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Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies. |
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Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies. |
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In Reply to: RE: fyi foobar wasapi plug-in output bit depth posted by Adriel on February 19, 2012 at 14:51:37:
"Seems like I don't understand how zero padding a 16-bit file to 24-bit in wasapi, then having the digital receiver truncate the 24-bit file back to 16-bits (in case of a 16-bit DAC chip), is not a lossless process."
When the receiver converts 24 bits down to 16 bits it has two choices: truncate the material or add dither noise as part of the conversion. If the original file was 16 bits and had been padded out to 24 bits, then the best strategy would be to drop the extra zeros, as you suggest. However, if the original file was really 24 bits then truncating it to 16 bits will add distortion and abruptly chop the ambiance. This distortion and loss of ambiance can be avoided by adding dither noise to the conversion.
Unfortunately, if the receiver receives 24 bits it has no way of knowing which strategy would be best for a particular recording. Most likely the receiver will add dither noise, as this minimizes the possible sonic damage from an incorrect decision. With such a receiver, the best strategy would be for the computer to send it 16 bits all the time. That way the computer could be bit transparent when playing 16 bit files and add any necessary dither when playing 24 bit files.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
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Follow Ups
- To dither or not to dither?? - Tony Lauck 18:48:11 02/19/12 (1)
- RE: To dither or not to dither?? - wiggin79 08:06:25 10/10/15 (0)
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