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Bootstrapped · 15th March 2009

I saw the R16 at NAMM. I believe it will have the same or simliar specifications on it as the HD16 which I have. The AD/DA converters will be 24 bit however more than likely the file format will be 16 Bit at 44.1Khz, WAV file. At this price piont there is no way anyone including ZOOM, BOSS or whomever can put enough DSP inside the unit to actually have it MIX and with EQ and effects after all it is a STAND ALONE Recorder first and foremost.

In Digital you should always have a Higher Bit rate DSP Mix engine than the file format or you will be truncating and chopping off crucial bits anyways that are important detials. Piont being its better to have a 24 bit converter dithered down to 16 bits and then process it with a 24 Bit Mix engine and then dither it back down to 16 in the end than to have a 24 bit file and only process with a 24 bit DSP. The numbers may look better but in practical it doesn't work that way. Properly Dithered 16 works and that is well proven as the most common delivery method is still 16 Bit for CD.

When you apply any DSP to a 16 bit file there is a lot of critital detail that comes after the decimal piont changing to word length based on your DSP mix engine.

16 Bit word 1010001010100001 becomes
24 Bits DSP 1010001010100001.10010100 with a 24 Bit Mix engine.

So if you had a 24 bit file there would have to be substantially more DSP inside to keep the quality and detial. 32 minimum or 64bit more than likely. That would drive the cost way above what the market is calling for at this price piont. No doubt that will happen sometime in the future but my guess is it will be Many Many years until 64 bit chips are available at this price piont and as a musician thats alot of hours of creativitly gone if you choose to wait to cut your song. there will always be something better on the horizon but how far off.

Anyhow my experience and that of other i know whom use the ZOOM HD16 with its design is if you use it properly it makes excellent sounding recording especially considering the price. I have also found that if you want to juice thing up a bit adding a Channel Strip infront of the ZOOM works nicelly as well. I have a Toft ATC2 and Joe Meek One Q. They are both usable flavours however sometimes I still prefer the ZOOM Mic PRe for somethings. There is also some Pre AMp Modeling in the HD16 that can give you some flavour if you can't afford an external Mic Pre.

Anyhow if we all spend more time on the Music and less on the bits and bytes we'd end up with a better product in the end.

Just My 2 Cents worth.

Bootstrapped.

15th March 2009	#8
Bootstrapped Gear interested Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 6	I saw the R16 at NAMM. I believe it will have the same or simliar specifications on it as the HD16 which I have. The AD/DA converters will be 24 bit however more than likely the file format will be 16 Bit at 44.1Khz, WAV file. At this price piont there is no way anyone including ZOOM, BOSS or whomever can put enough DSP inside the unit to actually have it MIX and with EQ and effects after all it is a STAND ALONE Recorder first and foremost. In Digital you should always have a Higher Bit rate DSP Mix engine than the file format or you will be truncating and chopping off crucial bits anyways that are important detials. Piont being its better to have a 24 bit converter dithered down to 16 bits and then process it with a 24 Bit Mix engine and then dither it back down to 16 in the end than to have a 24 bit file and only process with a 24 bit DSP. The numbers may look better but in practical it doesn't work that way. Properly Dithered 16 works and that is well proven as the most common delivery method is still 16 Bit for CD. When you apply any DSP to a 16 bit file there is a lot of critital detail that comes after the decimal piont changing to word length based on your DSP mix engine. 16 Bit word 1010001010100001 becomes 24 Bits DSP 1010001010100001.10010100 with a 24 Bit Mix engine. So if you had a 24 bit file there would have to be substantially more DSP inside to keep the quality and detial. 32 minimum or 64bit more than likely. That would drive the cost way above what the market is calling for at this price piont. No doubt that will happen sometime in the future but my guess is it will be Many Many years until 64 bit chips are available at this price piont and as a musician thats alot of hours of creativitly gone if you choose to wait to cut your song. there will always be something better on the horizon but how far off. Anyhow my experience and that of other i know whom use the ZOOM HD16 with its design is if you use it properly it makes excellent sounding recording especially considering the price. I have also found that if you want to juice thing up a bit adding a Channel Strip infront of the ZOOM works nicelly as well. I have a Toft ATC2 and Joe Meek One Q. They are both usable flavours however sometimes I still prefer the ZOOM Mic PRe for somethings. There is also some Pre AMp Modeling in the HD16 that can give you some flavour if you can't afford an external Mic Pre. Anyhow if we all spend more time on the Music and less on the bits and bytes we'd end up with a better product in the end. Just My 2 Cents worth. Bootstrapped.