InsideDSP — In-depth analysis and opinion

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Caveat Emptor

In the ancient Near East the number 40 was a literary device symbolizing "an impressively large number," not a precise quantity. "It rained for 40 days and 40 nights," "they wandered in the desert for 40 years,"—the examples are countless. In the modern world of DSP processors, the term "10X" has taken on a similar function. Vendor claims that a processor is, e.g., "10X faster than existing DSPs," often don't mean that the processor is really 10 times faster—only that it is "much faster." Read more...