16 bit vs. 24 bit experiment
I rendered my project to three files: a 24 bit file, a 16 bit file, and a 16 bit file with dithering. I put the files in a project and compared each file (only two at a time) to each other file with the phase (polarity) inverted on one file but not the other. (Doing this lets you hear what differences there are between the files, if there are any.) The 16 bit vs. 16 bit dither showed the lowest volume difference, but they all had subtle differences that mostly showed up in the high end.
Here's the kicker: I took the 24 bit stereo file and rendered it down to 16 bit (no dither), then compared the two with the phase (polarity) inverted. The two files completely cancelled each other out! There were no audio 'leftovers' to be heard.
Is this expected? Why is there extra information when I rendered down the entire project and not any when I rendered down the stereo track? It would seem that a stereo 24 bit file is exactly the same as a 16 bit stereo file as far as audible audio is concerned!
Maybe I did something wrong? Has this been done before in another thread? Is this old news?
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2011 iMac | Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 | Yamaha NS-10M | Sennheiser HD650
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