cliveb;543993 Wrote: > You appear to be making the classic mistake of assuming you need as much > dynamic range when listening at low levels as you do when listening at > high levels. You don't. > > If you need 100dB of dynamic range when listening at a peak level of > 100dB SPL, then you only need 90dB dynamic range when listening at a > peak level of 90dB SPL. When you attenuate by 10dB to reduce the > listening level that much, you can afford to lose 10dB of dynamic > range. That's why it doesn't matter whether you do the attenuation by > digital or analogue means.
But you're making the classic mistake that music uses the full (or a fixed) dynamic range all the time (Marching Bands and Brahms at the same time). I don't care about that situation. I may have a "Full Scale" tune blasting away at 90dB and it may change to using ANY number of bits at ANY time. That's why I posted that Audacity screen shot a dozen posts back. It swings from steady 6dB down to a steady 30dB down. That tune shows it very visibly. But all tunes do that at a higher frequency than that example shows. Stop looking at it, as one sample at time. Sure, the really LOUD samples will still have plenty of SNR. But the quiet ones will get harmed more. Now how fast ones ear responds to those changes in levels (how fast is humans Automatic Gain Control) is up for debate. But the example I gave shows it can be pretty darn slow and be needed. So yeah if you have a tune that is bashing you at full scale all the time, you won't notice a couple bits lost. One smash of a symbol will start full scale and decay in amplitude. As it decays the performance of those lower bits get more important. -- mswlogo XP > Cat5 > Transporter/DuetController > SPDIF > Meridian G68 > DSP6000, DSP5500HC, DSP5000 XP > Cat5 > SB3 > SPDIF > Meridian DSP5000 XP > Cat5 > DuetReceiver > SPDIF > Meridian G91 > DSP5000 'My Transporter Setup' (http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpost.php?p=350741&postcount=45) 'Hitch Hikers Guide to Meridian' (http://www.meridianunplugged.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ mswlogo's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9090 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=77725 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
