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1. Re: 24 bit vs. 16 bit

Subject: 1. Re: 24 bit vs. 16 bit
From: "userno232000" userno232000
Date: Fri May 18, 2007 11:33 am ((PDT))
--- In  Curt Olson <> wrote:
>
> Raimund,
>
> Thank you for all your work on noise measurements! I have a
followup
> question for you and entire wider brain trust here...
>
> On your page
>
> http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm
>
> You state: " Note that a bit-depth of 24 bit would not improve the
> noise level figures at these high gain settings."
>
> And on your page
>
> http://www.avisoft.com/tutorial_mic_recorder.htm
>
> You similarly state: "Besides the fact that there is no reason to
worry
> about the Marantz PMD671 preamplifier noise, it turns out that the
> optionally available 24 bit recording format cannot provide any
> significant improvement of the noise performance."
>
> If, as you seem to indicate, there isn't much to loose with 16 bit,
and
> definitely something to gain (less consumption of blank media and
> battery power, plus faster transfer times afterward), what
compelling
> reasons do we have to prefer 24 bit for capturing our original
field
> recordings?
>
> Still conflicted after all these years,
>
> Curt Olson
>

Another question while you're at it. You show a fixed 48dB mic
preamp, certainly there is a preamp gain adjust, isn't there? As
shown a "hot" mic would overload the preamp at some very low level(a
few mV). At field recording levels you might always turn it up
to "11", but other users might not. With the right external preamp
going into the line input you should be able to take advantage of the
92dB number, this is not clear.





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