From: Aaron Ximm <>
> Hi-MD at highest quality will still be only 44.1KHz/16 bit PCM. I would
> love to see a device made that uses its "data space" as a simple storage
> area for recordings at other resolutions, but I kind of doubt it'll every
> appear.
>
>>From what Walt has said, the ATRAC spec for *ATRAC compressed* recordings
> actually has a wider effective range, which I believe he has said is akin
> to 24 bit depth.
>
> Whether or not that effective depth is actually audible if you use 44/20
> or 44/24 bit digital transport of the files recorded, I don't know. I
> should give it a try though, my Sony JB920 has a setting for "output bit
> depth" which I always assumed was simply to allow it to match up with
> other fixed-word-length devices...
We are talking primarily about changes in dynamic range. And as I've
stated we virtually never challenge the full dynamic range of even 16bit.
On the difference between what ATRAC is doing and CD:
In the CD spec you get 16bits, no fudging or modifying. Every sample the
same bit depth no matter if needed or not. This is pretty old style
thinking.
When Sony set up the ATRAC spec they started from the CD spec, but added
a few improvements people had thought of since the CD spec had been
frozen. One was to allow a offset on the bit depth in the recording.
This allows the 16bit system in ATRAC to shift to cover a wider range.
Current MD's are using a ATRAC that uses this shift to cover the
equivalent of 24bit.
Since MD then outputs 16bit digital I'm not sure just how much
difference you can hear. Dynamic range specs show that there is a slight
improvement. Primarily what it does is preserve more detail in what's
recorded on disk. I suppose full advantage of that would take a MD that
was outputting 24 bit digital. Note that some reviewers have pointed out
in the past how this is one way MD is better than CD. Certainly a better
use of available storage space.
It is not as simple as that might sound, because ATRAC also allows
variable bit depth, something those who use mp3 should be familiar with.
Bottom line is that ATRAC is not a fixed bit depth process the way CD
is. Bit depth varies, it allots just what's needed, wasting a lot less
space.
I do expect that Hi-MD's ATRAC will preserve these things. And thus be
equivalent to current MD in this aspect. Note as far as I know, it is
correct it will "output" 44.1khz 16bit fixed CD spec digital. Same as
current MD.
Walt
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>From Tue Mar 8 18:27:15 2005
Message: 9
Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 15:51:33 -0400
From: Lang Elliott <>
Subject: Re: Sample Rate Conversion
Thanks Julie, but I don't see an option for sample rate conversion in
Audacity. Where is it?
Lang
Hi All,
I've not done a huge amount of resampling and editing with this
application but it's OpenSource, free-of-charge, multi-platform and
stable (so far - I use a Mac and a PC)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
For those on a tight or no budget, it may be of use.
Julie
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> Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 08:41:46 -0400
> From: Lang Elliott <>
>Subject: Re: Sample Rate Conversion
>To all you Mac-heads:
>To my horror, I've just discovered that PEAK sound editing software
does LOUSY sample rate conversion of insect recordings from 48 khz to
44.1 khz, even when using the highest quality setting. I can hear a big
difference. In contrast, ProTools does a much cleaner job and even
Quicktime conversions sound better than PEAK.
>Can anyone recommend good software for doing conversions on a Mac,
especially software that is capable of doing batch conversions of many
files? ProTools does a great job, but is quite inconvenient when large
numbers of files need converting.
>Lang
>>>
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"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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>From Tue Mar 8 18:27:14 2005
Message: 19
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 07:49:11 +0100
From: "julie freeman" <>
Subject: Re: Sample Rate Conversion
Hi Lang
if you click on the box, next to the 'x' on the window displaying your
sound sample there is a drop down menu that has a Set Rate option. I
think that's what you are after?
Julie
<)))><
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