foobar output dither on or off ?

[kellybundy110]

hey i use dacmagic 16bit was wondering if i should have dither on or off ? what does it do exactly ?

 

[kellybundy110]

bump

 

[khaos974]

Dither off, unless you have 24 bit files.

 

[Roseval]

This is what is called quantization error.
If you apply any kind of DSP e.g. volume control you do a calculation on a sample.
Lets play at half volume.
10/2=5
9/2=4.5
But our DACs accept integers (16 or 24 bit) only so in the end all must be converted to integer.
So 10/2=5
9/2=5
As digital audio is about digits so a binary system, this will happen all of time the except if you use a power of 2.
This quantization error is correlated with the audio signal.
 
Dither is a trick to remove this correlation by storing noise in the LSB (the lowest bit).
Practical: as it is the LSB in case of 16 bits audio the level is at -96 dBFS.
This is soft but audible so use dither in case of 16 bits.
In case of 24 bits it is at -144 dBFS, well below the noise floor of your gear.
Here it probably won't make a difference if you use it or not.
 
A more detailed explanation: http://www.users.qwest.net/~volt42/cadenzarecording/DitherExplained.pdf
 

 

[DGriff0400]

should i use dither when converting from 24 96 to 16 44.1/48khz flac?

 

[damian101]

should i use dither when converting from 24 96 to 16 44.1/48khz flac?

Yes, whenever you reduce bit depth you should use dither.

 

[sajunky]

@kellybundy110, just in summary, as your DAC takes only 16-bits.

Do not use dither for playing 16-bit source in bit-perfect mode, i.e. your volume control is 100%. In all other cases use dither, by example:

- when using volume control in Foobar
- playing hi-res files (bit depth higher than 16-bits)
- using DSP options or sample rate conversion in Foobar.

You will probably also need to reduce sample rate for playing hi-res files, install SoX plugin for the best SQ.

 

[Roseval]

your DAC takes only 16-bits.

If this is the case he owns that DAC for 10 years.....

 

[sajunky]

If this is the case he owns that DAC for 10 years.....

Read OP, it is 16-bit indeed.

 

[Roseval]

I did, so I noticed it was posted in 2011.

 

[sajunky]

I did, so I noticed it was posted in 2011.

OK.

 

[damians]

Hi, do I have to use the dither in foobar 2000 to save the tracks of an audio CD in flac format?

 

[castleofargh]

Hi, do I have to use the dither in foobar 2000 to save the tracks of an audio CD in flac format?

No. Ripping a CD doesn't change the bit depth(or anything else), and converting to FLAC also is lossless. Dither is a good idea after a change done to the data, like EQ, or converting the signal from 24 to 16bit for example.

 

[damians]

No. Ripping a CD doesn't change the bit depth(or anything else), and converting to FLAC also is lossless. Dither is a good idea after a change done to the data, like EQ, or converting the signal from 24 to 16bit for example.

Thank you very much. Also the option: "enable decode postprocessing for decoding dts, hdcd etc." should I keep it deactivated?

 

[sajunky]

Thank you very much. Also the option: "enable decode postprocessing for decoding dts, hdcd etc." should I keep it deactivated?

Keep it default "deactivated". Such option should be only activated if you wish to play the encoded file on the system not supporting HDCD, etc decoding (on your phone or other computer).