[PD] audio bit resolution in Pd

[Charles Z Henry]

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 6:02 AM, Jörn Nettingsmeier
<nettings at stackingdwarves.net> wrote:
> On 04/23/2015 05:52 PM, Alexandre Torres Porres wrote:
>>
>> What? 32Bit 384KHz dac? And for 50 bucks? what the $*#%@?
>>
>> 2015-04-23 12:43 GMT-03:00 Charles Z Henry <czhenry at gmail.com
>> <mailto:czhenry at gmail.com>>:
>>
>>     It's already started.... 32bit DACs are available from AKM and XMOS,
>>     for example.  Although I don't know what software/hardware platform
>>     you'd use to actually make use of this precision, you can build your
>>     own 32-bit sound playback interface with a few boards from HK:
>>
>> http://www.yuan-jing.com/dacs-decoder/32bit-192khz-usb-dac-decoder-ak4399-wm8805-pcm2706-opa627au-optical-coaxial
>>
>> http://www.yuan-jing.com/dacs-decoder/xmos-usb-audio-32bit-384khz-dac-decoder-board-pcm5102-tda1308-headphone-amp
>>
>
> Yeah, but 11 bits of noise sound so much more clear and precise than 3 bits
> of noise. Also, noise from DC to 192k sounds much more brilliant than noise
> from DC to only 24k.
>
> (To clarify, these noise bits are integer, not floating point. Floating
> point noise bits sound even more wonderful, but they require double
> precision.)

Now, there's still nothing I know of to let you record sound at
32-bit, 384kHz--so it's synthesis only (don't ask me how either).

So to be absolutely non-sarcastic to the audiophiles reading this: the
noise from this system will not sound any different whatsoever.  In
reality, this dac is merely capable of producing signals that are
below the noise floor of the playback system and will be entirely
unheard.

> Also, air has a theoretical dynamic upper bound of 194 dB(SPL floating
> point) above hearing threshold before we hit hard vacuum in the low-pressure
> zone (leaving little pesky non-linearities aside), so we totally need those
> 32 bits (vacuum transients without headroom tend to sound mushy and lack
> punch).
>
> Thanks to Yuan-Jing.com for finally enabling us to hear those in-engine
> recordings of the Saturn V launches like they were meant to be heard (at
> least for a split second, before dying of blunt trauma to the head).
>
> (And yeah, I totally believe those specs and all their babble is absolutely
> plausible. Pd needs to be more future proof.)

Same thing I tell people about tube amps.  Nothing sounds exactly like
a Saturn V rocket except a Saturn V rocket.  To get the same
experience over headphones, you'd better be rockin' a pair of actual
rockets.