Digital-to-analog conversion

In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC, D/A, D–A, D2A, or D-to-A) is a device that converts a digital signal into an analog signal. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) performs the reverse function.

There are several DAC architectures; the suitability of a DAC for a particular application is determined by three main parameters: resolution, maximum sampling frequency and accuracy. Due to the complexity and the need for precisely matched components, all but the most specialized DACs are implemented as integrated circuits (ICs). Digital-to-analog conversion can degrade a signal, so a DAC should be specified that has insignificant errors in terms of the application.

DACs are commonly used in music players to convert digital data streams into analog audio signals. They are also used in televisions and mobile phones to convert digital video data into analog video signals which connect to the screen drivers to display monochrome or color images. These two applications use DACs at opposite ends of the speed/resolution trade-off. The audio DAC is a low speed high resolution type while the video DAC is a high speed low to medium resolution type. Discrete DACs would typically be extremely high speed low resolution power hungry types, as used in military radar systems. Very high speed test equipment, especially sampling oscilloscopes, may also use discrete DACs.

A DAC converts an abstract finite-precision number (usually a fixed-point binary number) into a physical quantity (e.g., a voltage or a pressure). In particular, DACs are often used to convert finite-precision time series data to a continually varying physical signal.

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