On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 9:19 AM, Clemens Ladisch <cladisch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Thor Kristoffersen wrote: >> I never understood the need for bit-exactness anyway. With 24 bits of >> resolution it seems like a requirement based more on neurosis than >> reality. > > Real-world DACs never have more than about 20 bits of actual resolution, > so there is sufficient headroom for doing calculations on the samples, > and even 16 bits is enough for human ears when the range is fully used. > > However, there are situations where a volume control on the digital > output might lead to problems. Imagine a user who wants to control the > volume on his computer, so he sets the receiver's volume to eleven, to > be sure that even very silent audio files can be played properly. This > means that 'normal' over-compressed audio files must be played with a > volume setting of, say, -35 dB on the computer, so, if the receiver's > DAC has a SNR of about 100 dB, the resulting effective SNR is only > 65 dB. And then he complains because his digital system sounds so bad. Well, I don't buy the premises of this example, because if that user was in the habit of playing over-compressed audio files, he shouldn't set the volume control to eleven in the first place. Theory aside, I'm doing the volume control digitally today with the Titanium card, and it sounds brilliant to me, but then again I'm not an audiophile. My point is that when you buy a sound card for around EUR150, it's pretty much a consumer grade card, and most consumers I know get their source material from MP3, AAC, OGG, etc. So are these people likely to want bit-exactness and having to control the volume by turning the volume control on the amplifier? I don't think so. I'm glad that Creative has gotten this point, and I hope that others follow suit. After all, the audiophiles that need bit-exactness can just set the volume control to 100%. Thor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beautiful is writing same markup. Internet Explorer 9 supports standards for HTML5, CSS3, SVG 1.1, ECMAScript5, and DOM L2 & L3. Spend less time writing and rewriting code and more time creating great experiences on the web. Be a part of the beta today. http://p.sf.net/sfu/beautyoftheweb _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
