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Having 24-Bit Sound or not

I have a MacBookPro. I connected my laptop to Benchmark DAC1 HDR by USB. In these conditions do I have 24-Bit music or not ? My DAC is in accordance with 24-Bit but my concern is can my laptop give 24-Bit to DAC by USB.

Thank You,
Nicko.
nickodavidoff
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,493 posts
 
The answer is YES. Connected via the USB the Benchmark is true 24 bit native.Your Mac book can output that.
arh
366 posts
 
The file you are playing has to be a 24 bit recording. If it is 16 bit you will get 16 bit
Alan
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
Go to Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup

You can set the bitrate and sample rate in there. I think the HDR is limited to 24 bit/96kHz (no 192kHz) and it is synchronous USB, so it isn't as good as a proper async USB connection.

One of the problems with the OSX audio API is that stays that way after you set it. Irrespective of the sample rate and bitrate of the files you are playing. Resampling sometimes isn't the best quality.

You can download a reasonably cheap app from the appstore called BitPerfect which allows iTunes to switch the sample rate on the fly. It does a fair bit of what more expensive apps like PureMusic, Amarra and Audirvana Plus does, such as loading the entire file into memory before playback etc.

I prefer Audirvana Plus because it supports DSD playback.
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