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Topic: Settings foobar2000 for 32-bit/24-bit to 16-bit FLAC/WAV (Read 6591 times) previous topic - next topic
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Settings foobar2000 for 32-bit/24-bit to 16-bit FLAC/WAV

Hi everybody, I was attempting to convert a batch of 32-bit/24-bit files to 16-bit FLAC's and I wanted to use foobar2000, but I am having a problem understanding the correct chain of settings.

I choose Convert ... then the Converter Setup opens up.
In Choose output file format I am selecting FLAC level 5...

And then I freeze... :-\

Output bit depth 16-bit
Dither never  :-\
or shall I use: always?

I am asking this because when I go back to the Converter Setup in the Processing option I am choosing the MDA Dither DSP

If I am using the MDA Dither or the Smart Dither DSP for foobar2000 shall I set the Dither option to never since I am going to use a different DSP dither other than the default foobar2000 one to do the task anyway?

I will only be ideally needing the word length reduction function then and be safe in selecting never...

There seem not to be a clear answer on that... and I just have a feeling that the foobar2000 one will kick in in an unwanted way if I choose always... or ignoring the processing plugin if I choose never... :(

Should not be the dither option get disabled when I am processing a file with a 3rd party dither plugin?

Re: Settings foobar2000 for 32-bit/24-bit to 16-bit FLAC/WAV

Reply #1 –
Quote from: dadadacicici on
If I am using the MDA Dither or the Smart Dither DSP for foobar2000 shall I set the Dither option to never since I am going to use a different DSP dither other than the default foobar2000 one to do the task anyway?
When you use a third party dither component the built-in dither feature should be disabled.

Quote from: dadadacicici on
There seem not to be a clear answer on that... and I just have a feeling that the foobar2000 one will kick in in an unwanted way if I choose always... or ignoring the processing plugin if I choose never... :(
If you choose always then you would have double dither and the third party one would be essentially pointless.

Quote from: dadadacicici on
Should not be the dither option get disabled when I am processing a file with a 3rd party dither plugin?
It should but there is no functionality to achieve that.

Re: Settings foobar2000 for 32-bit/24-bit to 16-bit FLAC/WAV

Reply #2 –
Exactly as I was expecting.  8)

I hope someone else might find this info useful... :)

Thanks a lot for the reply. ;)

So the correct chain will be as follows:

Convert then I choose a new setting ...
The Converter Setup opens up.
In Choose output file format I select FLAC level 5
Output bit depth 16-bit
Dither never
When going back to the Converter Setup in the Processing option I choose the MDA Dither DSP or the Smart Dither plugin needed in the Available DSPs to make it Active DSP for the processing.
Then I click Convert and that's it.  8)

Re: Settings foobar2000 for 32-bit/24-bit to 16-bit FLAC/WAV

Reply #3 –
Following in @dadadacicici footsteps, I set up Foobar's conversion to 44.1kHz/16bit. However, it turned out either MDA Dither or Smart Dither component in the DSP chain is applied unconditionally, i.e. even to already 16bit files. This can be confirmed, for example, by converting FLAC 16bit to FLAC 16bit and comparing the Audio MD5 tag -- they are different. Question is how to apply 3rd party dither conditionally, i.e. 32/24->16 dither, 16->16 no dither?
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Re: Settings foobar2000 for 32-bit/24-bit to 16-bit FLAC/WAV

Reply #4 –
You have to do it manually when using the DSP manager. It is because the need for dither does not depend on the bit-depth of the source, it depends on the bit-depth of the processing pipeline.

For example, if you want to swap the L/R channels of a 16-bit file then save as 16-bit again, dither is not needed because the only change is the order of channels. However, if you resample (e.g. 44.1k -> 96k or 96k -> 44.1k), or apply RG, or mix channels (e.g. stereo to mono or 5.1 to stereo), dither is needed even when the source and destination format are both 16-bit.

Read the thread below for an example:
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,121633