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Confusion

Pepperjack

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Hi all. So I am co fixed about dacs. I currently have a Denon x3300w (if there is a cost effective way of getting all the Dolby/hdr features, 5.2.2 without the avr I would love to learn more about that also) and every time I try to get 24bit I always end up with 16. I sell stuff online and have multiple gaming etc laptops and desktops, some returns, I could work with, but from that o see windows will pretty much never be able to process 24bit? But, then I keep seeing Amir mention desktop dacs and I am just totally lost now...
 

M00ndancer

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The ONLY use for 24 bit in my opinion is in the mastering stage of the recording. When you use 24-bit in a listening situation it's just a waste of bandwidth. But that's my opinion. 16bit and 44.1/48KHz is plenty enough for everything when listening. (I use 24bit 44/48 in my DAW and dither the result to 16bit for playback).
But I'm just a grumpy old guy that can't see the point of using stuff that eat bandwidth with no benefits.
 

Pluto

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every time I try to get 24bit I always end up with 16
A lot of stuff related to TV/HDMI is restricted to 16bit because of daft DRM / licensing requirements. You may well find that the reason you cannot get 24bit is because you are not being allowed to.

But don't loose any sleep over it. 16 bit is more than adequate for homo sapiens.
 

digitalfrost

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Hi all. So I am co fixed about dacs. I currently have a Denon x3300w (if there is a cost effective way of getting all the Dolby/hdr features, 5.2.2 without the avr I would love to learn more about that also) and every time I try to get 24bit I always end up with 16. I sell stuff online and have multiple gaming etc laptops and desktops, some returns, I could work with, but from that o see windows will pretty much never be able to process 24bit? But, then I keep seeing Amir mention desktop dacs and I am just totally lost now...
Whether or not Windows can output 24bit depends on the soundcard/DAC and ofc if the source material is 24bit. You could set output to 24bit regardless, worst case the additional least significant bits will be 0. Pretty much every modern soundcard should be able to do 24bit.

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Pepperjack

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Thanks for the replies. It may be true it makes no difference but would be great to at least hear it for myself and confirm. As to the role of windows, just the normal turn on the computer and use apps by tidal or amazon. That’s the extent of my knowledge. I kept getting limited to 16/48 and started reading that windows is the limiting factor, but I may have misunderstood.
 

Jimbob54

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Thanks for the replies. It may be true it makes no difference but would be great to at least hear it for myself and confirm. As to the role of windows, just the normal turn on the computer and use apps by tidal or amazon. That’s the extent of my knowledge. I kept getting limited to 16/48 and started reading that windows is the limiting factor, but I may have misunderstood.

You have misunderstood.

Not many possibilities here.

1. You haven't encountered any 24bit content
2. You havent got Windows set up right. See post 6. But if using exclusive mode in Tidal (note, Tidal desktop app, not in a browser window), shouldn't matter . If you have Tidal set up as exclusive mode and not set it to passthru MQA (ie its set to decode on PC) then when you find an MQA/ MAsters track it will likely be 24bit.
3. Your Denon either cant handle 24/48 or higher or cant handle it through the input selected (hard to believe) OR you havent set it up correctly.

Sadly only you can figure out which of these it is.
 
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