Preface to the second edition

Digital audio has had a short but spectacular history, suddenly emerging from laboratories as the economics of LSI chips and data recording allowed ideas to become affordable equipment. That sudden emergence caused problems of its own, not least the dilemma of those who were trying to use the new equipment armed only with experience of the traditional analog audio. Today digital audio has become the norm, and many users will not have been exposed to traditional analog equipment. In both cases a useful solution is access to a text that explains the foundations of the subject in an understandable format.

More years ago than I care to remember, The Art of Digital Audio was written to fill that need and today exists in its third edition. Given the progress in the art, this is now a large volume and exceeds the requirements, to say nothing of the budget, of many readers, leading to a need for a smaller book. This is that book.

Although a more affordable volume, this book does not make the mistake of simplifying the material to the point of being misleading. Instead the topics are carefully selected and explained with the same precision as the larger book.

This second edition recognizes changes in the subject such as the dominance of disk-based recording and the introduction of computer networks. Many of the explanations have been refined by my experience of teaching the subject.

John Watkinson
Burghfield Common, England