Analog vs digital
A constant source of debate for audio professionals and musicians is analog vs digital. The fact is most digital devices have analog components within. A sound card converts the digital PCM data stream into an analog signal and it passes through and analog amplifier en route to the outputs (and vice versa). Much of the debate has been fuelled by the perception that analog sounds warm and digital sounds cold. This is a subjective issue and ‘warmth’ means different things to different people. Historically sound studios employed all analog equipment such as mixing consoles, tape machines and high quality outboard equipment such as compressors and equalizers.