It wouldn't have worked properly. But If whatever material Gary was using to test with isn't within 6dB of 0dBFS he wouldn't have had the digital clipping and he might have missed the channel inversion.

This is why I test specifically with a channel identification track that also gets very close to 0dBFS. (First track of Stereophile Test CD 2) Gary should add a similar track to his testing.

Boring tech details....

All digital audio is carried within 32 bit frames. All the data format does is tell you which of the 24 bits within the 32 are used for the digital audio, the other 8 are preamble/information bits.

24 bit Left Justified means the most significant bit (MSB... or loudest bit is at the very start of the 32 bits of data.)

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD........

The MSB is the left most data bit above.

24 bit I2S the audio MSB is indented one bit in from Left Justified format.
.DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.......

When you actually watch these bits on live audio they look just like VU meters that move right to left with level. The louder the material the more bits are active to the left. If the board is set to I2S format and you are feeding it 24bit Left Justified if the music doesn't use the MSB (-6dB from full scale) you don't clip so you won't hear the distortion. You do however still get the channel inversion because the L/R clock being high is 'Left' on one format and it being high is 'Right' for the other format.

End Boring Tech details.

Shawn

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