Oh No Not 24/96 again


My CDP has a 24/96 chip but only "reads" redbook 16/44. I just bought a couple of Philips "50 Greatest" CD's that were 're-mastered' in 24/96, but they're not SACD. What does it all mean and why should I care?
kitch29

Showing 1 response by redkiwi

It means something - but I reckon you are better off not caring. The 24/96 chip is a recent chip and so supposedly better than previous ones, but not necessarily because it is 24/96. In fact it is more difficult to make a 24 bit chip linear than it is for a 16 bit chip. But the players with the new chips sound pretty good to me. Just progress I guess.

Re-mastered in 24/96 means something good too. If you master at 16/44.1 you have to be careful about how much "mixing" you do as you end up losing resolution through successive quantization error. Using 24 bit means you can play around more and still retain 16bit resolution.

So all it means to you is you are maybe getting closer to the full capability of the redbook standard. But I reckon you have to be careful not to fall for the marketing BS, because there are many other ways to skin the cat - witness the minimalist Zen approach of Sakura Systems.