[LAU] Dithering...should we dither about it?

[Philipp Überbacher]

On Sun, 2 Mar 2014 03:38:07 +0000
Harry van Haaren <harryhaaren at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 2:43 AM, david <gnome at hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
> > On 03/01/2014 08:51 AM, Harry van Haaren wrote:
> >> I generally export to 32bit float .flac... so no dithering (or
> >> burning to CD's :)
> > Hmm, I thought FLAC only did 24-bit???
> I think the FLAC spec says it will handle anything from 4-32
> bit-depth: https://xiph.org/flac/faq.html#general__samples
> That said, Audacity only has FLAC export options of 16 & 24 bit
> depths. Ardour supports 8, 16 and 24. Still no 32 bit float support
> (at application level).
> 
> I should correct my previous statement though: I *thought* I exported
> 32bit float: but it turns out they're 24bits (from Ardour3),
> dithering set to None. And cropping the resulting output in Audacity
> and exporting was to 16-bit PCM, so I was actually doing this all
> wrong (no dithering, 32 -> 24 -> 16).
> 
> A better workflow would be to:
> A) Ardour export 32 bit float -> 16bit (with dither) -> Audacity
> 16bit in, crop, 16bit out
> B) Ardour export 32 bit -> 24 bit (no dither) -> Audacity 24bit in,
> crop, export 16bit (with dither).
> 
> The important part being to not dither twice, since then you'll be
> adding noise to the signal twice!
> 
> I'll be using option A above from now on I think, since it involves
> less bit-depth changes.
> Living and learning :) -Harry

One of FLACs competitors does 32bit float since many years: wavpack.
I'm not quite sure why it is much less popular than FLAC.

Regards,
Philipp


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