16 vs. 24 bit- can you hear the difference?

I can't honestly say.... it's definitely pretty subtle, especially with good old lo-fi electric guitars. I haven't really sat down and tried to tell the difference, to be honest.
 
recording from the same card, yes I can hear a difference. This is mostly A/Bing individual instruments, and depend on the instrument. The difference in a drum kit recorded at 16 and 24 is defintly more aparent than fuzz out, saturated guitar tracks. In the context of a whole mix, the lines get blurrier.

-jhe
 
Hmm...

I think the difference is more a matter of "headroom" -
Recording at 24bit, your instruments can be captured with far more clarity because of the extra bits... This provides a clearer and more concise reproduction...

Myself, Listening to them side by side, I can tell the difference... But, it's more a matter of a "more comfortable sounding mix," comfort of mixing between instrumentation, and even easier recording of instruments at 24 bit...


Does that make sense?
Hope so - In short 24bit IS better....


bry
Riverdog Productions
http://www.members.home.com/bkriverdog
bkriverdog@home.com
 
If you play back at a high enough level, hearing the difference is quite theoretically possible. The human hearing has a dynamic range of about 120db, which is what 24 bits has, so there is no wonder 24 bits may sound better.

However, CD's are still 16 bit, so in that sense it won't make a difference, because you have to throw away the extra 8 bits anyway. Therefore, 24 bit recording will not in itself make an imporvement on the final product. It does give you 8 extra bits (24db) of headroom though, so you don't have to watch your levels. It also enables you to compress after recording without loosing as much detail as compared to compress before recording as 16 bit would.
 
Consider that most high-end digital studios are still using 16 bit equipment, and most of your favorite artists were recorded on 16 bit equipment.

24 bit has it's benefits, but also consider that the product you deliver when you are finished recording is 16 bit.

Don't make a major purchasing decision based on 16 bit versus 24 bit.

Consider other measures of sound quality, like Noise Floor and Harmonic Distortion.

http://www.mp3.com/ebonyrun
 
Thanks for all your input, guys. And a special thanks to Mr. Moderator for the link. Problem is, as a newbie, most of that article was pretty much over my head, even if it was written for idiots like me. I guess I was looking for a simple answer- as in life, nothing is as simple as it looks. I assume the main gyst (sp?) of the article is that "the more bits, the better". At least that's what I got out of it.
 
Keith -

Why are you asking about 16 bit vs 24 bit?

Personally, 16 bit, 24, bit, it's pretty much all the same to me. What mattered most to me was upgrading from my SBLive to my Delta44. At the exact same sampling settings (16/48), the Delta44 records tons better than the SBLive.

I'm a newbie too compared to most of these people. I first started contemplating digital maybe 8 months ago; I remember one of my first questions was the 16-vs-24 bit one! Of course, I asked it again tonight when I was talking to a guy at Sweetwater. :)

Are you thinking of putting together a home studio? Did you do a lot with music before getting into digital, or are you new to music creation?

Travis
 
I am also using a Delta 44, and I thought that I should point out it is CAPABLE of 24 bit, but I never use it.

I do, however, use 24 bit mixing paths in my software.
 
Camn.. what 16 bit hardware have you used? What 24 bit hardware have you used?

My buddy has a Mackie D8B plugged into 3 Tascam 16 bit decks, and I'd take it any day over my PC with a Delta 44 card.

But I'd take the Delta 44 over a SoundBlaster Live any day of the week.
 
TRIPECAC- the reason I ask is that I'm looking at several different fairly inexpensive portastudios. Some have 24 bit capability (i.e. Korg D-16), some have only 16 bit (i.e. Fostex VF-16). I was wondering if it was that big a deal. I'm not new to music- I've been a songwriter/performer for over 35 years. My home-recording experience, however, has been limited to a Yamaha MT100 4-track cassette recorder. I've been sitting on the sidelines for over a year now, waiting for the prices of some of these machines to collapse, which they have. I'm through waiting; I'm ready to jump. I've narrowed it down to the 2 machines listed above (sure, I'd LOVE the Yamaha AW4416 with the built-in cd burner, but I just can't free up $3300- the Korg or Fostex machines will run about 1300+/-, which is pretty damn cheap for 16 track digital workstations.
 
it depends on what converters your using as well. the converters on the db8 are probably better than the delta converters. I was not impressed at all by the delta converters as they did something bad to the sound...so I guess I can say, IMO, the delta convertes suck..
 
ametth: I guess converters are a matter of personal taste, but I must say that I'm *really* surprised that you had *that bad* a reaction to the Delta converters. They're generally considered some of the best semi-pro converters on the market!
 
We musicians and recordists may notice a subtle
difference, but will the difference translate on a common
home stereo? How about the hi-school students walkman? Or
the grandmother's bedroom cassette or c/d player. Or the regular John Doe who's drivin' a '78 Buick and is playing his favorite country c/d? In other words,we play and record music to play and hopefully sell to the masses.Of course we want our mixes to be the best sonically, but whether you recorded your song via an SB Live or an Apogee Rosetta, the general public wouldn't care whether you recorded your music in 16 bits,24 bits or Kibbles&Bits! As long as the song and the way it's recorded is sonically good.
But 24 bits indeed is better, but so what?
 
ameth.. I'm not talking about the delta card anymore, or anything made by M-audio.. I'm talking about the Envy converters.. they're used by half a dozen pro-audio manufacturers cause they really *are* considered some of the best semi-pro a/d converters.. anywell.. Maybe the implementation is not to your liking.

I'm working on a brew-your-own sound card now... hrmm.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top