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Topic: “Dither” setting in fb2k (Read 11356 times) previous topic - next topic
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“Dither” setting in fb2k

I’m rather certain I understand what dither does, but I’m not sure if I should enable the setting in foobar2000.

Here’s the cause of my uncertainty. My entire collection is in a lossless, 16-bit format. If I understand correctly, there wouldn’t normally be any benefit in enabling dither for the playback of these files on my 16-bit sound card. Would it even do anything? Would it be better to disable it?

Additionally, I use ReplayGain. Presumably, that change in volume would create some quantization noise, and thus could benefit from dither. Does ReplayGain in fb2k apply dither automatically, or should I enable the option in foobar2000’s output preferences?

“Dither” setting in fb2k

Reply #2 –
As you have a 16 bit soundcard with 16 bit files, I would say that it's useless. dithering will use a little bit of CPU and you probably won't hear the difference.

(you can try a blind test with a friend switching it on and off to see if you can hear the difference)

“Dither” setting in fb2k

Reply #3 –
Quote from: MuncherOfSpleens on
Does ReplayGain in fb2k apply dither automatically, or should I enable the option in foobar2000’s output preferences?

Dither is only applied once at the output stage, if enabled.
In theory you should apply dither with 16bit output and any CPU Pentium3 or newer makes no sweat doing that. And yes it only would make some sense when playing lossy or somehow process the decoded stream (volume changes would count).
In practice however it is very unlikely you will hear any difference.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

“Dither” setting in fb2k

Reply #4 –
Quote from: MuncherOfSpleens on
Additionally, I use ReplayGain. Presumably, that change in volume would create some quantization noise, and thus could benefit from dither. Does ReplayGain in fb2k apply dither automatically, or should I enable the option in foobar2000’s output preferences?


In itself, Replaygain adds no noise because, like all internal operations within fb2k (including the fb2k volume control) it's applied in 32-bit floating point mode, which is used internally throughout fb2k to avoid the internal clipping or accumulation of rounding errors.

Theoretically, dither should then be applied on final conversion to fixed-point format for playback, which is the option that fb2k gives you. This ensures that quantization noise is decorrelated with the signal and cannot cause tonal distortions or noise-modulation.

If you can output at greater than 16-bit (e.g. a 24-bit soundcard), then you should ideally do so. At this resolution, you might as well dither using flat dither because the added dither noise is far below the noise in the signal and the DAC electronics' thermal noise.

If you can output at 16-bit only, flat dither is also very low level and ought to be inaudible unless you turn the volume up to ear-splitting levels or set the RG pre-amp at its minimum level and turn up very loud. For 16-bit playback, to be on the safe side, noise-shaped dither should be optimal and in most cases of ReplayGain volume reduction it will sound no noisier than the original CD even when turning up fade-outs to excessive levels.
Dynamic – the artist formerly known as DickD