XT20: 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz,which one to use?

[bluesallday]

I have an xt20 adat.Which do I set it for 48 or 44.1,what are the differences and what do they mean anyway?I just have a home studio where I mix the adat down to a cd recorder.

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by bluesallday

I have an xt20 adat.Which do I set it for 48 or 44.1,what are the differences and what do they mean anyway?I just have a home studio where I mix the adat down to a cd recorder.

The numbers refer to the sampling rate (in kHz) being used.
If mixing through an analog console, I'd use 48kHz. If digitally transferring to a computer for editing & mixing, use the audio CD rate of 44.1.

[eh91311]

Originally Posted by bluesallday

I have an xt20 adat.Which do I set it for 48 or 44.1,what are the differences and what do they mean anyway?I just have a home studio where I mix the adat down to a cd recorder.

You should probably record at the highest resolution the XT20 will record, which is 20 bit, 48k. I think the XT20 sounds better at 48k, compared to 44.1.

[bluesallday]

Thanks,I thought the higher rate would be better.

[Beck]

Originally Posted by bluesallday

Thanks,I thought the higher rate would be better.

CD is 16/44.1

If you're going from the XT to CD via a digital interface you should use 16/44.1 while recording tracks on the XT. The digital down conversion process from 20/48 to 16/44.1 negates any advantage of recording at 20/48. If you’re using the analog out of the XT20 to the analog in of the CD recorder then yes record at 20/48.

Audio degradation from digital-to-digital conversion is generally worse than analog-to-digital conversion. Avoid converting up or down in the digital domain as much as you can.

[bluesallday]

Yep,everything is pretty much analog.From xt20 analog outs I'm going to an analog mixer and outs to the cd recorder analog inputs.Nothing fancy.Thanks for the info!