Jose Hidalgo
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Hi guys, I've been wondering this for a while now, but I've never found a clear answer.
It's one thing to set Windows bitrate to the maximum possible : in my case 32-bit since my DACs are 32-bit, so it allows for playing 16-bit or 24-bit music, with even some headroom for digital volume control. Great !
But sadly, sample rate is another story. So for all of us who have audio files @44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 / 176.4 / 192 KHz and so on, we have to juggle with Windows sound panel and adjust it on the fly before playing a given file (which quickly becomes unmanageable), OR just set it to a fixed sample rate and leave it.
So my first question would be : how come that in 2021 nobody has yet found a way to dynamically adjust Windows sample rate to the played audio ? Basically it's telling Windows "don't touch the signal : if it's 16-bit treate it as 16-bit, and if it's 32-bit treate it as 32-bit". Why is that so difficult ?
My second question would be : since it seems that we can't do that (adjusting sample rates dynamically), what would be the "arguably best" sample rate in a SCIENTIFIC, measurable way ? (I don't care about listening impressions, only measurements count). Should we even care about it ?
Me, for example, 98% of my files are 16-bit/44.1 KHz (like most of you I guess). So I guess I should just set everything to 32bit/44.1 KHz and be done with it, right ? But then what's the point in even having higher sample rate files ?...
I hope your answers will finally ease my mind. Thanks in advance !
PS : the questions are both valid for Win 7 and Win 10, since I have both.
It's one thing to set Windows bitrate to the maximum possible : in my case 32-bit since my DACs are 32-bit, so it allows for playing 16-bit or 24-bit music, with even some headroom for digital volume control. Great !
But sadly, sample rate is another story. So for all of us who have audio files @44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 / 176.4 / 192 KHz and so on, we have to juggle with Windows sound panel and adjust it on the fly before playing a given file (which quickly becomes unmanageable), OR just set it to a fixed sample rate and leave it.
So my first question would be : how come that in 2021 nobody has yet found a way to dynamically adjust Windows sample rate to the played audio ? Basically it's telling Windows "don't touch the signal : if it's 16-bit treate it as 16-bit, and if it's 32-bit treate it as 32-bit". Why is that so difficult ?
My second question would be : since it seems that we can't do that (adjusting sample rates dynamically), what would be the "arguably best" sample rate in a SCIENTIFIC, measurable way ? (I don't care about listening impressions, only measurements count). Should we even care about it ?
Me, for example, 98% of my files are 16-bit/44.1 KHz (like most of you I guess). So I guess I should just set everything to 32bit/44.1 KHz and be done with it, right ? But then what's the point in even having higher sample rate files ?...
I hope your answers will finally ease my mind. Thanks in advance !
PS : the questions are both valid for Win 7 and Win 10, since I have both.