According to CNN, Apple and other digital download services are in talks with record labels to up music files from 16-bit to pristine, high-fidelity 24-bit. But while Macs can handle 24-bit music already, iPods and iPhones would need to be retooled to accommodate the sweet sounds. Soon please! [CNN]
Tai
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 10:04 AMI have read that there is no difference in 16 bit to 24bit recordings as far as the ear can tell. The only thing that changes is the dynamic range and 16 bit can already go from a quiet whisper to ear damage loud SPL’s…. Sooo if you want more ear damage, go for it! :P
Seriously though, i’m all for quality… How about just making all downloads FLAC…
mark
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 10:58 AM+1 for FLAC
kris
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 5:03 PM@Tai: You’re half right.. think of the sample rate as the accuracy of the sound and think of the bit depth as the scale of the sound.
By increasing the bit depth from 16 to 24, more volume depth can be utilized separating the sounds.
The bit depth is a difference between the loudest and the softest sound. This lets you hear softer sounds next to louder sounds.
It also means that, on an average sound system, you’ll probably hear less noise within the silent parts of music, though this can be fixed (I believe) with a really good SNR in both the recording and the sound system.
If, however, you don’t have a sound system that can take advantage of it (both technically and of quality) then you’ll never hear the difference of either an increase in sample rate or bit depth.
The majority of the population I meet aren’t really interested in the sound quality and just like singing along to music, however, for the audiophiles among us, it makes a big difference, especially if you plan to play it on a big system and turn it up.