The invention relates to the reading of digital optical recordings at very high density (CD, DVD, etc.). Reading is done by a PRML (“Partial Response Maximum Likelihood”) technique which uses a model of analog response to the recording of an isolated information bit. Customarily, the response model is represented by four or five signal samples having standardized levels 1 or 2. To take account of particular phenomena of super-resolution reading, the invention proposes the use of a model having 6 to 10 samples that can take 4 or 5 standardized levels. This model can result from the superposition of two simpler models having only two possible levels of samples taken from 1, 2 and 3.