On Wed, 12 Jul 2000, Ross Levis wrote: > I thought the number of bits refers to the number of variations in volume > from silence to maximum. 16-bit providing 65536 steps and 8-bit providing > only 256. I would think it would be difficult to hear the volume change on > an 8-bit tone when moving up 1 step, from say 128 to 129. It would be like > a TV having 256 volume positions. I've come across some annoying TV's with > only about 16 volume positions. Increase a notch and it's too loud and > decrease and it's too quiet. I don't notice much difference changing my > Winamp to 8-bit MP3 decode. > > So it begs the question; would reducing the audio bits provide more space to > increase sound quality on lower bitrates? No the bits are what represent the shape of the waveform from -max to +max. I.e. if you had 1bit output all you could make is a square-wave. -- MP3 ENCODER mailing list ( http://geek.rcc.se/mp3encoder/ )
