bigfool1956;282949 Wrote: > It's a semantic point I suppose, as yes, there are 65536 steps between > full amplitude negative, and full amplitude positive. However I think > it is important to be clear that there are not this many steps from > zero amplitude to full amplitude. In fact, there really are 65536 steps from zero to full amplitude because of asymmetry. It is unlikely the positive and negative portions of a real-world waveform "step" to precisely the complementary, next value on the same cycle of the waveform. And real-world waveforms often have a DC offset, which complicates the equation even further.
The top few steps are quite unimportant; who cares about whether a recording has that last 0.01 dB of level? The bottom steps can be more important, provided they are not obscured by the source noise and distortion of the program material. But, I just want to be clear that a 16-bit recording can indeed have 16-bits of resolution, not 15-bits (1 bit reserved for the sign). Yes, the sign bit is there, but it is part of the 16-bit resolution, too, mainly because of minute waveform asymmetry. -- Timothy Stockman ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Timothy Stockman's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=8867 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45107 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
