SPARS Digital Audio Recording Code
The SPARS Digital Audio Recording Code is a three-letter code indicating the type of equipment ("D" for digital or "A" for analog) used to record a release. It was developed by the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services.
The three characters in the code refer to, in order:
- The recording equipment used during the initial recording sessions;
- The recording equipment used during mixing and/or editing of the recording;
- The equipment used to create the final master copy used to duplicate the release. (For CDs, this will always be a "D".)
The letters refer only to the recording equipment -- not any effects processors, mixing consoles, or other gear used during creation of a recording. Therefore, the music on a "DDD" release may have gone through one or more digital-to-analog-to-digital conversions during the recording, mixing and mastering process; as long as it was only recorded in digital form, it still qualifies as "DDD".
As consumers came to realize that a "DDD" SPARS code didn't necessarily mean a good-sounding release, or that an "AAD" SPARS code didn't necessarily mean a bad-sounding one, the SPARS Digital Audio Recording Code fell out of favor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.