More Beatles - 24bit 44k - official offerings

I guess i never put much thought into the tech besides bigger numbers are better. Here's something I found in a search...

"The amplitude of each sample is a numeric value that is represented by a certain number of bits. The more bits that are used to represent the amplitude, the greater the dynamic range that can be represented, with each bit providing a gain of approximately 6 dB. The dynamic range of 16 bit digital audio is therefore approximately 96 dB, whereas the dynamic range of 24 bit digital audio is 144 dB. 8 bit digital audio has a dynamic range of approximately 48 dB. The amount of data created by digital audio is quite large. 16 bits per sample at 44.1kHz creates 705600 bits per second."

The number of bits recorded per Khz puts in perspective. It's over a million at 24 bits. Sure, I'd love to hold out for 24/96 but that could be years.

These are just the stereo mixes that were announced. It's listed on Amazon.

"Trickle out? Of course, the blu-ray version will be last."

I doubt that, don't forget about SACD, double speed DSD, and double speed blu-ray (DXD) formats ;-)

So, is this sample rate the same or improved over the new Beatles Collections? I just recieved my Beatles collection, I'm not going to keep it if one can purchase better copies online.

"I've used 16bit 48k, 24bit 48k, and 24bit 96k in production work. but never heard much about using 24 bits to store a 44k signal."

I guess the sound quality will be comparable to HDCD.

From what I know a HDCD encoded disc is an equivalent of a 20bit/44,1kHz recording.

Trickle out? Of course, the blu-ray version will be last.

Generally, I have found a significant improvement in sound quality when going from 16 bit to 24 bit, those extra 8 bits really help. Conversely, increasing the sampling rate does not provide nearly the improvement. It surely helps, but is not nearly as effective.

-RW-