Eldartford,
It doesn't really matter according to Nika Aldrich. The dynamic range of playback music is far far less than 16 bits...so it is quite normal you only had half the lights on. Whether it is the top half or the lower half of the lights that light up it should really sound the same.
Check out "Digital Audio Explained" by Nika Aldrich...the last chapter has a list of common audio myths. Several of the myths would cause a storm here on audiogon so I won't mention what Nika claims ....but his book is highly respected (by folks like AKM who design/make these DAC/ADC chips) and worth reading, even if you disagree with his conclusions.
I noticed that the input signal level, displayed by a string of LEDs, never got even half way up, meaning that only the lower bits of the A/D were being used.
Now I am utilizing all the bits I paid for. In my subjective opinion, it sounds better.
It doesn't really matter according to Nika Aldrich. The dynamic range of playback music is far far less than 16 bits...so it is quite normal you only had half the lights on. Whether it is the top half or the lower half of the lights that light up it should really sound the same.
Check out "Digital Audio Explained" by Nika Aldrich...the last chapter has a list of common audio myths. Several of the myths would cause a storm here on audiogon so I won't mention what Nika claims ....but his book is highly respected (by folks like AKM who design/make these DAC/ADC chips) and worth reading, even if you disagree with his conclusions.