How big is the diff. between 16-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96kHz?

[fliggil]

I am looking at buying my first interface unit for my PC to do some basic recording (acoustic/electric and vocals) - nothing professional or whatnot, just for fun and messing around. I noticed some units record at up to 16bit/48khz, white some go up to 24bit/96khz. I'm assuming that higher bitrate means better quality, but just how big of a difference is there between the 2?

[mattinbeloit]

Well i do alot of recording and will probably end up doing it professionally. I have trained my ear and hear alot of things so i can tell a big difference. 16bit at 41 is CD quality so it sounds very good, 24 at 96 is really high quality, better then CD, but i doubt you wold be able to tell much of a differnce if you have not recorded much. But once you have done it for a while you start to pick out little things. if you are doing it for fun just go with one that does 16bit at 41, it is excelent quality and it will be cheaper, once you have done it for a while upgrade and start to hear some of the differences.

[fliggil]

thanks Matt, has anyone tried out the M-Audio MobilePre USB Interface? thats what Im lookin at, theres a good deal at one site that comes with a condenser mic and decent headphones for $200.

[Jenns4Ever9501]

My girlfriend actually just bought me the M-Audio MobilePreUSB, I love it, it's great for basic recording. Like Matt said, if you're not doing any "pro" quality recordings, the MobilePre is just fine. 2 channels, XLR and 1/4" inputs, and phantom power, you can't go wrong. Good luck.

[buffjam9011]

double post. sorry.

[buffjam9011]

also 16 bit is all you can get on a cd, so unless you just really want 24 bit for any specific reason other than to be able to say you have it, there would be no point.

oh and the mobilepre usb is a good interface. i prefer the mbox, but the m-audio is cheaper (a lot cheaper).

[mattinbeloit]

also 16 bit is all you can get on a cd, so unless you just really want 24 bit for any specific reason other than to be able to say you have it, there would be no point.

oh and the mobilepre usb is a good interface. i prefer the mbox, but the m-audio is cheaper (a lot cheaper).

ya, word. one of the profs. here in college gave me an Mbox for me to use this year and i love it. if you are willing to rack out the extra cash the mbox is great, i am thinking of just buying it from him...

[sunglassesatnight]

taylordb just posted a very good article in the Trading Forum concerning this very topic.

[fliggil]

thanks slimermdb (and taylordb) here is the link for those who dont wanna search through the trading forum

http://www.tweakheadz.com/16_vs_24_bit_audio.htm

I think for now 16/48 is gonna be fine for me, I dont have the money to put into every little component and thus I cant imagine that the difference between it and 24/96 will be that great (plus I'm still only decent at guitar anyways). thanks for the help-

[GreyBlueAnt]

I just got the Lin6 TonePortafter having the M-Audio firewire solo and i'm very pleased with the recording quality and the fact that there is almost zero latency when recording. it also does both qualities and the low end ones start at about $120 (2 input) $200 for the 4 input.