Re: Adobe Audition 3.0 - 16 vs 32-bit - Which to Use?
Reply #3 –
you edit/process something twice or more times and you have dither applied twice or more times too. Very nasty idea!
Any truth in that?
Only if the dither wasn't random, but guess what, it is random. The math behind it is not trivial, but IIRC, you'll have to perform dozens of edits before the noise level from the dither appreciates with any significance. This is discounting the level of the noise that is likely already present in the content prior to editing, which none of the >16 bits and "always dither or die" advocates ever seem willing to accept.
It is possible to distinguish some edits like fades and reverb, but it will require riding the gain well beyond realistic playback levels of the finished content.
Arny once called this paranoid obsession "prophylactic dither," which I found it quite amusing.