will better A/D converters "improve" the sound of my 16-bit recorder?

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Cratinus

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my digital multitrack is a 16-bit/44.1khz recorder with 20-bit A/D converters. i read an article somewhere recently where a studio owner said that he upgraded his A/D converters and it made his 16-bit ADAT recorders sound "almost" like 24-bit machines. i'm having a hard time making sense of this. i got the feeling that he had an outboard unit of some kind (an Apogee or something like that). this would mean that he must BYPASS the ADAT's onboard A/D converters COMPLETELY and send a signal in digitally, right? again,..i am a bit perplexed. if the recorder itself is only 16-bit that means it's DIGITAL INPUT must be 16-bit also (i think). will an external A/D converter that has some sort of "24-bit" conversion capabilities really improve the sound?? is this a sort of "higher resolution dithering" that i should consider? i am happy with the functionality of my machine and would rather upgrade a bit of outboard gear than replace the recorder entirely (by the way....i rarely IF EVER record more than two tracks simultaneously). my recorder DOES have digital inputs (ADAT/SPDIF). any thoughts/knowledge would be appreciated.
 
Dithering About Converters

You've got it, basically.

A high-end (i.e. high priced) outboard converter typically can output a 16-bit signal, even if it is converting the input into 24-bit. It would turn the 24-bit data into 16-bit data by dithering, which should have a small advantage over something that started out as 16 bits (or simply truncating the 24-bits to 16, which should produce the same result).

The cheapest reasonably respected outboard converter that dithers is probably a used Symetrix 620 (about $200+, I think). Something like, say, the "Flying Cow" does not dither but just truncates. It might still be better than the ADAT converters, though.

From there you start to get into units that go for multiple thousands of dollars pretty quickly. In some settings, I guess these clearly make sense, but my knee-jerk reaction is that in a home recording setup, there's probably something else you don't have that would get you more for your money. Of course, I could be wrong (for one thing, I don't know what you have ...).
 
You will hear the difference. Then, you will understand why the really good converters cost so much. ;)

To put it in '"layman's terms".... You are paying for the difference in which the analogue information is translated/transferred/converted into digital information & vice-versa.
 
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