Current location - Music Encyclopedia - NetEase Cloud Music - What are front-end, decoder, and headphone amplifier?
What are front-end, decoder, and headphone amplifier?

1. Currently, the most mainstream method of playing back music is: reading music data in digital format - then converting it into a current signal through a digital-to-analog converter - amplifying it through a power amplifier - and the current drives the speaker to vibrate and produce sound. The order is from front to back, and now we can understand the meaning of front and back ends.

2. Ordinary sound cards, MP3 players, and mobile phones all have headphone amplifiers, but they are usually implemented with operational amplifiers, and the sound quality is poor. The only thing that plays the role of digital-to-analog conversion is the decoder (DAC). The decoder needs to be connected to a computer, CD turntable and other equipment to receive digital signals.

3. If the decoder and the turntable for reading CD data are installed together, it becomes a CD player. If the decoder, headphone amplifier, flash memory, etc. are installed together, it will be MP3. The part starting from the decoder (DAC, turntable), and including the decoder (mobile phone, MP3, CD player, sound card, etc.) are all considered as audio sources, that is, the front end.

4. So the front-end is desktop CD, computer, MP3 and other playing equipment. Decoding is a device that filters out noise and improves sound quality. The purpose of the headphone amplifier is to amplify the decoded sound quality to the headphones as losslessly as possible, and it also has to push the high-impedance headphones full, and it also has to control the sound without popping, breaking, etc. Make the high-impedance sound fuller and better-sounding. Desktop push generally refers to using desktop CD. Playing music on a computer is called PCHIFI.