Am I getting 24-bit from my Audigy-1?
Oct 20, 2002 at 1:38 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

Ruahrc

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Hello,

I have the original Audigy sound card, and am pretty happy with it. I could notice a difference in the sound quality up from my SBLive, and have had absolutely no driver problems whatsoever (with ANY Creative card). When I first bought the card I knew that the advertised 24-bit was misleading, but since I don't really record and wasn't totally into audio at the time, I didn't really mind. Now, however, I want to come back to this 24-bit thing and see what I can do.

Anyways, I know that the Audigy does SOME sort of 24-bit sound stuff- and also know that it doesn't do much either. I guess I know that it won't record in 24/96, but can it play back in 24/96? What is needed to get 24-bit playback, I am really confused here. Does it require special source material (since CD's and mp3s are only 16-bits anyways) or any special hardware as far as speakers/cans go? (Although since speakers are analog devices I dont think it maters, right?) And how do I know if it is outputting 24-bit vs 16-bit, is there some software setting that I need to be using or something?

A little info on my current setup- as far as sources go, I have CD's, DVD (movies), and mp3s (EAC ripped, 192k q=0 Lame encoded). For playback it's Winamp with MAD's mp3 decoder set to 32bits. My speakers are the Klipsch Promedia 5.1's, and the Klipsch external decoder- which brings up another point: Since I have "Digital Output Only" selected on the Audigy Mixer, the external decoder is what is actually doing the digital>analog conversion, right? The Klipsch website advertises that the decoder contains 20-bit Crystal DACs. To quote: "The digital processor utilized within the ProMedia DD-5.1 is actually the same Crystal 20 Bit converters as in our own high-end Aragon $8000. home theater processors." <-- Sounds like marketing hype but I guess they're at least pretty good quality, right? So am I getting 20-bit audio all the time from my decoder instead?

Any info you can give me on this would help greatly. I'm totally confused as to under what conditions the Audigy can do 24/96 as well as how the source audio affects this.

Thanks!

Ruahrc
 
Oct 20, 2002 at 8:20 PM Post #2 of 4
from my understanding, the audigy only produces 16 bit audio, since it is downmixed to 16 bit somewhere along the way(at which stage i do not know exactly)
once its downmixed to 16, your never going to get 24 bit sound again, because 8 bits of information are just lost.
im not too sure about your klipsch receiver thingie, it that the dd5.1?
not sure about that exatly, but if you go over to http://www.klipsch.com and register with there forum there is a guy over there by the handle of justin_tx_16 who i know will be able to field any questions about your speakers or the dd5.1
if you are looking for a true 24/96 soundcard and will be gaming on it also, i hear the terratec card if supposed to be very good, because it still has support for EAX
there is a thread about it here: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=18158

heres a link about the terratec:
http://www.zzounds.com/love.music?p=...=1512363328606

hope that helps
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Oct 23, 2002 at 11:29 PM Post #3 of 4
Basically, Creative just lied about the 24/96(I thought though that they only made claims of 24/96 on the platinum?). I attribute it to a disagreement between marketting and engineering. Outputting at 24 does not matter if halfway through you lose 1/3 the detail. The Audigy 2, however, should be able to do it, as can the entry-level professional sector cards, like the terratec dmx 6fire 24/96.

Comparison here
 
Oct 27, 2002 at 1:59 AM Post #4 of 4
it's not really the bit-depth that's specified by the manufacturer that's important. you basically get what you pay for. your audigy, even if it has a "true" 24 bit conveter, would not sound as good as a $300 DAC or ADC that is 16-bit. it all depends on the quality of the converter used. based on the measured noise output of various dacs, it was found that there are no existing dacs that output at the full 16-bit or 24-bit advertised, though some come closer than others. there are ways of building something closer to a true 16-bit or 24-bit converter, like wiring together a bunch of dacs (in series or parallel?)... and other techniques... but that's what you get for more money.

anyway... the point is, for the most part, don't worry so much about the bit-depth. you want something better?--go buy a pro-sumer card. or get a cheap-o dedicated converter. people here seem to like the Art DI/O.
 

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