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Bits is Bits? Right?Check Again.
George Blood, Safe Sound Archive
Joint Technical Symposium
Oslo, Norway
Monday, May 3, 2010
Typical Playback ChainAnalog source
Analog-to-digital converter
Digital Audio Workstation
Digital File
Physical Carrier of Files
Typical Playback ChainAnalog source
Analog-to-digital converter
Digital Audio Workstation
Digital File
Physical Carrier of Files
}
From ADC to Digital FileADC Digital Output (AES-3)
Cable/patching/switching
Digital Audio Workstation:
Digital File
Computer: CPU/Bus/etc.
Driver
Software
OS/Drivers
Storage interface/drivers: FW, USB, SATA, FC, iSCSI
Storage Device (HDD)
Interface: AES-3 to FW/USB/etc.
Disappointments
• Don’t mention brands
• Don’t tell you our solution
• Very pervasive problem
• http://www.avpreserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Digital_Audio_Interstitial_Errors.pdf
Tested Hardware
• Lynx AES16
• M-Audio (96 and 192)
• M-Box
• Metric Halo ULN-2
• Nagra V
• SonicStudio 302 (aka ULN2+DSP)
Tested Software
• Boom
• Metric Halo Console
• ProTools LE (Mac)
• Sonic Solutions HDSP
• Sonic Studio soundBlade
• SoundForge
• WaveLab
Tested Drivers
• Stock drivers (mostly)– OS stock drivers– Hardware bundled drivers
• Dedicated Drivers– OS 9 (Sonic Solutions)– OS X (SonicStudio & MH)
Tested Storage
• Fat32• FibreChannel (2Gb, RAID5) • FireWire 400• HFS+ (SCSI Ultra160)• HFS-extended• SATA
Not Tested
• Audacity• AudioCube• [Bias Peak]• iSCSI• ProTools HD• ProTools LE (PC)• Pyramix• RME• ADC to FireWire
Finding errors
• 100% Listen– Inefficient– Unreliable
• Software verification– Doesn’t certify authenticity– Limited parameter testing– Unreliable
Finding Errors
• Null Test:– 2 presumed identical files– Sample-accurate alignment– Invert polarity– Add together
• If a1=a2, then a1 - a2=0
What happened?
• New Hardware– Failure
• Reviewed set up with engineer– Failure
• Reviewed old systems– Failure
• Simplified Test– Finally some passes– Failures continue between identically
configured systems
Qualifying a Control
• Assumes only one variable at play– Host– I/O Hardware– Driver– Application
…test configuration
Hardware in hand• SonicStudio
– Great editor– Semi-proprietary file types– Non-destructive editing– No support for WAV or BWF output– No AES-31 ADL support
• Nagra V– Simple– Self-contained– Can’t change variables
• (other than resolution)
Talent Pool
• Head of QA with physics background
• 2 experienced audio engineers
• 2 dealers
• 2 outside technical engineers
Tech “support”
• Universally appalling• Short attention span• Don’t understand concepts• Always some other link in chain• Regional sales reps care more• Engineer curious but unable to help
Computer code “traps”
• Intractable problem buried in code• Build routine to watch for it• Applies fix• Efficient solution
Calculating size of error
• “Normalize” difference signal– Increases gain to zero headroom
• 1 bit = ~ 6dB • Normalizing amplitude
divided by 6dB
equals # of bits (amplitude) of difference…
Conclusion
• Not passing 24 bits
• Truncating at 16 bits
• Dithering 16th - 24th bits– More noise but Lower distortion
than truncating at 16 bits and dithering 17-24
More absurdities
• Same hardware, different ages, different results
• Same configuration, different results on different days
• Same hardware, good results with one software; poor results with different software
Conclusions
• Get what you pay for– More expensive hardware & software performs better in
Null tests
• Stock drivers aren’t as good as hardware specific drivers– keep up to date, especially after OS upgrades
• Non-host-based systems perform significantly better• Mac-based systems performed better than PC-based
systems, but are far from flawless• Worst PC and Worst Mac systems equally bad• These problems are widely known by manufacturers
and blatantly hidden