Bits, Khz, and computer audio

User Name

Some questions :rolleyes: :
Can somebody please explain why it matters if you have an audio card capable of 192 khz vs. 96 khz - is the difference in sound quality audible? (Realize that the audio is eventually fed through analog outs.) Does it matter what program you use to playback audio on your computer - does that have any effect whatsoever? (FYI, I'm using Mac OS X.) Finally - are there computer programs that actually do good dsp stuff - or are those to be avoided?

Oh wait - I'm not done - does it really matter if your audio is encoded at a bit rate of 1000-1500 vs. 320?

pixiedave

cd audio 44100
DAT tape 48000
basic mp3 128
apple download 128 aac

unless you incode a analogue source at the high 24 bit rates, than no matter what your hearing, wether it be a cd or lossy file, it plays at its native bitrate. I use mac osX also, I use iTunes to encode my cd's. I rip them to wav form so as not to loose any highs and lows by compressing to a lossy format. If you have less hard drive space, you can rip to apple lossless format. This does not remove information during the encoding process and saves aboy 35 percent size as compared to the wav file. As i have the powerbook, i have only analogue out. My windows box has a soundcard with digital ins and outs.

User Name

I know that - I just need to know whether you can really hear a difference when watching 24 bit 192 khz DVD's or if it's nearly impossible to tell. Same goes with iTunes and lossy - I'm asking about real-world performance.

Here's the deal - I'm trying to maximize sound quality with my soon to be NHT SB3, NAD C320BEE, and PowerMac G4 setup. I currently have 1113 mp3's and aac's encoded at an average bit rate of 192, 1439 aac's encoded with Apple's lossless encoder, and 158 aac's encoded somewhere in between. I have these all organized in iTunes. However, I can replace many of the low bit-rate mp3's - it'll just take a while to do - it involves reimporting cd's and downloading 320 bit-rate aac files from allofmp3.com, which I recommend. I'm just trying to figure out if its worth it.

User Name

As far as the 96 khz vs. 192 khz thing - that'll help me decide if a new soundcard is eventually needed.

Steve@3dai

Originally posted by User Name
As far as the 96 khz vs. 192 khz thing - that'll help me decide if a new soundcard is eventually needed.

Well, no, it won't really make a difference for the source that you have. Even if you are playing back straight wav files, they are still either 44.1 or 48kHz/16bit and upsampling them to 96k or 192k won't give you anything except a lower noise floor.

DVD (like movies) aren't 24bit/192kHz, they are usually about 20bit/48kHz (depends).

DVD-Audio is 24bit/96/192kHz