There are no 24 bit recordings...
 

Well explained. I taught audio/recording classes and knew that, but most people probably don't.

24 bits sounds like more than 20 and a heck of a lot more than 16 (which gives 96 dB S/N).

I worked as a recording engineer in the '70's and used Studer tape recorders that had S/N of about 68 dB. With Dolby SR noise reduction, we got close to 16 bit performance.

Yep, I recall getting a chuckle out of this from the Schiit Audio...

But the "Arglebargle" has like twelve 32-bit DACs in it! Yours only has 21 bits! Hell, that’s not a full 24 bits even! What about my 24-bit recordings?

If your 24 bit recordings actually have 24 bits of resolution, we’ll eat a hat. And those "32-bit" DACs? Well, they have this measurement known as “equivalent number of bits.” This means, in English, how many bits of resolution they really have. And that number is 19.5. And 21 is better than 19.5, in all the math books we know.

But it’s only 21 bits! I can’t get over that!
We can’t get over the fact that delta-sigma DACs throw away all the original samples. Different strokes for different folks.

Great stuff! I love their sense of humor - necessary in world of wildly unsubstantiated claims.

Serge.......These days I am at a point where I don't really give a hoot about the "how" or "why" anymore, I simply want to listen to high quality music reproduction. The constant dissection for argument's sake by laymen and pundits of the extremely marvelous and complicated mathematical and mechanical engineering that allows digital audio to be what it is today has become boring to me. Perhaps it is because I have so many years behind me indulging in the same thing, challenging the importance of specifications, design concepts and implementation. Now, I no longer seem to be able to muster the same level of interest, concern, or enthusiasm about bits, jitter, dither, filters, and so on. I only want to listen to music. I will leave the rest of it to others who still find the chatter interesting.

+1 Dan!

Many of my lowly 16-bit recordings (CD rips) sound great; while some remastered 24-bit recordings sound bad in comparison (and visa versa).

Same here. I think the mastering done by the engineers is more important than the final media we use to listen on our systems.

Amen to that Dan !!! totally agree !!

Unfortunately I have to agree with you.

I've been listening to mostly my CD's that were released in the 1980's that are now on my Aurender N100H. For the most part I enjoy them so much more than any of the remastered or Hi Rez of the same album. Of course there are exceptions.

So it appears that back it the 80's it wasn't the CD's that were the issue but the players/equipment of the time.



O

Over the years I've always counted on AA members to engage in any audio or off topic discussions of various interests with passion and enthusiasm.

It is or perhaps "was" the camaraderie here on AA, more so than most other forums out there that made participating fun, engaging and educational. The level of respect our members showed towards one another was exemplary. Where many other forum's members tended to engage in bitter audio related debates and arguments, we always found a common ground or respectfully agreed to disagree on certain topics and views.

I have been away from audio and for the most part away from AA for over 3 years as my life threw me some unexpected and unpleasant turns that I had to deal with first but coming back to AA and audio in general has been something I've been looking forward to once my life got back on track. My level of enthusiasm for audio gear and music is as strong as ever, even if my level of equipment is not what it used to be.

Now that I am back and can allow myself to be more active on the forum, I find AA has changed somewhat and it seems so have the attitudes and participation levels. I guess it is an inevitable event, passions die, hobbies change. Perhaps our members really are tired of discussing the various audio related topics as there is only so much new and old material we can discuss over the years of being active on the forum.

As Dan mentioned that he no longer cares as to "how" or "why" but simply wants to enjoy music. Fair enough, after all, it is the music that is the main point of being involved with audio.

I look forward to discovering new music through our multiple music threads and reading the posts from others who care to share their findings and impressions with various audio gear and the joy it brings as always but I will refrain from posting any further technical discussions since it does not seem to generate any enthusiasm and is perhaps not only a waste of my time but a source of irritation to others.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. :thumbsup: