How to Read Audio Specs

Ever wonder what all those letters, numbers and symbols mean on the
package?

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): This is a realtive measurement of the strength of an

ouput audio signal to the strength of noise within that signal. That is to say, that if
SNR is rated at 113db, then there exists a relative difference of 113db between the
strength of the output signal to that of the noise signal. In general, anything over
100db is excellent, and the higher the db rating, the better and clearer the signal will
be.

Frequency response: This measurement is a rating of what range of sounds the

hardware can produce, from very low frequencies to it's highest frequencies. Ideally,
you want the equipment to be able to produce a range exceeding what the human
ear can percieve, which would be <20Hz and >20kHz. You will also typically see a db
rating for frequency response, and this is a measurement of how much of a volume
variation exists across the perceivable hearing range in a playback sample. Ideally,
this rating shouldn't exceed a total range of 3db in either direction (plus or minus)
from a 0db source.

Dynamic Range: You will sometimes see this measurement given in place of SNR;
dynamic range is a measurement of the signal ratio between the noise floor of an
output with no signal to the loudest signal that can be output at a predetermined
level, expressed also in terms of db. Again, the higher the db rating specified, the
better.

Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N): A measurement of the amount of

unwanted impurities in a given signal. Whereas Total Harmonic Distortion measures
unwanted signals in the output, THD+N measures everything that manages to
interefere with the output signal, from EMI to harmonic irregularities. Ideally, THD+N
would be 0% at any tested level, meaning that the signal being sent into the system
is identical to the one being played out of the system; but we live in an imperfect
world where our audio equipment will pick up interference and noise and pass it
along through the output signal. Be careful reading these specs as well, as an
example it's very easy to mistake 0.013% for being better than 0.000013% (the
latter is much smaller and closer to ideal 0% than the former is).

So, then, how could we summarize all this as a rule of thumb?

• *Frequency response <20Hz and >20kHz

• *SNR and/or Dynamic range >= 100db
• *THD+N as close to 0% as possible
• *IMD+N as close to 0% as possible
• *Crosstalk <= -90db