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Originally Posted by wado1942  That's some great info DL. I do have to take issue with something though.
The noise floor has little to do with usable dynamic range. A guitar running through an amp usually has a 40-50dB S/N ratio but you better believe it sounds way better going to a 16-bit recording than an 8-bit recording, which according to your specs is all you would need in that case.
It's also been proven already that most people can't even hear above 15KHz, much less 20KHz. But research that's spanned decades, both official and accidental, shows that people are aware of when there's a super-sonic issue. t it? |
First, the discussion was about dynamic range and sample rate so I responded about dynamic range. I did not talk about distortions, but that does not mean that distortions do not count or that more bits are not better (to a point). That is a whole other topic, and there is a lot to be said about it, as well as about other topics.
You said: "The noise floor has little to do with usable dynamic range". Sorry, but that does not make sense. I think you are using the term "usable dynamic range" as a mixture of noise and distortion (you pointed out that an 8 bit did not sound good and it was not just the about dynamic range). Fell free to clarify, if you wish.
BTW, a guitar has only 40dB-50 dynamic range? That doe not registers. You play a loud note all the way to the peak, then you stop playing, the room is quite and you will have much more then 40-50dB.
When you state that "it has been proven that people hear supersonics" you should provide some reference or some links. To my knowledge there was one study by Pioneer, around the mid 1990's that suggested that folks can react to up to 27KHz or so. That is when I decided to go for 88.2-96KHz, which is more then enough to cover that range. There where two later experiments trying to get the same results, and in both cases the experiment failed to show sensitivity to 27KHz.
Also, what I said about mics and speakers is true in most setups. They limit the audio to around 20KHz, and that is because the ear does not need higher. There are a few recorded cases of folks hearing in the low 20KHz range such as 22-23KHz. I assume you know that the lowest bandwidth device in the audio chain determines the bandwidth. Say your mic is 20KHz but your speaker is 30KHz, then you end up with the lower frequency - 20KHz.
Regards
Dan Lavry