Yes.JumpingJackFlash wrote:Does dithering only apply to bit depth.
Ok, here goes an attempt to explain dither:
Whenever you reduce the wordlength of an audio signal (ie drop from 32 bit to 24, or from 24 to 16) you have to throw away the bottom few bits.
Dither is random noise which is carefully designed to be just loud enough to toggle the lowest bit of the intended new bit-depth in a way that will average out to zero over time.
When this is added to a signal that would otherwise be too quiet to modulate even the lowest bit, the low-level signal changes the probability of the lowest bit going high or low in such a way that avaraging out the combined signal over time will reproduce some of that low-level information.
In other words, the low level information that would otherwise have been lost entirely can be hinted at by the way the bottom bit toggles on and off.
Some people say a good dither algo can extend the apparent dynamic range of CD audio to 18 bit or better.. but there is little point if you didn't record that low level detail to start with!