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Topic: Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav (Read 5388 times) previous topic - next topic
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Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav

I run a netlabel and often get mp3 submissions that need to be remastered (fyi these are only accepted when it is not possible to get a lossless source, such as when project files are lost). i would like to be able to discern which mp3s are 16bit and which are 24bit so i can render to the proper bit depth after mastering. to be clear i WANT to render 24bit mp3s to 24bit wav and 16bit mp3s to 16bit wav, whether or not the difference is audible.

Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav

Reply #2 –
Quote from: CoyoteSmith on
I run a netlabel and often get mp3 submissions that need to be remastered (fyi these are only accepted when it is not possible to get a lossless source, such as when project files are lost). i would like to be able to discern which mp3s are 16bit and which are 24bit so i can render to the proper bit depth after mastering. to be clear i WANT to render 24bit mp3s to 24bit wav and 16bit mp3s to 16bit wav, whether or not the difference is audible.


MP3 doesn't really have a bit depth, so it doesn't really matter.  I'd probably just use 16 or 24 bit for everything.

Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav

Reply #3 –
the person doing the mastering has told me that he converts everything into 24bit, then applies effects to make the 24bit worthwhile even if the source is 16bit.

Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav

Reply #4 –
Editing at 24-bit is worthwhile because doing so in 16-bit *might* introduce noise that would otherwise be inaudible.

Whether 24-bit as a delivery format is truly worthwhile is up for debate.  Any claims that 24-bit delivers an audible improvement over 16-bit should be backed with objective evidence in the way double-blind testing if they are to be taken seriously.  Any claims on this forum must be backed with objective evidence in the way double-blind testing in order to conform with our Terms of Service (specifically #8).

Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav

Reply #5 –
lol yea thats what i love about this forum, no pretentious BS without evidence. since we have server space we release in 24bit 16bit mp3@320kbps and mp3v0. i guess when you have space theres no point in trying to contest whether the slight downgrade in quality is audible.

thanks for the input everyone

Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav

Reply #6 –
Getting back to your original question, unless there is some kind of test signal you're going to be hard-pressed to determine if the mp3 was sourced from 24-bit PCM.  Perhaps you might be able to look at a fade out or something of that nature.
 

Need help discerning between 16bit and 24bit wav

Reply #7 –
Quote from: CoyoteSmith on
lol yea thats what i love about this forum, no pretentious BS without evidence. since we have server space we release in 24bit 16bit mp3@320kbps and mp3v0. i guess when you have space theres no point in trying to contest whether the slight downgrade in quality is audible.


If you're just converting everything back to MP3, the choice of wav bit depth really makes no difference at all.  The MP3 encoder will produce essentially the same output either way.  Just use whatever you want and be done with it.