On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 01:09:42AM +0000, Christian Weisgerber wrote: > Something of an idle question: According to audioctl, my azalia > device only supports 16-bit audio, but according to the data sheet > the codec also offers 20- and 24-bit audio. Are there any plans > to add support for this?
the sun api is hard to use for 20- and 24-bit audio. The easier wouls be to first update all ports to use libsndio, and then tweak the audio(4) api without breaking audio apps. > No, I have no idea what you would actually use this for. In particular, > I doubt that the analog inputs and outputs offer anywhere near that > dynamic range. Still, you'd think the codec designers included these > capabilities for a reason. to fully appreciate 24-bit audio (ie ~145dB) one must be able to hear a soft wisper near an after-burning jet engine ;) Well, >16-bit codecs can be useful. Feeding the sound card with 24-bit samples, may allow the sound card to do digital processing that degrades the lower bits of audio while keeping the higher bits accurate. Example, for software volume control. -- Alexandre
