Recording a 16 Bit Signal into 24 Bit Card

C

cindyp

New member
Does anyone know what happens when you send a 16 Bit signal into a 24 Bit Card? For example if I were to send a 16 bit digital signal from my J-Station into a soundcard set to record at 24 bit what would happen. Would there just be a bunch of zeros added to pad the signal out?

thanks
 
You get a 24 bit version of a 16 bit signal (same resolution as the 16 bit signal even though it has a 24 bit word lenght). No advantage but no harm either.
 
Thanks for the info Track Rat. I'm planning on buying a M-Audio Audiophile and I'm wondering if an analog signal from the J-Station converted to 24 Bit at the card would sound better than a 16 bit digital signal?
 
I have a J Station laying around that I use occasionally. I always use the analog outs (I don't like clocking the system from the S/PDIF generated from the J Station). That's just me though, your mileage may very.
 
cindyp said:
Thanks for the info Track Rat. I'm planning on buying a M-Audio Audiophile and I'm wondering if an analog signal from the J-Station converted to 24 Bit at the card would sound better than a 16 bit digital signal?
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Like track Rat mentioned, all it's doing is turning 16-bit into a 24-bit soundfile, but all it does is just make for a bigger file. 24-bit to 16-bit; however, will be different. Eventually it will end up 16-bit again (for CD playability)
 
Same as TrackRat. Also I'm too lazy to switch the Audiophile to external clock and also like to use the eq in my mixer. I have no complaints of the quality from going analog - though it could be that I just don't know any better ;)
 
Cindy:

CD's are all 16 bit. Anything you record in 24 bit will eventually have to be rendered to 16 bit if you want it to go on a CD. The earlier post about increasing the file size is spot-on. If you're doing a lot of work in 24 bit, you'll start bumping up against limits in CPU usage, etc. since the files are so much larger. The biggest benefits to working in 24 bit are if you've got high end recording equipment (with a DAW which will support all that expensive gear) and are doing professional work. Otherwise, you're not likely to hear much difference between 16 and 24 on most home recording gear. If you decide to buy the M-Audio card, buy it for the sound and don't worry about 24 bit.

As an aside, I have an M-Audio AP 2496 card and love the sound but hate the drivers and the lack of support from M-Audio, so caveat emptor.

Best regards,

Tio Ed
 
TexasMusicForge said:
CD's are all 16 bit. Anything you record in 24 bit will eventually have to be rendered to 16 bit if you want it to go on a CD. The earlier post about increasing the file size is spot-on. If you're doing a lot of work in 24 bit, you'll start bumping up against limits in CPU usage, etc. since the files are so much larger. The biggest benefits to working in 24 bit are if you've got high end recording equipment (with a DAW which will support all that expensive gear) and are doing professional work. Otherwise, you're not likely to hear much difference between 16 and 24 on most home recording gear. If you decide to buy the M-Audio card, buy it for the sound and don't worry about 24 bit.

As an aside, I have an M-Audio AP 2496 card and love the sound but hate the drivers and the lack of support from M-Audio, so caveat emptor.
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I disagree.

24 bits resolution is very useful, even for homerecordists when using plugins and/or mixing inside the computer. It's all a matter of rounding errors.
In this day and age, don't settle for less than 24 bits.

The j-station puts out a 24 bits signal by the way.

I've hooked mine up to my audiophile quite a few times, both digital and analog. I happen to like my audiophile by the way. Never had any drivers problems whatsoever. Rock solid operation.
 
Got the audiophile yesterday ($99 from Guitar Center - kinda wish I hadn't gone in though, as then I wouldn't have seen the slightly used Spector Q5 bass for $300 that I just had to buy ;o)) will hook it all up this weekend - 24 bits from the J-Station cool I thought it was only 16!

Any advice on setting up the audiophile under XP? Do I have to set the clock on the card to external source or something if I'm using the dig out on with the J-Station?

Thanks for all the replies, this forum kicks ass
 
Pleased to hear Christiaan has had no problems with his card, but I'm far from the only person I've run across with AP 2496 driver complaints. If you elect to try one of the updated drivers for your card that are available on the M-Audio site, make sure you can roll back to the older driver. I downloaded the newest one available thinking it might cure some technical issues but only wound up locking up many of the available functions in my recording software. This has happened to at least a dozen people I've exchanged posts with - all using XP, by the way. I love the sound of the card itself, as most of the people posting on various forums about the card's driver issues will be quick to say, but wish it was less problematic for me. Your mileage, as always, may vary....

Regards to all,

Tio Ed
Austin, Texas
 
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