Clarification on Intersample Peaks.

hduncan · 12th May 2008

Intersample Peaks only happen during the D/A Stage when a sampled digital waveform might be at 0dBFS, but during reconstruction by the converter, a peak develops exceeding 0dBFS, which can cause distortion if the player does not have headroom above 0dBFS.

However, if you were to track/record a clipping-hot signal, isn't it impossible to have Intersample Peaks when you play back that super clipped region without processing or level adjustment? This is because during the A/D conversion stage, what might have been intersample peaks get lobotomized into square waves, right?

So intersample peaks can only happen after processing or level adjustment. And they can't happen just by recording a clipped signal and replaying it without processing or level adjustment, right?

peeder · 12th May 2008

No they can happen at AD for the same reason. The sampler at AD is just taking snapshots of the signal, and excessive voltage could fall between frames, and be propagated all the way through to the DAC.

hduncan · 27th May 2008

thanks for the clarification!

12th May 2008	#1
hduncan Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Fresno, California Posts: 2,011 Thread Starter	Clarification on Intersample Peaks. Intersample Peaks only happen during the D/A Stage when a sampled digital waveform might be at 0dBFS, but during reconstruction by the converter, a peak develops exceeding 0dBFS, which can cause distortion if the player does not have headroom above 0dBFS. However, if you were to track/record a clipping-hot signal, isn't it impossible to have Intersample Peaks when you play back that super clipped region without processing or level adjustment? This is because during the A/D conversion stage, what might have been intersample peaks get lobotomized into square waves, right? So intersample peaks can only happen after processing or level adjustment. And they can't happen just by recording a clipped signal and replaying it without processing or level adjustment, right? __________________ //Hawk Duncan [2.66Ghz i7 MacBook Pro, 8GB, Logic 9, ProFire2626]

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12th May 2008	#2
peeder Lives for gear Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: No longer participating here. Posts: 6,705	No they can happen at AD for the same reason. The sampler at AD is just taking snapshots of the signal, and excessive voltage could fall between frames, and be propagated all the way through to the DAC.

27th May 2008	#3
hduncan Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Fresno, California Posts: 2,011 Thread Starter	thanks for the clarification!