On 5/2/17 5:15 PM, Eli Bildirici wrote:

> 'Sending encoded 12 bit values to a linear DAC will surely give horribly distorted audio.'
> Aha. If that is the case, then can we presume that when output via S/PDIF, a 12/32 DAT has already had its bits mapped to 16-bit linear values? That would be good news for my purposes, I think...

In order to produce analog output from a 12 bit recording, presumably 
the DAT machine converts to 16 bit linear, which it then sends to its 
internal 16 bit DAC.  Thus, the sensible choice would be to send the 
converted 16 bit values to the S/PDIF output -- but I have no idea if 
that's what actually happens.  If you listen to the 32 kHz S/PDIF 
output, and you hear undistorted audio that sounds similar to the DAT 
machine's analog output, then I think you can assume that is what's 
happening.

-- John Chester