tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post4791239981798055461..comments2024-03-29T00:15:52.117-07:00Comments on <em>Archimago's Musings</em>: MUSINGS: Why bother with 24-bit DACs? (With thoughts on dithering, digital volume control, normalization, streaming and LUFS.)Archimagohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08642574001287787545noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-23802699387697637322020-03-06T16:18:51.937-08:002020-03-06T16:18:51.937-08:00You people have nailed it completely. 16/44 at it&...You people have nailed it completely. 16/44 at it's best is absolutely great. Funny, but before I retired I had an OK system, but not as great as now, and back then, CD's sounded so-so, but as my system have evolved a few classes upwards, it reproduces CDs with higher fidelity, and I have since then realized, that most of my "hi-res" albums sound more or less like good CDs, and Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-27168812100866203992019-02-18T04:07:56.684-08:002019-02-18T04:07:56.684-08:00Decreasing the resolution in an image file is NOT ...Decreasing the resolution in an image file is NOT the same as reducing the amplitude in an audio file. Decreasing the brightness in the image file would be the same thou, and that will not really decrease the detailing of the image (unless you decrease the brightness ALOT and not dither anything or using alot of compression). Tellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17970816298275137766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-17757516753414345022019-02-12T11:50:56.247-08:002019-02-12T11:50:56.247-08:00I've gone to the darkside Archimago and I'...I've gone to the darkside Archimago and I'm loving it! <br />$150 used LG G6<br />$95 AptX HD receiver<br />$25 128gb SD chip (skimped on that as it will take 256gb)<br /><br />For $300 and with 16/44.1 FLACs I believe this is good enough to retire my dedicated laptop/outboard DAC combo. Maybe one day you can test it for me!Dillischttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17962251974603707810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-90882393796073505622019-02-11T05:53:52.091-08:002019-02-11T05:53:52.091-08:00Thanks Turrican. My apologies as I failed to menti...Thanks Turrican. My apologies as I failed to mention in my former post that even when I zoom out to full screen or full rez (4K in my case as images are zoomable when you double click them), all is clear except the text in the top left corner of the graph, which is barely visible. I know this could be my issue with my own eyes, but was hoping that another solution exists out there...nice and coolDavid Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15876565385510967813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-41004289164311083682019-02-11T00:57:33.376-08:002019-02-11T00:57:33.376-08:00If you're on chrome, use the "imagus"...If you're on chrome, use the "imagus" plugin. full res images will open on mouse hover (will work on many sites, google, etc.), and if you long press right click on the image, you can center it and zoom with the wheel as you like.Turricanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06622670777152525487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-33709860712590223192019-02-10T15:28:45.345-08:002019-02-10T15:28:45.345-08:00Thanks for yet another great posting Archimago :-)...Thanks for yet another great posting Archimago :-) <br /><br />But I hope that you could those of us with visual impairments (ok, over 40 years old) a favor and make the font sizes in your graphs bigger and more readable, especially the legends in the upper top left corner of your graphs. The combination of small font sizes and colors (or both, but mainly font size) makes its tough for me to readDavid Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15876565385510967813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-27850412793726519292019-02-10T01:35:36.030-08:002019-02-10T01:35:36.030-08:00no problem … no problem … Honzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08793049319792036050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-80387394627220742732019-02-08T18:15:50.132-08:002019-02-08T18:15:50.132-08:00Thanks Allan and agree Honza...
No need to freak ...Thanks Allan and agree Honza...<br /><br />No need to freak out about 16/44.1 or do things like insist that it's a bad format or anything like that. Especially horrible when people compare it to vinyl and somehow need to insist that vinyl is "hi-res" or some similar nonsense.<br /><br />Of course not all CD-resolution albums sound great but that's really because the people doingArchimagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08642574001287787545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-23988787454208168872019-02-08T18:09:02.194-08:002019-02-08T18:09:02.194-08:00Nice Turrican! Will give this a listen :-).
Nice Turrican! Will give this a listen :-).<br />Archimagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08642574001287787545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-11022494306432158732019-02-08T18:08:10.978-08:002019-02-08T18:08:10.978-08:00Correct Dennis,
Which is why I said that 100dB of ...Correct Dennis,<br />Which is why I said that 100dB of dynamic range is all we really ever need in any room when we consider the room noise and at what level the SPL becomes simply uncomfortable/painful.<br /><br />If a signal can be processed optimally and reproduced in 16-bits, that's really all we need... 24-bits will give us more leeway with this process.<br /><br />Regarding the RMAA Archimagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08642574001287787545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-9754088700473387262019-02-08T09:05:12.251-08:002019-02-08T09:05:12.251-08:00Sorry, my reply wasn't aimed at you. I meant i...Sorry, my reply wasn't aimed at you. I meant it that I should have remembered to put that link into my reply the first time. It was a reply to myself, but, yeah, didn't come across that way. My apologies.Allan Folzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06762674627739423845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-18300773960351440142019-02-08T02:27:47.627-08:002019-02-08T02:27:47.627-08:00Just for clarification - I meant 16 bit dithering ...Just for clarification - I meant 16 bit dithering and if used noise shaping. 24 bit audio can also be dithered when exporting from 32 bit float, but that is mainly useful for further upsampling and/or editing precision than for preserving fidelity, since 24 bit is really way low under what can be heard or processed by DACs.Honzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08793049319792036050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-69070327532210770722019-02-08T02:24:20.242-08:002019-02-08T02:24:20.242-08:00Alright - I didn't say they did it wrong. But ...Alright - I didn't say they did it wrong. But still, without dithering and (albeit slight) aliasing digital audio can sound a little bit better. That's why I would like to see new releases in 24/48. Honzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08793049319792036050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-89620834121254740342019-02-07T21:43:30.734-08:002019-02-07T21:43:30.734-08:00Let me try that again. :)
Those Sony & Philip...Let me try that again. :)<br /><br />Those Sony & Philips engineers were <a href="https://kenrockwell.com/audio/why-cds-sound-great.htm" rel="nofollow">no dummies</a>. A classic from Ken Rockwell.Allan Folzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06762674627739423845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-46743030144660974592019-02-07T10:26:53.311-08:002019-02-07T10:26:53.311-08:00I agree, 16/44.1 is OK format, no big issues with ...I agree, 16/44.1 is OK format, no big issues with it that need expensive audiophile "treatment". But majority of DAC filters it with slight aliasing - this can be solved by SW upsampling to 88.2 or 176.4 kHz. And it needs dithering which has its own varieties. Therefore I would like to see new music released also in 24/48 format, with no or little price increase. Honzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08793049319792036050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-18279107178780138902019-02-06T14:39:29.984-08:002019-02-06T14:39:29.984-08:00Excellent post, Arch.
If I may be so bold, this a...Excellent post, Arch.<br /><br />If I may be so bold, this absolutely underscores the intellectual bankruptcy of the Audiophile crowd. They are completely unimaginative. All we ever read from them is the same old-same old: more air, wider sound-stage, lifted veils, more punch, less boom, etc. Yawn.<br /><br />Those Sony Philips engineers in 1980 were no dummies. The Redbook spec is audibly Allan Folzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06762674627739423845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-79002405825949287562019-02-06T00:07:20.263-08:002019-02-06T00:07:20.263-08:00I think this might be slightly misleading. I did ...I think this might be slightly misleading. I did the same thing, and with signal reduced 25 db, you couldn't analyze it in RMAA because it couldn't find the synch signal. So I digitally boosted all the files up 24 db. Then I get results like yours. <br /><br />So with the 16 bit signal you reduce it 25 db which puts the max level of it only some 70 db above noise. But your in room Blumlein 88https://www.blogger.com/profile/06915339176569620120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-72731992279256299102019-02-05T00:54:42.623-08:002019-02-05T00:54:42.623-08:00No problem.
here is the link to installer and my p...No problem.<br />here is the link to installer and my preset called "office". It tries to cover a broad spectrum from jazz to EDM. Just overwrite the original one (ss1.dat) in the winamp root dir after installing and choose and load it in the plugin.<br />https://www117.zippyshare.com/v/W7qh5q7q/file.html<br /><br />It comes with 90 presets included, some mimicking popular (british?) FMTurricanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06622670777152525487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-70435107041366846082019-02-04T21:07:31.164-08:002019-02-04T21:07:31.164-08:00Wow Turrican, that's some old-skool DSP'in...Wow <em>Turrican</em>, that's some old-skool DSP'ing there but remarkably powerful looking at that control board! Very cool...<br /><br />Personally, I have no issues with the end-user taking matters into their own hands. That's in fact great!<br /><br />I'm certainly no traditionalist when it comes to some notion of the "absolute sound". I just appreciate gear and Archimagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08642574001287787545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-56397232512358680132019-02-04T20:25:35.426-08:002019-02-04T20:25:35.426-08:00Sure, the noise can be "information"... ...Sure, the noise can be "information"... Whether in video or audio. The question I suppose is whether it's intentional noise or not as per the artist's intent. When I play an old VCR and notice the noise in the image, surely some of that is unintentional... Likewise old tapes and noisy LPs.<br /><br />Personally, those pop/rock tunes hammered to a loudness of DR6 and presented asArchimagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08642574001287787545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-28269797810075242122019-02-04T02:52:03.859-08:002019-02-04T02:52:03.859-08:00In regard to volume normalisation, when not critic...In regard to volume normalisation, when not critically listening, I have another story. I'm fully aware that many audiophiles (subjective and objective alike) will cringe when they read this, but consider the following:<br /><br />Back when I was still on a mediocre hi-fi rack connected to my pc (SB live! soundcard) and when low bitrate or improperly compressed mp3 files were abundant, all upTurricanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06622670777152525487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-66577919694838422742019-02-03T18:44:36.943-08:002019-02-03T18:44:36.943-08:00But the noisy video DOES have more information. Th...But the noisy video DOES have more information. The noise is information. Just as film grain is information; it's part of the image. When an artist scans a drawing, sometimes he cares about the texture of the paper coming through in detail.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-2176853730760387662019-02-03T14:39:13.695-08:002019-02-03T14:39:13.695-08:00Hi stalepie,
Remember that ability to losslessly c...Hi <em>stalepie</em>,<br />Remember that ability to losslessly compress is inversely correlated to entropy/noise/randomness in a file. The more predictable the data, the smaller the algorithms can encode the data. By reducing the amplitude by -30dB, you're effectively removing about 5 bits worth of data at the lowest levels. Since in a 24-bit audio file, those lowest bits are usually noise, Archimagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08642574001287787545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4781727111866727703.post-23602689050574420712019-02-03T12:40:16.960-08:002019-02-03T12:40:16.960-08:00Why is it when you reduce the size of the waveform...Why is it when you reduce the size of the waveform in Audacity it results in a smaller file when saved? I tried opening up a FLAC that was 30.4 MB and then I reduced its amplification by selecting all, going to Amplify in Effect under the menu, and then typing "-30" in the dB and then saving that file as a FLAC, and it changed it to 16.3 MB. <br /><br />This seems like the same thing asAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com