[AdamZuf]

i put this on the "Source" forum because my question is source dependant.
guys with 24bit capable sound cards -
how big is the difference your hear between the two modes, played with Foobar2000 ?
what equiptment do you use?

i'll use a laptop with my setup when i travel.my options are the Xitel Pro Hi-Fi Link (16 bit) or the M-Audio Sonica Theater (24bit). the Xitel answers my needs much better: small, coax out, optical out, RCA outputs for another person to connect (even they are not top grade)... but i wonder about if there's a need for the 24bit of the sonica. look at my rig in my signature...it explains why i prefer the Xitel.
at the moment, i have only CD's & MP3. i believe that i might go with some DVD's in the future, but i can't believe that they will reach %20 of my sessions. still.. i understand that in 20bit + remasters there's a use for 24bit capable device, right?

my problem is defining the importance of the needs that might develop later..

what should i do

 

[lan]

It's a trade off between quality and connectivity, just choose what's more important to you.

24bit MP3 decoding will be better. You lose more of the feel of the music doing it 16bit.

 

[AdamZuf]

Quote:

Originally posted by lan 24bit MP3 decoding will be better. You lose more of the feel of the music doing it 16bit.

for sure?
did you check that out yourself?

well, nothing matters like quality, i got lots of music on MP3.

 

[lan]

It's obvious to me even with my V6 out of the Sonica jack. I'll presume that's lowest quality scenario. It's even more apparent when you use better headphones and source. 16 bit has less clarity, soundstage, air.

 

[Canman]

Redbook is 16-bit. When CD's are remastered, they are converted from analog to digital at a high bitrate, say 24 bit these days, then the signal is compressed to 16 bit. This 2 step process helps retain some of the characteristics of a higher bandwidth recording, but the recording is nonetheless 16 bit bandwidth at a 44.1 kHz sampling rate, no matter what redbook CD you use.

Now the advantage of using a higher bandwidth processor is that you retain more of the 16 bit information. For example, the old 16 bit processors only had an effective bandwidth, after error correction of say 14 bits. The advantage of using a 24 bit bandwidth processor for 16 bit recordings is that after jitter and error correction, the effective bandwidth is over 16 bits and therefore the entire available bandwidth of 16 bit data from the CD is available.

Encoding an MP3 in 24 bits is probably equivalent to "upsampling" or oversampling (what a DAC would do before conversion to analog to aid in error correction and DSP), but any gain here is lost by the compression from WAV or redbook to the MP3 format.

So you don't "need" any DAC with over a 16 bit bandwidth unless you are using DVD-audio, which can have resolution of up to 24 bits. However a DAC capable of higher than 16 bit bandwidth, may depending on the quality of the error correction and DSP software, achieve higher sound quality.

 

[Gmd]

Honestly, I notice zero difference. Even when using MAD + winamp @ 32 bit I don't notice a diff. This is going through a Terratec DMX 6 fire -> outlaw audio PCA's -> Mg Head MKII -> Equinox -> HD-600's.

 

[AdamZuf]

maybe here lies one answer why certain people certainly notice the difference between redbook to even very high quality MP3 (they compare with 24 bit) and some others don't (they compare on 16 bit) ??

 

[lan]

Yeah in the decoding stage, you can lose even more quality. Good MP3s played back in 24bit sound pretty good.

 

[xtreme4099]

if you use the resampler to 96000 khz it sounds a lot clearer ...

 

[AdamZuf]

Quote:

Originally posted by xtreme4099 if you use the resampler to 96000 khz it sounds a lot clearer ...

when/where should i do that?

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally posted by AdamZuf when/where should i do that?

Resampler is a DSP so you set it's parameters in config > Playback > DSP Manager > Resampler

then you just add it to Active DSPs in DSP Manager

In some setups using the resampler makes the sound better while in other cases it doesn't. You just have to try it yourself.

 

[AdamZuf]

well, the Xitel is $80. the Sonica Theater is $100.
more then the $20 difference and bigger size of the Sonica Theater, it's the lack of optical out that bothers me.
i understand that there aren't any laptops with optical outs to cover this area, right?

damn Xitel! "Pro Hi-Fi Link".. why didn't they make it 24Bit instead of stuffing 20 km cables in the box...so that's the reason why this product ain't so popular in here...right?
i searched for used and no one has it..