Re:We need physical audio kill switches
by pkolaczk on Monday September 21, 2020 @09:30AM
(#24543140)
I've heard studio noise floor is typically about 15-20 dB(A), and typical quiet living room is usually more than 30 dB(A). In my previous appartement in the city I measured something in range of 45-50 dB, which was actually pretty high and surprising to me - and funny, I didn't hear that noise live until recording and hearing back.
Dithering gives about 120 dB of useful dynamic range, so I can't imagine a case where someone wanted more. You can't go much lower than the noise floor of the environment and you don't want to go too far above 100 dB, because this already isn't pleasant (nor good for your ears; 85 dB is considered the upper safe SPL limit for longer exposure). I'd risk stating that even without dithering, the default 96 bit depth is good enough in typical listening conditions.
Re:We need physical audio kill switches
by garaetjjte on Monday September 21, 2020 @08:19AM
(#24542431)
Shaped dither can increase dynamic range, and anyway 120dB range is rather unnecessary for music.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200310174634/https://people.xi...
You draw the line at the limits of human hearing, which turn out to be about 20 bits from softest audible sounds to "hearing damage inside a minute"and a sample rate of around 48 ksa/s.
CDs weren't quite there. Modern stuff recorded with 24 bit depth and high bit rates is effectively lossless.
One of the goods things about the limitations of the CD format is that we learned a lot about masking noise via dithering (deliberately introducing more noise) and noise shaping.