The ITU Radiocommunication Assembly, considering that the requirements for digital audio tape (DAT) recording are for both transparency to high audio quality and allowance for headroom for processing; that Recommendation ITU-R BS.646 recommends:that the sampling frequency for digital encoding of sound signals in broadcasting studio applications including recording should have a nominal value of 48 kHz; that the coding used should have a minimum resolution equivalent to 16 bits per sample uniform coding;that where the dynamic range of the application exceeds the equivalent of 14 bits per sample resolution, a resolution of 18 bits per sample is advantageous.