[linux-audio-user] Re: Sample Rates / Sample Sizes

[Mark Knecht]

Jan Depner wrote:
> Hi Mark.  There's another good question.  I've read a bunch of stuff on
> dithering but I haven't noticed the difference.  Which do you use,
> shaped or triangular?
> 
> Jan
> 

I use whatever Waves provides as a default. Not sure, but I think it's 
POWER dither. The best way (I think) to study dither is listening to 
(generally) the very end of recordings, whene the signal to noise is 
getting low since the signal is generally decreasing.

You could also take a mix of yours, something that you know the sound 
of, and do a mix with the levels set very, very low, and try different 
dithers. Dither is intended to help increase the 'apparent' SNR. It 
doesn't really increase the real SNR, but your ear can generally pick 
out audio that's a bit below the SNR level (I still find that 
interesting!) and the choice of dither will improve how far down you can 
hear. Investigate how it effects panning too.

I have never heard the choice of dither make any 'noticible' difference 
in my recordings at normal high volume levels, but I suspect that good 
dither doesn't hurt normal volumes as much as bad dither might. That's 
just a guess though.

cheers,
Mark