acygni
100+ Head-Fier
Good to know. Thanks for the knowledge.
I looked up some of the popular high-end DAC chips on the market to see the noise performance based on their specifications. The Effective Number of Bits (ENOB) of a DAC, or the noise-free bits that a DAC can resolve, can be simply calculated from the dynamic range specification on chip datasheets using the formula ENOB = (Dynamic Range in dB - 1.76) / 6.02 [1].
First up, the Sabre ESS9018S 32-bit DAC with a dynamic range of 135dB, which equals 22.13 noise-free bits [2].
Next, we have AKM’s AK4399 32-bit DAC found in the Schitt Gungnir. The dynamic range/SNR is 123dB, which equals 20.14 noise free bits [3].
A third DAC is the Cirrus Logic CS4398 24-bit DAC which comes in with a dynamic range of 120dB, or 19.64 noise free bits [4].
From this quick glance, even the highest end DAC chips on the market can only manage 20-22 actual bits of resolution before the signal becomes dominated by noise from just the DAC chip. Add in all the other noise from the clocking, power supply, and the rest of the circuit board, and the performance will degrade even more. Going along with what everyone else said, anything more than 24bit audio will be masked by the performance of the chips themselves.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_number_of_bits
[2] http://www.esstech.com/index.php/en/products/dac/
[3] https://www.akm.com/akm/en/product/datasheet1/?partno=AK4490EQ\
[4] https://www.cirrus.com/products/cs4398/
I'll try doing that. i have a 32bit song i can downsample to 24 and then 16 and i'll get back to you guys here.You are probably hearing different masterings. Take the 32 bit version into a sound editing program and bounce it down to 16/44.1 and then do the comparison. When you're comparing apples to apples, the difference will probably disappear.
Thanks, didnt know foobar could do that!Cool! Make sure to normalize them to the same volume level. I think if you use Foobar, it does that automatically.
You'll probably reach the noise floor of your amp long before you reach the 16 bit noise floor.
or its in their head.I can't imagine turning up the volume high enough to hit the noise floor. I would guess that a person who would do that might be worrying about the noise floor in their hearing aids soon.
Most of the time you'll hit the noise floor of the recording venue before the noise floor of the CD or the amp. It may be that the people who claim to hear the noise floor of CDs actually are hearing the air conditioning in the recording studio.
I can't imagine turning up the volume high enough to hit the noise floor. I would guess that a person who would do that might be worrying about the noise floor in their hearing aids soon.
Most of the time you'll hit the noise floor of the recording venue before the noise floor of the CD or the amp. It may be that the people who claim to hear the noise floor of CDs actually are hearing the air conditioning in the recording studio.