Said in other words, by adding extra bits of noise, you gain pretty much nothing. You could create a 48-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit etc. converter, and while technically you have a 48/64/128-bit converter, in reality, all you do is just add extra bits of useless noise. Unless you use cryogenics and superconductive materials, the thermal noise will be the same. Hence, in your 128-bit converter, the lowest 106-108 bits will be noise, most of which will be entirely useless. For any bit depth, only the highest 20-22 bits are usable, below that, you go into the noise floor, and your signal soon gets lost in noise.
And no matter what bit depth converter you make, it won't produce a signal that couldn't be produced virtually identically by a 24-bit converter, since -127 dB noise floor means that using 24 bits, the lowest 3 bits are already noise, which also dithers the signal, extending the dynamic range to around 150-160 dB. By adding further, extra bits of noise, you basically gain nothing - the quality or SNR or dynamic range won't increase, and a dithered signal already has a (theoretically) infinite dynamic range (until the noise masks the signal). Hence, a 24 bit converter is practically enough, there's no further gain to go to higher bit depths (at least until such new materials are invented that would allow a SNR above 140 dB, which I don't expect to happen tomorrow). _______________________________________________ music-dsp mailing list music-dsp@music.columbia.edu https://lists.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/music-dsp
