Hi everyone,
I have a question regarding bit depth reduc-tion, quantization errors, and dithering in a typical audio signal path.
As I understand it, dithering should ideally be applied only once-typically during the final export from a DAW, when converting from 64/32-bit floating point to 24/16-bit fixed point.
However, here's my concern:
If I play the exported file in a player like Roon or Audirvana, the signal is often upscaled to
64-bit floating point for internal processing.
When it reaches my audio interface, it is then reduced to 24-bit fixed point. If the signal is processed by a DSP monitor, it could be converted back to 32/40-bit floating point, only to be reduced again to 24-bit fixed point before reaching the DAC.
My questions:
Am I misunderstanding something fundamen-tal, or is this a potential issue in high-end audio signal chains?
Thanks for any insights!
I have a question regarding bit depth reduc-tion, quantization errors, and dithering in a typical audio signal path.
As I understand it, dithering should ideally be applied only once-typically during the final export from a DAW, when converting from 64/32-bit floating point to 24/16-bit fixed point.
However, here's my concern:
If I play the exported file in a player like Roon or Audirvana, the signal is often upscaled to
64-bit floating point for internal processing.
When it reaches my audio interface, it is then reduced to 24-bit fixed point. If the signal is processed by a DSP monitor, it could be converted back to 32/40-bit floating point, only to be reduced again to 24-bit fixed point before reaching the DAC.
My questions:
- Is this constant bit depth switching problematic in any way?
- Does dithering automatically occur every time the bit depth is reduced, even if it's not explicitly shown in the signal path?
- If yes, wouldn't that introduce unnecessary noise or even audible artifacts?
- If no, does that mean quantization errors can accumulate over multiple bit depth reductions?
Am I misunderstanding something fundamen-tal, or is this a potential issue in high-end audio signal chains?
Thanks for any insights!