Completely Digital I.AM.D

[SanjeevM]

Presently, if we make a player using Raspberry Pi, a DAC, and a Class D Amplifier, we are reading digital music from a pendrive / hdd / nas, converting it to Analog in the DAC, then again to digital in the class D and then finally to analog for giving it out to the speakers.

Is there a process / hardware to read digital music, amplify the digital signal and then convert to analog once to the speaker ?

 

[tcpip]

Presently, if we make a player using Raspberry Pi, a DAC, and a Class D Amplifier, we are reading digital music from a pendrive / hdd / nas, converting it to Analog in the DAC, then again to digital in the class D and then finally to analog for giving it out to the speakers.

Class D amplification is not digital in the sense in which a CD transport is digital. This is a common misconception. At best, you may say that Class D is "switching" where Class A/B/G are "linear". But it is very much analog. Variations in analog parameters of Class D amps, like the width of pulses or the timings between pulses, will result in distortion. Such analog parameters don't impact the accuracy of the output of a CD transport, for instance, since it operates entirely in the digital domain.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class-D_amplifier

Therefore, we are very much in the analog domain with regard to amplifiers today.

In fact, this cross-conversion between analog-digital-analog-digital etc has made some purists actually switch to full analog audio chains today. Not the other way, because there is no digital technology for amplification or for the transducers at each end.

 

[Hiten]

Is there a process / hardware to read digital music, amplify the digital signal and then convert to analog once to the speaker ?

PowerDAC ?
Example one.
Example two.
Regards

 

[tcpip]

PowerDAC ?
Example one.
Example two.
Regards

Both these examples are for Class D amplification. The DDA article explicitly says it's using PWM. This is technically analog, switching amp technology. They may not be using a separate DA conversion between the DAC and the amplifier (and eliminating this stage is entirely possible and a good thing) but it doesn't make amplifier "digital" in the sense in which a CD transport or digital media player is digital. It's still a switching, analog amplifier.

I guess the Wadia is something similar.

 

[SanjeevM]

The article at Example one also says " D to A conversion takes place at the speaker terminals". What could that mean?