Windows audio devices settings - 16bit or 24bit?

The Virtual Audio Mixer discussions and support...
Post Reply
Atg
Posts: 32
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:30 am

Windows audio devices settings - 16bit or 24bit?

Post by Atg »

Is there any benefit from using 24 bit instead of 16 bit in every Voicemeeter audio device (and Virtual Cables too) Default Format settings, from audio quality and from maybe added small cpu usage, latency "perspectives". I heard that it is better to convert 16 bit audio to 24 than vice versa, so there is no problems listening 16bit and 24bit audio on 24bit audio device, but then what about recording devices: voice apps probably will need to convert 24 bits to 16, though I should not worry about audio quality due audio codecs compression.
P.S. I should say that forum search is compeltly useless. Bits, bit, format, samplerate - are "too common" so lets search nothing. But that the point, to search for common words that everyone use.
Andres
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 7:25 pm

Re: Windows audio devices settings - 16bit or 24bit?

Post by Andres »

Hi. Interesting question. Since Voicemeeter also provides Virtual ASIO inputs and the available options are Float32 and Int32 I assume that the audio engine is able to mix up to 32-bit.
Virtual ASIO Type options.png
Virtual ASIO Type options.png (64.45 KiB) Viewed 8293 times
In a previous post I read that Voicemeeter (Basic) is limited to 16-bit and Banana and Potato can use 24-bit resolution. The previous System Settings / Options... window confirm that.
The audio codec (Realtek) integrated into the motherboard of my desktop PC apparently supports 32-bit resolution. I don't know if Voicemeeter (Banana or Potato) will be able to use it as hardware output at 32-bit bit depth. I have tested WDM and MME options but it keeps displaying 24-bit.
Speakers Default Format.png
Speakers Default Format.png (19.42 KiB) Viewed 8287 times
Last edited by Andres on Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Atg
Posts: 32
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:30 am

Re: Windows audio devices settings - 16bit or 24bit?

Post by Atg »

I'm still interested in more technical details what devices' bit depth is better for OS and Voicemeeter. By the way I'm using win10 and asio audio interface in Voicemeeter.
Vincent Burel
Site Admin
Posts: 2008
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:01 pm

Re: Windows audio devices settings - 16bit or 24bit?

Post by Vincent Burel »

With audio device,
- Voicemeeter Standard is negotiating audio format in 16 bits per default.
- Banana & Potato are negotiating the format in 24 bits per default.
Post Reply