Overview 

Many of todayÆs multimedia boards are equipped with low-cost analog-to-digital converters that tend to produce a so-called DC offset. This means the analog zero signal is not converted to digital zero, but to a certain positive or negative value, the DC-offset. 
The DC-offset narrows the maximum dynamic range and causes problems during editing and dynamic processing, especially for low-level signals. Short crossfading of signals with different DC-offset values can produce an audible thumb. Dynamic processors may react improperly to the DC-offset tainted signals.