Mondo Knows Facts
Each extra bit adds about six decibels of range
Sixteen bit gives roughly 96 decibels between the quietest and loudest sound Twenty four bit recording is used in studios because the extra range leaves room for processing. The benefit reaches the listener only when the recording keeps its dynamics. Most playback chains cap the practical difference well below those numbers. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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Tags: digital, bit-depth, standards
Each extra bit adds about six decibels of range: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Sixteen bit gives roughly 96 decibels between the quietest and loudest sound. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.