Principles of Digital Audio

Rating:
Summary: An excellent survey of the digital audio landscape.
Review: An excellent intermediate survey of the digital audio landscape. This text covers conversion, signal processing, channel coding and storage as well as current implementations of the technology. Good illustrations are included for visual reinforcement. Pohlmann's breezy writing style guides the reader from basic physics through dense theoretical discussion to practical examples. A freshman college background in physics and mathematics is useful though not essential.

Rating:
Summary: Poor. Choppy read. (4th ed)
Review: I was really disappointed with this book. I am an EE and have some background in a few of the topics, and have always hoped to become a proffessional audio engineer. I was hoping this book would get me revved up. It did not. I don't know about previous editions, but I get the feeling the chapters have been through too much cut and paste - there is little consistency between subsections. Subjects are either glossed over superficially, or driven into the ground with over-emphasis on details. On another note, I got a (mint condition) used paperback. It was bound very poorly and started to fall apart by chapter 2.

Rating:
Summary: He was wrong....happily
Review: Professor Pohlmann tried to frighten us in the 1995 edition, he said: I promise I will never write a fourth edition of this title. After laping up the third edition in two woderful weeks, I had to wait for the decision. In 1999 I was hopelessly desperate, but Mr. Pohlmann left a "loophole in (his) vow", as he claims. So, a new gift came to us. Thanks to him, his dedication, and his talent, audio and electronics engineers have a text that covers the totality of the current science of digital audio. For those who read the previous editions, some obvious changes will come up. Some technologies are dead, because it is impossible to resurrect technnologies that the market or the customers have killed (imagine a book about vinile LPs or Betamax VCRs), and other technologies are very alive. Some new features you will find in this edition: DVD (finally an understandable treaty is in our hands), Internet Audio (very topical), new developments in DSP, and some changes made inside previously written chapters (i.e.: the Hoffmann Coding now is in the DVD chapter). For those who have not read the previous editions, this is a very good start in the science of digital audio. If you read the first four chapters very carefully, you are ready to read every single book on the subject that might fall in your hands. I used to recommend the third edition in my college course at Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria. Now my students are encouraged to acquire this new edition, which is indeed the main textbook for my course. I still think that we need a spanish translation of this book.

Rating:
Summary: A very good book
Review: This book covers all the most important audio-related topics...into the details! It can be used as a very good reference and should never quit your desk.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Compromize Between Theory And Practice
Review: This book is an excellent primer for current technology in digital audio systems. He keeps the obscure mathematics to a minimum, and introduces you to the great amount of technique available in the field today. I found this book, 1st edition, in the library -- and soon after bought the latest edition. An excellent value for the money, and useful to anyone trying to keep up with the digital techniques.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Technical Book of All Time
Review: This book, from page 1, was a headache. From run-on sentences to boring statistics of outdated protocol, I found myself dying to try and finish it as soon as possible. Pohlmann seems to have copied piece after piece of information from other's thoughtful and insightful texts and pasted that information into this book, and then adding poorly written jokes about harley davidson and television programs. The most important chapter of the book, DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING, is the worst written description of digital sigal processing I have ever come across. I have a music degree, but have done extensive research in digital audio and worked in the field, and this is by far the worst attempt to explain the information that I've ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: A very good book
Review: Well written, entertaining, thorough, widely used at colleges and respected by all in the field. Ken covers basic sound and physics to today's applications. There's only one better than this as a resource, and it may be more than what you need ('The Art of Digital Audio' by John Watkinson). Start here, and for 80% of you, this will be all you need.

Rating:
Summary: Can I be excused? My brain is full...
Review: Well written, entertaining, thorough, widely used at colleges and respected by all in the field. Ken covers basic sound and physics to today's applications. There's only one better than this as a resource, and it may be more than what you need ('The Art of Digital Audio' by John Watkinson). Start here, and for 80% of you, this will be all you need.