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Lexicon 480L Owner's Manual
Levels in the Digital Domain
Analog signals, by nature, have an infinite range of
level. During conversion to digital, levels are quantized
to absolute values, and expressed as a number of bits.
The 480L provides 18-bit resolution in both the analog
and digital paths. In the digital domain, it is important to
provide adequate headroom so that peak amplitude
does not exceed dBFS. The difference between the
headroom provided and the dither noise, or least
significant bit, is the usable dynamic range of the
system.
As you can see in the figure below, the 480L provides
signal-to-noise and dynamic range that exceed many
popular digital recording media.
HEADROOM
HEADROOM
16 Bit Dither Noise
84 dB Dynamic Range
18 dB Headroom
102 dB Theoretical Dynamic Range
78 dB Dynamic Range
12 dB Headroom
90 dB Theoretical Dynamic Range
+12 dB
+6 dB
0 dB
-6 dB
-12 dB
-18 dB
-24 dB
dBFS
-6 dB
-12 dB
-18 dB
-24 dB
-30 dB
-36 dB
-42 dB
-48 dB
-54 dB
-60 dB
-66 dB
-72 dB
-84 dB
-90 dB
-96 dB
-102 dB
-108 dB
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18 Bit Dither Noise
# Bits Dynamic Range
in dB
LARC Meters Use of Dynamic Range
in an 18 bit system
Use of Dynamic Range
in a 16 bit system
Dynamic Range of Digital Signal Path
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