As an old-timer in this field, I'm tired of seeing analog technology criticized in every gadget article these days.
Analog Still Sings Beautiful Truth
You’ve heard it before: “Analog is obsolete.” It is not true. And it’s thriving in places that digital still can’t reach. You have to know where to listen and feel.
Case Study #1: We Cannot Emulate the Human Ear
Log-domain analog circuits, particularly those operating in the current domain, have achieved something no digital system can do: they mimic the cochlea, not simulate it.
In the log-domain, these circuits compress large dynamic ranges exactly as your inner ear does. They filter frequencies in real time, continuously, with near-zero power and no latency. There are no clock cycles, no sampling, and no quantization errors.
Carver Mead's analog cochlea chip, developed in the late 1980s, still holds records for power efficiency and biological fidelity. Digital systems can't match this without relying on gigahertz processors, ADCs, and battery-draining DSP chips—and even then, they merely approximate what analog feels.
Analog Temperature Sensors Know the Temp Better Than We Do
We’ve also forgotten how good analog is at reading the room. While smart thermostats sample temperature and control a quantized stepper, an analog sensor wired to a thermistor-based voltage divider continuously and precisely controls the heating of your home.
The system doesn’t wait to “sample and act.” It adjusts itself in real-time, with no quantization, no delay, and no need for a battery backup during a blackout.
Fun fact: Analog temperature control remains the gold standard in laboratory-grade environments for precisely these reasons—stability, simplicity, and trust.
Analog versus Digital
Domain | Analog Strength | Why Digital Struggles |
Hearing | Log-domain current filtering | Needs ADC, DSP, and lots of power |
Sensing | Continuous physical feedback | Digital introduces sampling errors |
Control | Instantaneous response | Digital = delay, logic, buffer |
Power Efficiency | Sub-microwatt ops | Digital overheats and overbuilds |
Biological Fidelity | Mimics nature directly | Needs massive simulation models |
What Did We Learn
Analog is not better everywhere. But it is perfect where precision, power, and nature intersect. Digital gives you programmability. But analog? It gives you presence.
If digital is the brain of modern electronics, analog is its nervous system—fast, instinctual, and often invisible.
The next time someone tells you analog is dead, lean in close and whisper: Then why is your heartbeat still analog?