Digital recordings are often done at a depth of 16 bits, which breaks up the dynamic range between the loudest and quietest portions of a signal into 65,536 steps. We use the finer resolution of 24 bits, which divides the signals loudest-to-softest dynamic range into 16,777,216 steps, allowing for far more accurate rendering of the quieter parts of the audio.
Audio signals change constantly, so a digital device must capture these changes as faithfully as possible. The higher the sampling rate, the better. Our consoles use a sampling rate of 46,000 times per second. To capture any given frequency, a digital signals sampling rate must be roughly twice that frequency. The sampling rate of 46 kHz is more than adequate for capturing all signals in the audible range-the human ear can not hear the sounds whose frequency is higher than 20 kHz.