|www.ethanwiner.com - since 1997| Does Dither Really Matter?
Conventional audio wisdom says that dither is required whenever
you reduce the bit-depth of an audio file. Typically, when
reducing a 24-bit mix to 16 bits for putting onto a CD. Dither
is a very low-level noise that's added when reducing bit depth,
and by definition it's about 90 dB below the music when reducing
to 16 bits. Most people would have a hard time hearing noise
that's 60 dB below the music, since the music masks the noise.
Yet if you ask a dozen audio recording engineers if dither is
necessary when going from 24 to 16 bits, every one of them will
say Yes. Even the manual for Sony Sound Forge claims dither is
important: If you want to burn a 24-bit audio file to an audio
CD, dithering will produce a cleaner signal than a simple Some
engineers even argue over which type of dither is best, claiming
this algorithm is more airy sounding that that one, and so
forth. But just because everyone believes this, does that make
it true? To be clear,