This is somewhat believable in that I've always felt 20bit was plenty and could not hear any improvement beyond 20bits. But there is no 18bit sources to listen to, to see where that threshold actually is.

I also agree that all 16bits are critical and with all the processing that goes on (especially in Meridian Setups and Hybrid Digital Volume) those few extra bits of headroom is critical so as not to drop below 16bits anywhere throughout the system.

By going through an single A/D/A he can maintain perfect dynamic range so that nothing is lost. But in practice 16bits is tight. For example using analog outs of a HD player and then going through a different brand A to D (in different box) may not have perfectly match voltages and so you lose a little range. It's nearly impossible to set the sensitivity to 100% without clipping on all material, so you always back off some; well there goes a bit or two for that safety margin.

EDIT: This ALL depends on how good that first A/D stage is. It would be cool to do this test purely in the digital world. Hmmm, if we set our 24/96 DSP speakers to non 24/96 it would be very nearly the same test. Except I think Meridian would downsample to 18/48 not 16/44.

Last edited by George Mills; 2008-01-21 21:49.
- Fiddler (IMHO)

If you think listening to music is fun, try learning an instrument.
HT: G61RSL, 4x5K, 5.5KHC, 2xSC6000, Transporter, HD621, Philips BDP7501 4K, Tivo, 65" LG OLED 4K C6
Computer: Foobar2000, 5K, Mojo, HiFiMan HE1000 V2