A/D Converters

[tmoore]

As I study features of various peices of digital recording gear there seems to me to be a profound lack of information on the quality of A/D (and D/A) converters being used. Is there more to look at than just whether they are 16bit or 24bit converters? Surely there are more measures of sound quality than that for A/D converters. It also seems to me that the converter is perhaps the most important link in the chain and as such there should be more said about whats being used.
What am I missing? Anything?

Thanks!

[GaryNattrass]

Yes there is very little available about the quality of a very important piece in the chain.

In the old days of pro audio you would do a spec and measurement on how a desk performed and pass audio throgh it to get the sig to noise ratio etc.

Digital doesn't seem to have this done and I suspect that a lot of gear is sub standard and not up to the job.

Early CD players used so called 16 bit D to A converters but in reality they only resolved 14 bits of data.

I know that if you pass audio through an Avid pro -tools system at work the resulting audio is thinner and has more edge to it.

As a recommendation I have always found Appogee converter's to be very good and they are what are used in the pro AMS Neve desks that I use at work.