Latest Audio Technical Articles

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Understanding Charge Amplifier Errors—Time Constant and Drift

Learn about charge amplifier limitations at low frequencies, the effects of time constants, and how the drift phenomenon can also introduce errors in low-frequency measurements.

May 15, 2022 by Dr. Steve Arar

Processing a Piezoelectric Accelerometer Output Using a Charge Amplifier

Learn about charge amplifiers which are used for charge output conversion of a piezoelectric sensor into a usable voltage signal.

May 08, 2022 by Dr. Steve Arar

What is it About Audio Distortion? Understanding Nonlinearity

Learn about how system nonlinearity creates distortion in audio signals that impacts the sounds we hear. We will examine sine waves, harmonics, and intermodulation distortion.

April 10, 2022 by John Woodgate

MEMS Accelerometer Frequency Response and Bandwidth Specification

Learn about frequency response and bandwidth specification of MEMS accelerometers.

December 29, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

An Introduction to Digital Signal Processing

This article provides a general understanding of what DSP is, how it works, and what advantages it can offer. To appreciate the advantages of DSP, let’s first have a look at the conventional method of signal processing, i.e., analog signal processing.

June 30, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

How Should Data Converters Be Modeled for System Simulations?

This article launches a series exploring the question of how to model data converters for system simulations.

February 25, 2021 by Wes Brodsky

PCB Layout Techniques for Reducing Harmonic Distortion of a Differential ADC Driver

Summary

February 19, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

How to Use Decoupling Capacitor Placement to Reduce Harmonic Distortion

Learn how to reduce second harmonic distortion by following some guidelines for placing decoupling capacitors in your PCB layout.

February 12, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Reducing Distortion in Tape Recordings with Hysteresis in SPICE

Summary

January 24, 2021 by Kevin Aylward

Modeling Hysteresis in SPICE

Modeling hysteresis in SPICE can be difficult when you're dealing with a multivalued transfer function. In this article, we'll teach you a way to "cheat" to get around this issue.

January 22, 2021 by Kevin Aylward

Reducing Second Harmonic Distortion with Symmetrical PCB Layout

Need a low-distortion ADC interface? In this article, we'll discuss how to reduce 2nd harmonic distortion by using symmetric PCB layout.

January 18, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

The History of Vacuum Tubes: An Era Away

While semiconductor devices make possible the lightweight 'gadgets' we enjoy, our electronic world was built on devices that operated on a different scale. Let's take a look at vacuum tubes!

December 11, 2020 by Marie Christiano

Construction of a Guitar Amplifier

This article explains the theory and the construction of the circuit of a 10W practice guitar amplifier.

November 29, 2020 by Teja Sai Marellapudi

The Effect of Offset Voltage on a Precision Current Source

In this article, we’ll continue our discussion of an LTspice circuit that helps us to predict how offset-voltage variations will influence circuit performance.

November 13, 2020 by Robert Keim

Simulating an Op-Amp’s Offset Voltage Variation

In this article, we’ll create an LTspice circuit for analyzing the effect of unpredictable offset voltage on the performance of a precision current-source circuit.

October 27, 2020 by Robert Keim

LTspice Performance Analysis of a Precision Current Pump

In this article, we will use simulations to assess important aspects of the performance of an op-amp-based current source.

October 20, 2020 by Robert Keim

Designing and Simulating EMC Filters with LTspice

In this article, we will review the different types of noise that are present in a circuit. We will also discuss how to perform an accurate simulation of an EMC filter with LTspice.

October 19, 2020 by Ignacio de Mendizábal

How to Design a Precision Current Pump with Op-Amps

This article discusses a voltage-controlled current-source circuit that requires only two op-amps and a handful of resistors.

October 16, 2020 by Robert Keim

Precisely Capture Servo Motor Position Using a High-Speed Simultaneous Sampling ADC

Autonomous drones and robots utilize small motors. These fast-spinning mini motors require miniature encoders and IC package sizes. This article shows how an optical sinusoidal encoder provides a higher resolution and increased speeds with a 2x3 mm dual simultaneous-sampling SAR-ADC.

August 11, 2020 by Bonnie Baker, Maxim Integrated

Sample-Size Compensation in Standard Deviation Calculations

This article discusses Bessel’s correction, which helps us to more accurately estimate the standard deviation of certain parameters and of long-duration signals.

July 21, 2020 by Robert Keim