jonte0 wrote:
> Would it be possible to add a dithered volume control in the client SW?
>
> //
A possibly relevant question is: "Is adding dither to this volume
control something that will actually improve sound quality?"
The answer may be: "No".
The leading reason is:
The volume control is somehow already dithered, you just can't see how.
You can try to evaluate this by means of just listening, but doing so
reliably takes a trained ear, and not that many people actually have
them.
The best way to train your ears to hear the bad effects of a volume
control that is not properly dithered is with a known example of that
failure.
The worst way to train your ears is to read articles on the web by other
audiophiles, which is very often a classic case of the blind leading the
blind.
Another way to detect an improperly dithered volume control is by means
of technical tests. But doing them and properly interpreting the results
is non trivial.
The most common way that a volume control is dithered implicitly is by
means of the low level noise that is present in just about all analog
sources. Since any live recording starts out in the analog domain, this
includes *everything* but carefully and purely digitally synthesized
music. IOW not does all music that is recorded with microphones have
enough low level noise to self-dither if played at regular volumes, so
does even some synthesized music because most musicians are not all that
careful about keeping their digitally synthesized music 100% in the
digital domain.
If a volume control is not properly dithered, it may actually fade the
music into audible distortion on a slow manual fade out by means of that
particular volume control. However, while that is an audible
imperfection and would be nice to eliminate, it actually bears very
little on normal listening. Note: other fade outs that are parts of
recordings may still be clean.
Hope this helps.
arnyk's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=64365
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=104629
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
