More investigation by me. What is the significance of the number of channels
in a audio CODEC? For example, the Realtek ALC658 has six 20-bit DAC
channels and two pairs of stereo 18-bit ADC. Their model ALC880 has four
24-bit two channel DACS and three stereo 20-bit ADC.

I understand that the more bits the better the resolution of digital
conversion, but how are all the channels used in practical application? For
example, if I want to digitize my old stereo tape recordings, I would think
that all I will need is two channels, or one stereo pair. Am I correct?

As a side item, I never quite understood what a 1-bit encoder is. To me it
seems that you need multiple bits to encode a value. The term "1-bit" is
confusing. I believe that this is also related to such references as "7.1
output channels" that I ran into in the Realtek specs.

One more item. Is the Realtek ALC880 among the best for audio work, or is
there something better?

Thank you.


Peter

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