On 04 Feb 2004 03:06:44 GMT, (LASERandDVDfan)
wrote:

Yes, but 16bit still sucks. that's why I use a 24bit unit.

Why is 24-bit better than 16-bit? - Reinhart

16bit audio was the best they could come up with in the late
70's.(Well... they did quickly come up with 24bit but Sony who was
spearheading the digital technology had too much invested in 16bit
encoding, also they'd paid big bucks for the development of the medium
that was to usher in the digital era- CD's.)
16bit just doesn't have enough sampling rate to encompass the mass of
data in complex musical scores. i.e. anything more complex than the
average 5 piece rock band.
Comb filters were used in the circuitry to "filter" out extraneous
artifacts i.e. noise.
Problem was when faced with more data than could be processed it used
the comb filter to restrict the flow of data to prevent overrun or
distortion.
Vital ambience's were lost. which is why CD's generally lack the depth
or robustness you get with analog setups.
While analog have alot of failings fidelity wise, analog system don't
filter anything out and you get everything.
I had a pro sound studio where we did alot of post production work for
film in the late 70's and early 80's.
I was anxious to go digital and got the then available digital studio
units available to test them out.
I tested the Soy PCM system first. I a/bed it against my exisiting
analog 24 track 3/4 inch units with attendant mixers and sound
processors.
It was indeed better in many respects. Dynamic range was very good,
Signal to noise was perfect. W&F was of course nonexsistent.
But when we listened with our ears we noticed that the bass was
thready and we lost almost all ambients during busy passages.
For example when we separated the wind sections from the percussion we
noticed that the subtle nuances in the flutes were totally gone and
the "air" in the studio was absent.
Also when compared to the analog recording imaging was just not as
good.
When we grilled Sony tech rep he admitted that these were things that
they had yet to achieve with the initial models but that they would be
working on it in later models.
I tested a 24bit recorder from an american company called soundstream.
It was a simple looking 3/4 inch reel unit but it was much better.
My sound techs tested it out and liked the results sothat was the unit
we went with.
And listening to it I had to admit it did a far superior job to the
more costly Sony unit.
We kept the soundstream unit right up to the time I retired out and
sold the studio.
I suppose compared to today's technology it might seem dated but it
did a bang up job for 20 some odd years ago.