harmonic distortion
Audio signal contamination
Harmonic distortion is the alteration of a sound or electrical signal by the addition of frequencies that are multiples of the original.
In audio equipment, harmonic distortion colors or degrades the intended sound—a perfectly clean signal would have none.
Some distortion is desirable: guitarists prize the warm overdrive of tube amplifiers.
The amp specs list total harmonic distortion at under 0.1 percent.
- dynamic rangeSignal amplitude span
- rectifiersAC-to-DC converters
- invertersPower transformation devices
- frequency responseOutput versus input frequencies
- overtonesImplicit secondary meanings
signal-to-noise ratio · audio fidelity · warm sound · resonance · transformers · sine waves · nonlinearity · spectral analysis · phase shift · headroom · bandwidth · crunch · analog · coloration · tube amp · guitar tone · signal processing · loudness