48 Khz or 44.1 Khz Options

[Schlunzen]

Hi there guys!

In my soundcard driver i can choose between 48 khz and 44.1 khz.
Well i think 48 khz is best because it's a higher number but I am not sure.
Cause almost all music is recorded in 44.1 khz?
So what should i choose for the best sound? (All my music is in FLAC)
48 khz or 44.1 khz?


Hope you guys can help me

[Tahnru]

Which soundcard? What playback software?

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=4834
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Resampling

[Jebus]

Hi there guys!

In my soundcard driver i can choose between 48 khz and 44.1 khz.
Well i think 48 khz is best because it's a higher number but I am not sure.
Cause almost all music is recorded in 44.1 khz?
So what should i choose for the best sound? (All my music is in FLAC)
48 khz or 44.1 khz?


Hope you guys can help me

What kind of soundcard is it?


All CD-based music is recorded at 44.1kHz, but almost everything else is 48kHz (or multiples of). Usually sound cards resample CD audio to 48kHz internally on playback. You generally can't tell - there isn't usually an audible quality loss. If your soundcard actually does 44.1kHz playback (and it probably doesn't) then you can always choose that mode for "perfect" CD reproduction.

FLAC files will have the same sample rate as the source... so if you made them from CD-audio, you have 44.1kHz FLAC files. I have some made from DVDs that are 48kHz though, for example.

This post has been edited by Jebus: Nov 26 2008, 00:05

[Schlunzen]

Thanks for quick answers

My Soundcard is a Terratec Aureon 5.1 PCI
http://www.terratec.net/en/products/Aureon_5.1_PCI_1988.html

I don't know if the soundcard resamples, but here is a picture of the drivers control panel.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/7117/un...ivetjpeges6.jpg

I use winamp and foobar2000.

[uart]

If you're music format is already 44.1k then there's nothing to gain in forcing the soundcard to resample to 48k.

The reason that some people software resample their 44.1k material to 48k during payback is because some soundcards automatically resample everything to 48k anyway, and in these cases the software resampler simply does a better job.

If you want to test how your soundcard performs I suggest you run some righmark Audio Analyser loopback tests. You can test at both 44.1k and 48k and if the results are significantly better at 48k (especially the IMD) then the card probably re-samples.

I'm not sure if this is the exact same model as yours but if so it appears that it doesn't resample (no significant difference between 44.1 and 48k results)
See : http://forum.rightmark.org/topic.cgi?id=4:133

[Schlunzen]

So the only reason I should leave it on 48 khz is if i want to see DVDs on my computer?
It will neither give better or worse quality with music because it is recorded at 44.1 khz?

I will check the tests out
The link is not to my soundcard unfortunately.

[Schlunzen]

OK I tried the tests.
I was a little confused with the software, but if i did it right there is a very,very,VERY small difference between the 44.1 khz mode and 48 khz mode.
So this mean my card don't resample?

This post has been edited by Schlunzen: Nov 26 2008, 16:20

[skamp]

Your card supports both 44.1kHz and 48kHz just fine. That setting in the screenshot ("Digital") is for S/PDIF output. If you have connected your card to an audio/video receiver, either set it to 44.1kHz when streaming CD-DA rips, or 48kHz when stream movie soundtracks.

[Schlunzen]

Your card supports both 44.1kHz and 48kHz just fine. That setting in the screenshot ("Digital") is for S/PDIF output. If you have connected your card to an audio/video receiver, either set it to 44.1kHz when streaming CD-DA rips, or 48kHz when stream movie soundtracks.

Thank you I will set it to 44.1 khz because I never watch movies

[skamp]

Do you even use the S/PDIF output?

[Schlunzen]

Do you even use the S/PDIF output?

No, but now I don't understand...
In my control panel where i configure it it says analog output over.
Under that it says S/PDIF output and if i click the button it activates i think xD
Because the volume increases much.
You're sure it's not the analog and S/PDIF under?

[skamp]

Check out your manual, page 14: it clearly puts the "Digital Audio" dropdown menu under S/PDIF output.

[Schlunzen]

Check out your manual, page 14: it clearly puts the "Digital Audio" dropdown menu under S/PDIF output.

Ok, I don't know where it is
But if that's right this topic and question is useless.
Anyway thanks

[uart]

Check out your manual, page 14: it clearly puts the "Digital Audio" dropdown menu under S/PDIF output.

Ok, I don't know where it is
But if that's right this topic and question is useless.
Anyway thanks

Well not completely usless as you've learnt how to make a loopback test and also learnt that your card works fine at 44.1 and 48k so you have no need to software resample.

BTW. If you don't mind could you please post the RMAA results (or just a summary). It would be interesting to see how that card performs (especially for noise, THD, and IMD). Thanks.

This post has been edited by uart: Nov 27 2008, 17:49

[Schlunzen]

Check out your manual, page 14: it clearly puts the "Digital Audio" dropdown menu under S/PDIF output.

Ok, I don't know where it is
But if that's right this topic and question is useless.
Anyway thanks

Well not completely usless as you've learnt how to make a loopback test and also learnt that your card works fine at 44.1 and 48k so you have no need to software resample.

BTW. If you don't mind could you please post the RMAA results (or just a summary). It would be interesting to see how that card performs (especially for noise, THD, and IMD). Thanks.

Haha yes you're right
I will try to lean using the program a little more. Maybe I will post the results then

Maybe you could help me testing with the software?

This post has been edited by Schlunzen: Nov 27 2008, 18:07