Dither—my explanation of how it keeps details below quantization level, Was: "Dither" (TOS #6) Options

[KMD]

To help with the understanding of dither, I am posting an explanation, of how signal details smaller than the quantization level are retained, after quantization, when Dither Noise is added to the source material.
A small signal detail with height less than the quantization level, and centred half way between two quantization steps, is too small to cross a quantization step. It is lost when the waveform is quantized. With a Dither Noise waveform added, the height of the two waveforms summed is occasionally greater than the quantization level. At these occasional points the waveform crosses a quantization step. So now when this waveform is quantized, although the result is noisy, the shape of the original signal detail is retained.
Discussion invited.

[greynol]

In light of the recent conversation over the quantization grid, I humbly request that knowledgeable people review our wiki article on dither:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Dither

After a quick review I really must question the emphasis that is placed on how dither affects the visual appearance of waveforms. This is clearly not in line with one of the most important tenets of our forum

This post has been edited by greynol: Mar 21 2012, 22:09