Old 06-08-2013, 09:23 PM   #1
mrkristopher
Human being with feelings
 
mrkristopher's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 66
Default 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?
__________________
2011 iMac | Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 | Yamaha NS-10M | Sennheiser HD650
mrkristopher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2013, 10:25 PM   #2
airon
Human being with feelings
 
airon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Berlin
Posts: 11,817
Default

24-bit without the least significant 8 bits = 16 bit render without dither.

For some cold hard facts about all this stuff, here's an informative video by Monty of Xiph.org :

https://www.xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml

Btw, a great bit depth visualizer that's also free is here: http://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/specials/bitter/
__________________
Using Latch Preview (Video) - Faderport 16 setup for CSI 1.1 , CSI 3.10
Website
"My ego comes pre-shrunk" - Randy Thom
airon is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 10:18 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.