risk, and perceived program loudness are different properties. The first canonical article separates sample peak, true peak, and LUFS and explains why music-delivery recommendations do not replace automotive gain calibration.
PCM, Transport, Clocking, And Multichannel Audio
Sample Rate
Sample period, Nyquist bandwidth, filtering, clock families, and processor load.
Bit Depth And Quantization
Word length, numeric format, effective resolution, rounding, saturation, and converter limits.
Dither And Noise Shaping
Final word-length reduction, quantization linearity, noise distribution, and placement.
Sample-Rate Conversion
Synchronous and asynchronous conversion, filtering, latency, lock, and clock domains.
Clocking And Jitter
MCLK, BCLK, frame clock, PLL, drift, recovered clocks, and measurement.
I2S And TDM
Serial framing, data lanes, slots, clock ownership, logic levels, and ADAU1701 mapping.
S/PDIF And Multichannel
Stereo PCM, encoded surround, reception, decoding, and multichannel PCM extraction.
Guided Architecture Lesson
Build stereo PCM and 5.1 paths into one or more DSPs and converters.
Related Resources
- True Peak and Headroom Planner — music-delivery planning.
- Level References — dBFS conventions and analog/digital scale separation.
- Headroom — stage-specific margin in DSP and hardware.
- Sample Rate Conversion and Dithering — existing engineering article.