Confusing 24bit vs 16bit

FutureAudio

Some of the dvd's I have appear to have 24bit sound encoded with them.
( Those are not dvd audio disc, talking about dvd video here )

Now question is, is 16 bit 44.1 khz at 1411 kbps ( CDDA standard I guess ) is worse or better than 24bit 48khz at usually 448 kbits?

I'm sorry if my percieved information is incorrect or something. Just trying to get best possible sound to my ears.

Edit: I'm talking about critical listening @ stereo. Not counting surround sound here.

reeltrouble1

The 16 bit standard redbook cd contains right around 256,000 quantization levels that relate to the musical dynamic or how loud a particular passage, note etc might be. 24 bit has well over 2 million quantization rates. The players interpolaters then determine where a sound will fall between any given quantization level. So the more quantization levels, samples and better the machines interpolaters the closer you are going to come to hearing the original analog wave frequency the artist produced at the recording. Thats it in a very fast nutshell.

As a rule of thumb 24 bit (found on high resolution discs) should have better dynamics that 16 bit. The sampling rates are also higher on high res discs.

RT1

FutureAudio

so 24 bit at 4xx kbps is better than 16 bit at 1411 kbps?
It makes sense to rip from DVD video discs then? worth the trouble?
process = DVD -> AC3 -> 24 bit wav file + cutting files sometimes hehe.

mldennison

well i think that you are comparing compressed with uncompressed bitstreams here. the Redbook standard is totally uncomplressed 16bit, 44khz. the stuff coming off of your dvd is 24bit, 48khz. more information there therefore you should see higher bitrate but instead you are seeing a lower bitrate. that is due to the compression. not sure exactly what they are using but both dolby digital and dts are compressed formats (much like mp3 but better and multichannel).

as for which is better, i think you have to be the judge, alot of time goes into these compression technologies to get the best possible sound out of the bitrate available. i presonally prefer uncompressed but i would listen to them both and decide.

reeltrouble1

I was thinking more along the lines of CD when you said critical listening, now I see you were talking DVD which although I enjoy I am no expert at and dont use them for serious listening. My mistake.

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FutureAudio

Yep, you guys are right. I guess CD still beats those streams from DVD heh..even though DVD has 24 bit encoding.

reeltrouble1

I would try not to get to get to hung up on the "science" of what should or should not sound better. Thats is easy for me but not so for everyone. Just have fun and listen to what you like, let your ear be your guide, if you like it you do and thats the fun and all that matters in the end.

Their are bad recordings we all listen to just because the music is so good.

RT1