There is much information and debate regarding the improvements that can be found by going from 16 to 24 bit music files. Much of what you find on line tends to suggest that 16 bit can perform to the limits of human hearing, making 24 bit rather pointless. I was talking to someone recently who seems to know a lot more about this subject than I do. He suggests that broadly speaking, 16 bit is indeed more than good enough. However, there was one interesting point he described. When music is relayed via 16 bit, at the higher volume sections of the track 16 bit replay is more or less distortion free. (assuming all is done correctly). Counterintuitively, very quiet sections of the track can indeed suffer distortion. Putting this crudely, (I am not an expert on sampling theories) if silence is considered as all zeros, then a very quiet section needs to be conveyed using very few "ones" in the code. Hence, very quiet sections of songs, notes, or whatever can suffer distortion via 16 bit. Of course, this is by definition not that noticeable, because the distortion is only occurring very quietly. But the idea is that this does feature within human perception, so although the music may sound subjectively perfect, there is something at the limits of perception that makes one aware that the music is in some way digitally rendered. With the vastly higher level of data and resolution offered by 24 bit, this issue disappears into what is definitively imperceptible by human hearing.
Now I have no idea if this stands up to scientific scrutiny, but I will say that it does fit with my own observations of 24 bit. In no way can I say that what I have listened to something via 24 bit is a quantum leap in sound quality vs well mastered 16 bit, but there is something I like about 24 bit, its is kind of subconsciously or subjectively (horrible words both in hi fi land) analogue. So maybe 24 bit is taking something away that with 16 bit is there and distracting from the ultimate listening pleasure. Does anyone know the facts?
Now I have no idea if this stands up to scientific scrutiny, but I will say that it does fit with my own observations of 24 bit. In no way can I say that what I have listened to something via 24 bit is a quantum leap in sound quality vs well mastered 16 bit, but there is something I like about 24 bit, its is kind of subconsciously or subjectively (horrible words both in hi fi land) analogue. So maybe 24 bit is taking something away that with 16 bit is there and distracting from the ultimate listening pleasure. Does anyone know the facts?
