[Music Alchemist]

So far hi-res delivery services have not proven to me that they care about the real problem in music mastering today (loudness), but simply seem concerned about making beaucoup $$ off tricking people into re-buying their albums again to get sounds they can't hear.

 
That's why the digital music store I want to launch would specialize in unreleased music (such as complete soundtracks for movies, television series, video games, etc.), and for all releases (I want to sell normal albums too), there would be full disclosure as to which master was used.

 

[preproman]

 
It would lower the noise floor of your DAC, and any processing happening. However the noise floor of 16 bit audio would remain the same. However, there's no reason not to have your DAC running at 24 bit. It is often the case that (at least the implementation of) the DAC cannot actually achieve the -144dB theoretical noise floor of 24 bit, simply because that's very difficult to achieve in electronics.

 
So ripping CDs using dBpowerAmp to 24 / 44 files and playing them on a 32 bit DAC does nothing - or does something? 

 

[kraken2109]

   
So ripping CDs using dBpowerAmp to 24 / 44 files and playing them on a 32 bit DAC does nothing - or does something? 

I'll split this up:

• Ripping a CD in 24 bit is pointless, it won't change the noise floor.
• You may as well set your DAC to it's highest big depth - this ensures the noise floor of the DAC is as low as it can be and 16 bit files will just have empty bits added so there isn't a downside of 'converting' like with sample rates
• I'm not aware of any DACs that are actually 32-bit in terms of noise floor, I might be wrong but I was under the impression that current electronics can't really do 24 bits of S:N ratio.

 

[cjl]

• I'm not aware of any DACs that are actually 32-bit in terms of noise floor, I might be wrong but I was under the impression that current electronics can't really do 24 bits of S:N ratio.

There are definitely no DACs that have a true 32 bits of signal to noise right now. I don't believe there are any 24 bit ones either, but I'm not as sure of that. If I'm remembering correctly, the current best is somewhere around 22 bits of true S/N.

 

[Chris J]

Hi, here comes another topic on high-res music.

More i read, less i know. People are saying, that its nonsense, marketing scum. They got the point, but 95% of people also listens ****ty music in ****ty mp3 with ****ty dynamic on ****ty equipment. Reading theoretical articles gets me nowhere. What is your own listening experience? I can safely distinguish 320kbs mp3 from flac. But i cant tell difference between 44/16 and 96/24. But i have only portable player and mediocre headphones. How big is the difference for you? No theory. I want to know your opinion based on your own listening.

After reading thru this interesting thread, I can't help but suggest:
If you are looking for subjective opinions, not objective opinions, try posting the same questions in another thread, like the source components thread, or the computer audio thread.
Cheers,
C.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I'll split this up:

• Ripping a CD in 24 bit is pointless, it won't change the noise floor.
• You may as well set your DAC to it's highest big depth - this ensures the noise floor of the DAC is as low as it can be and 16 bit files will just have empty bits added so there isn't a downside of 'converting' like with sample rates
• I'm not aware of any DACs that are actually 32-bit in terms of noise floor, I might be wrong but I was under the impression that current electronics can't really do 24 bits of S:N ratio.

 
Just a random quote from a random company that makes DACs:
 

You might think one more bit of resolution is just a little thing, but it actually doubles the size of the DAC. Our standard Platinum DAC has two 24 bit sign-magnitude DACs per channel resulting in 25 bits of resolution. The signature DAC has two 25 bit four-quadrant DACs per channel resulting in 26 bits of resolution and improved accuracy. The Diamond DAC contains four 26 bit DACs per channel for a true 27 bit resolution with greatly improved accuracy.

 

[castleofargh]

 the noise floor from 16bit quantization comes in every digital to analog operation or vice versa. so a CD already has some in the bits, the music+ the noise floor of what was used to make the final 16bit CD. we cannot take that apart from the music, but it's usually made from high quality systems with good dithering so it's usually really -96db noise or even better. 
by telling foobar or whatever to output the sound in 24bit(even 16bit tracks) we make sure quantization errors from our gear will be equal to some bad 24bit from our consumer grade DAC. that way even 16 or 17 usable bits(because of jitter, noise and whatever) is still great enough and better than what's on the CD. and even with some little volume control from the computer, we are unlikely to alter the CD signal.
all this to listen to to the real sound as intended by the artist(as said the linkin park guy in the pono video) with a DR of 5

 

 

[Music Alchemist]

   the noise floor from 16bit quantization comes in every digital to analog operation or vice versa. so a CD already has some in the bits, the music+ the noise floor of what was used to make the final 16bit CD. we cannot take that apart from the music, but it's usually made from high quality systems with good dithering so it's usually really -96db noise or even better. 
by telling foobar or whatever to output the sound in 24bit(even 16bit tracks) we make sure quantization errors from our gear will be equal to some bad 24bit from our consumer grade DAC. that way even 16 or 17 usable bits(because of jitter, noise and whatever) is still great enough and better than what's on the CD. and even with some little volume control from the computer, we are unlikely to alter the CD signal.
all this to listen to to the real sound as intended by the artist(as said the linkin park guy in the pono video) with a DR of 5

 

 
That reminds me of another quote from the same company I just quoted:
 

The SELECT DAC has amazing resolution. In fact, for the first time ever we can just barely hear the quantization noise of a CD, a noise that disappears with 24 bit sources.

 

[esldude]

   
Just a random quote from a random company that makes DACs:
 

And when measured it got nearly 21 bits of resolution. 
 
http://www.stereophile.com/content/msb-technology-platinum-data-cd-iv-transport-amp-diamond-dac-iv-amp-da-converter-measurement

 

[Music Alchemist]

  And when measured it got nearly 21 bits of resolution. 
 
http://www.stereophile.com/content/msb-technology-platinum-data-cd-iv-transport-amp-diamond-dac-iv-amp-da-converter-measurement

 
Just goes to show you can't always trust hype. I'm not a technical guy, anyway. All I care about is the sound, in the end.

 

[Head Injury]

   
That reminds me of another quote from the same company I just quoted:
 

This is possible with any system that has a noise floor lower than -96 dB, isn't it? It's just not practical in real life scenarios.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  This is possible with any system that has a noise floor lower than -96 dB, isn't it? It's just not practical in real life scenarios.

 
I don't have the slightest clue about all this technical stuff! XD
 
Even after spending countless hours reading about all the fantastical features in audio equipment, it doesn't get me any closer to knowing what's necessary to getting the best sound and what's not.

 

[Head Injury]

   
I don't have the slightest clue about all this technical stuff! XD
 
Even after spending countless hours reading about all the fantastical features in audio equipment, it doesn't get me any closer to knowing what's necessary to getting the best sound and what's not.

Just assume none of it's necessary

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Just assume none of it's necessary

 
I'll just skip all these unnecessary headphones, amps, DACs, sources, and cables and go for the Apple iChip - an implant that transmits music directly to your brain simply by thinking about it.

 

[Strangelove424]

 
And when measured it got nearly 21 bits of resolution. 
 
http://www.stereophile.com/content/msb-technology-platinum-data-cd-iv-transport-amp-diamond-dac-iv-amp-da-converter-measurement

 
Hah!