When sampling or recording audio, the audio wave is broken into
sections or regions which are described by data bits .The number
of these regions determines whether the sample is 8,16 or 24
bits. The greater the number of divisions, the closer the
digital recording will be to the original sound. An 8 bit sample
contains 256 steps of information whereas a 16 bit sample has
65,536 but a 24 bit sample has 16,777,216 .It is clear what word
length is potentially closer to reality. An area of concern is
dynamic range ,which as we know determines our headroom and
noise floor levels. The lower the noise floor and the higher the
headroom, the better quality the audio will be.In terms of
headroom every bit of data equates to 6 db of headroom with 8
bit having 48 db, 16 bit having 96db and 24 bit having 144db.
Low bit rate samples even with smoothing filters tend to have a
grainy, diffuse sound with poor clarity especially at high
frequencies. The next topic is sample rate or how many times per
second are we going to me