Carey Carlan wrote in message .205...
"Tommi" wrote in
:

So, if you're recording, say, someone's vocals at both 16 and 24 bits,
and the peaks are at -6dB to 0dB FS, does the 24 bit recording
represent more accurately the signal in that region than the 16-bit
version?

The extra 8 bits give you 48 db more dynamic range between EVERY sample.
Between sample value = 0 and sample value = 1 they give you an extra 48 db
on the bottom end.

On the loud end, 16 bit max value is 32767 (0x7FFF), second value is 32766
(0x7FFE). That equates to 24 bit values 8388352 (0x7FFF00) and 8388096
(0x7FFE00), a difference of 256 values, the equivalent of 48 dB dynamic
range.

I don't think so.

The decibel is used to measure differences between two levels, thus,
following the definition U (in decibels) = 20 * log (U_1 / U_0) for
Voltages, the relative difference is 0.0006 decibels.

So, the 8 bits give you 48 dB more difference between signal and
noise, which is a measure for the accuracy, at any level.

Which, incidentally, makes 24 bits with 144 dB dynamic range
sufficient to accurately reproduce any noise between 0 dB sound
pressure level, namely the hearing threshold level, and the sound of a
starting jet, which is said to be about 140 dB spl. Assuming of course
that the hearing threshold level is also the hearing threshold of
detecting differences in amplitude between two tones at other levels.

Hendrik