I feel lame asking this but i did a search and i couldn't come up with anything. why do people want the 24 bit shows? i would assume that you have better sounding shows. do you burn them on dvd? and then need a dvd-audio player to play them back. thanks
I'll try to answer without sounding too 1337....ok?
People want 24bit shows because it's the "in" thing to want.
lol.....ok ok ok....just kidding....
No, people like me, want 24bit shows because we have the playback systems to really enjoy 24bit audio. Sure....many folks will just keep the files on their computer and pipe em to a stereo over an optical/coax cable from their sound card/computer to enjoy......Others take the time to burn them to either audio only DVD-Video discs (which will play in ANY dvd player) -OR- burn them to DVD-Audio discs for playback thru their DVD-A players.
When you have a few grand invested into a hi-resolution playback system, you wanna flex its muscles every now and then......24bit audio is that flex.
What I wonder about.....and PLEASE don't take this the wrong way.......but I wonder how many fools grab the 24bit shows, burn em to DVD, and then listen to em thru the TV speakers......
+K for not asking a lame question.
Quotei would assume that you have better sounding shows.
NEVER assume anything! Just because it says "24bit" doesn't mean it's gonna sound good.....Recording and mastering for 24bit is an art form.....sadly, not too many people know how to take full advantage of it. Those who do, do an amazing job :clap: That being said though....there are only a few folks out there mastering in 24bit properly....I've heard some god awful 24bit shows.......
Art has given a more complete answer but I will give my simple answer.
people prefer lossless over lossy because lossy is compressed and loses quality. given the choice, I prefer 24 bit over 16 bit for the same reason. I grab the least (or not at all) compressed files over the slightly compressed files. for audio CDs, I can always to 16 bit myself.
The nice thing is that lossless compression (flac or apple and maybe windows) can take 24bit files as well, and although bigger than 16, they're still smaller than a 16bit wav. I don't burn discs, but at the same time the ipod with nice headphones is as hi-fi as I get. However, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot for the future when someday I will be able to take advantage of the higher resolution on a good system. Audio isn't heading towards 8-bit, it's heading towards something bigger, and 24 is the logical next step based on the recent history of digital audio. The other thing is sample rate. I forget why 44.1 is standard, but 48 or 96kHz are the next jumps. What is the most reasonable maximum? IMO, 48/96. If you're not familiar with the terminology, the 96kHz is how many samples are taken per second (96,000 : 44,100 for today's audio cds). The 48bit is how many bits of data describe the sound at that particular sample. I'm not sure the limit of the human ear, but you'll get arguments both ways. I'm of the camp that even if I can't tell the difference, I'd prefer the larger file. Storage is growing fast and it won't be an issue as time progresses, so why not just have the best available? If we say that the most that we'll ever really need is 48/96, those files will be 6 to 7 times the size of current music files. If storage capabilities double every 2 years, by 2013 you'd be able to have your whole collection in 48/96 and still have ample space left.
Anyhow. 24bit for the future!
J
Future?
(http://www.korg.com/gear/images/products/enlarge/lrg_MR1000.jpg)
1-bit/5.6 MHz
DSD
http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=MR1000&category_id=3
maybe...
Here is a good simple read on why 44.1 is the "standard" for CD audio.
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/audio/44.1.html
As for audio going higher fidelity, I guess we'll have to wait and see. DVD-A and SACD and other formats have not caught on, where MP3 is easily the most popular codec in the world.
Compressed digital delivery will go by the wayside when bandwidth and storage catches up to the needs of lossless high-resolution formats.
Fortunately, forward thinking tapers are recording in higher resolution formats now.
Right, I'm obviously talking about mainstream usage - there will always be forward-looking tapers and audiophile releases, etc..
I do feel like it may be too late to turn back - people will have their MP3 collections for a very long time, and they may not want anything higher fidelity.
There are plenty of people who will never replace their cds or their LPs either. But newer generations will adopt the newer technologies. mp3 isn't going anywhere soon but, in time, it'll go out of vogue.
I can't wait - but I think MP3 will be around for a long time - longer than CDs and cassettes.
I'm a lossless eprson and I am of the view that I will grab the best quality available and then downsample if necessary while archiving the top quality.
but here is why I think mp3 will be around for a very long time. you need to look at how people listent o music nowadays. it is through their computer at work or ipod wherever they are. although the storage capacity of ipods just keeps growing and growing and soon most people will ahve large capacity storage ipods, if you are listening to music through crappy headphones, does it matter what format it is in?
storage is not the problem. it is cheap already. it is the equipment of what people listen to music through that is the issue. there are still a number of people with nice systems and nice headphones. bt for every one of them, there are 5 more with listenign devices that are inferior.
like I said....how many people listen to hi-res dvd's thru their tv's.....
that'd be nuts.
I just dont get DSD's mass appeal......
Special recorders......special mastering equipment......then special playback equipment....
All for roughly the same playback res as DVD-A.....with less features......I just don't get people......
So all in all, if I want to listen to it through my iPod or on my computer, what's the best one to use? And will it work on a CD if I burn it to one? Or do I specifically have to have 16bit to burn to a CD? I am getting confused... :frustrated:
I am apparently an idiot when it comes to 24 bit vs 16 bit.
To help understand bits and bit rate let's discuss in simple volume vs time. Let's say there's a single tone going "oooooooooooooo..." Let's say that over time, it's fluctuating in volume. Let's set that time at 1 second. First, bitrate. When recording to a device, you set the recording to a certain level... In this case let's say 24bit/48kHz. So over that single second, your device is going to split that second into 48,000 pieces, every piece being 48,000ths of a second long. Every sample is made up of bits, and the more bits, the better description of the volume. Think of the extreme (a single bit), it's either on or off, you can describe the sound as loud or not loud. Now think of 2 bits, there are 4 combinations (00, 01, 10, 11) so you can describe the volume as off, low, medium, loud. Every bit you add multiplies the number of ways to describe the sound by 2. Therefore, storing your data as 16 vs. 24 bit, you take a hit in filesize by 1.5 (16x1.5=24), but your resolution jumps from 65536 to 1677216. every sample is 256 times more descriptive than the 16 bit.
Just like taking more samples every second increases your resolution, so does taking a more descriptive sample. In fact, Whereas a single bit can increase the resolution of the sample by 2, you have to double the kHz to see the same increase in quality.
Bottom line is if you have the means to store or listen to your stuff that way, then do it in the highest possible quality. If not, then do what you can.
J
to answer your question sparks....
16bit is the resolution intended for: CD (regular PCM and DTS 5.1 discs) and MP3
24bit is the resolution intended for: DVD-A/SACD, DVD-V
Yes, you can only burn 16bit files to CD....and it's unlikely that your mp3 player can accept 24bit files.....I'd be willing to bet your computer's sound card isn't even 24bit......
So unless you have a DVD-A player, or a networked audio device with 24bit playback abilities.....you're better off sticking with 16bit......
Marmar- Thanks for the info. I figured it was that easy, but I wanted to be sure before downloading some 24bit shows...
Sparks
no prob man.....
much easier to nip it in the bud than it is to try and explain the steps involved in converting from 24>16 bit......
nice thread. i've been meaning to get on the 24 bit train...
since i DO have the playback capabilities.