
Farview
Well-known member
Audio doesn't work like graphics because of the way it gets decoded and turned back into an analog signal.
If your audio has (for example) 60db of dynamic range between its peak at its noise floor. It will be represented by the same number of bits (10), no matter where within the digital dynamic range it is recorded. At least as long as the analog noise floor is kept above the digital noise floor.
In that example, if that audio peaked at 0dbfs, the recorded noise floor would be at -60dbfs. If it peaked at -20dbfs, the noise floor would be at -80dbfs. In other words the bit depth does not add resolution that the original signal doesn't have to begin with.
With 16 bit, you only have 96db of dynamic range to deal with, which it pretty close to what you can get in the analog world. So that makes you have to try to maximize the range, so that the analog noise floor doesn't drop below the digital noise floor.
With 24 bit, you would be really hard pressed to get within 30db of the digital noise floor.
If your audio has (for example) 60db of dynamic range between its peak at its noise floor. It will be represented by the same number of bits (10), no matter where within the digital dynamic range it is recorded. At least as long as the analog noise floor is kept above the digital noise floor.
In that example, if that audio peaked at 0dbfs, the recorded noise floor would be at -60dbfs. If it peaked at -20dbfs, the noise floor would be at -80dbfs. In other words the bit depth does not add resolution that the original signal doesn't have to begin with.
With 16 bit, you only have 96db of dynamic range to deal with, which it pretty close to what you can get in the analog world. So that makes you have to try to maximize the range, so that the analog noise floor doesn't drop below the digital noise floor.
With 24 bit, you would be really hard pressed to get within 30db of the digital noise floor.