seanadams;577301 Wrote: > Digital cameras are a helpful analogy - more megapixels don't help much > once the CCD resolution exceeds the clarity of the optics. But unless > one or the other is overwhelmingly the limiting factor, we can talk > about how they interplay in different scenarios. > > When we say a DAC can resolve so many bits, that is the same as stating > its SNR, just in terms of bits instead of db. Dynamic range is a very > similar concept, defined by the smallest variance in level the DAC can > output that is detectable, compared to its max output level. They're > measured differently but the number is usually about the same since SNR > will be the limiting factor on a 24 bit DAC.
Thanks. What intrigued me is this- the significance of 24 bit recording may lie in the sensitivity - of that's the right word ie the minuteness of the increments in amplitude of each sample. As a thought experiment wouldn't it be possible to have a system which purported either 0db or 140 db - I am waiting to be shot down in flames but wouldn't that have a dynamic range of 140db but 1 bit resolution ? I have read that microphones are able to achieve an snr of way less than 100db. Isnt the point of having more bits is not ultimately to allow you to hear a greater range than that but to ensure that each sample has a wider range of possible amplitudes- 2 to the power of 16 being a bit restrictive? I hope I have not got my thinking muddled. I was thinking that the difference between the smallest increment which can be distinguished within the system would be its resolution and that this would not necessarily be affected by the snr. I have been struggling with this idea for years. Perhaps what it boils down to is that if the noise floor is at -96 db will the 17 bit resolution dac and the 20 bit resolution dac have the same number of possible amplitudes for each sample within the useable space above the noise floor. I am really grateful to have you share Sean because I have for ages been puzzled over this point. -- adamdea ------------------------------------------------------------------------ adamdea's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=37603 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82050 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
