After reading through this thread I got to thinking. Are we really recording/listening to true 24bit waveforms through machines advertised as such? What's the highest dynamic range spec you have ever seen on an A>D or D>A. here are some examples of converters that i could find.
Apogee:
AD/DA 16x : A>D - 120dB = 20bits ; D>A - 118dB = 19.667 bits
Rosetta 200/800 : 114dB = 19 bits
MME : 105dB = 17.5 bits
(source:
http://www.apogeedigital.com all specs A-weighted)
Benchmark:
ADC104/DAC104 : A>D - 116dB = 19.333 bits ; D>A - not given (assumed to be around 116dB)
ADC1/DAC1 : A>D - 120dB = 20bits ; D>A - not given but judging from tests i'd say around 115/116 dB = 19 bits
(source:
http://www.benchmarkmedia.com All specs are A-weighted)
Mytek:
8x96 : A>D - 120dB(A-weighted) / 117dB Total = 20 bits/19.5 bits ; D>A : same as adc.
Stereo192 : I couldn't find a .pdf manual. Scott, could you provide the info? is it the same?
(source:
http://www.mytekdigital.com)
and just for fun....some "16bit" machines
JB3 : could not find anything. anybody have the info? I saw a S/N Ratio of 96dB but that really doesn't give us much.
M1/D100/D8/D7: "Better than 87dB" = 14.5 bits
DAP1 : Better than 90dB = 15 bits
DA20mkii : "91dB or greater" = 15.1667 bits
PCM-R500/700 : not mentioned in manual but has a S/N ratio of only 90dB
(soure: from the manuals here. could not find a jb3 manual or dynamic range spec
)
so it's obvious the notion of "16bit" & "24bit" are marketing terms but i guess that has always gone without saying
As far as I can tell it is impossible for humans to make machines that can perform true 24bits of data at this point in time. Say it does happen though in the future. What will they call it? 32 bit?
and that's just bit-depth! sampling frequency of the recordings compared to the the frequency response of your playback will determine what you might here.
I think the recording technology is pretty much there, but not as advertised. still......120dB of dynamic range is just awesome. Is the playback technology there for it though? who knows? Some say they hear the difference while others don't. As for myself i can definitely hear a difference with the higher-end converters and playback.
just thinking out loud i suppose.......
Brian