Gianni, you wrote:
> increasing the sample rate may extend the dynamic range in the sense
> that it reduces the quantization noise. This could be a real benefit
> if not masked by other background noises due to the analog front-end.
Yes, that would be true in theory. The effect would be relatively
small. Doubling the original sample rate of the A/D converter and
downsampling the soundfile afterwards would theoretically decrease the
quantization noise by 3dB (two samples of the original recording can
be averaged into a singe sample).
This downsampling or averaging process is actually already done inside
any 96kHz-capable sigma-delta converter when you select a sample rate
of 48 kHz.
Typical sigma-delta converters use a internal (input) sample rate of
3072 kHz, regardless of the selected output sample rate. For instance,
if you select a sample rate of 96 kHz, there would take place an
internal decimation by 32 (3072kHz / 32 =3D 96kHz). If you select 48
kHz, the input will be decimatated by factor 64 (3072 kHz / 64 =3D 48 kHz).
So, under these circumstances, doubling of the sample rate would just
be a waste of storage space...
Raimund
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