How to know if 24 bits/96 khz true or not

[vince33]

Hi,

I am new on this forum and have a newbie question. I wish to know how can I know if a file(wav or flac) with a given resolution(24 bits/96 khz for instance) is a true 24 bits/96 khz file and not an upsampled file from a 16 bits/44.1 khz file by adding zeros to missing bits.

Thanks

[vince33]

no reply is a reply for me. I will keep on playing my old CD's with my old CD player.

[TerryS]

Hi,

I am new on this forum and have a newbie question. I wish to know how can I know if a file(wav or flac) with a given resolution(24 bits/96 khz for instance) is a true 24 bits/96 khz file and not an upsampled file from a 16 bits/44.1 khz file by adding zeros to missing bits.

Thanks

The only way I know to be sure would be to look at the samples with an editor that allows you to zoom in vertically enough to see the actual quantization levels. I have done this with Goldwave. I think Adobe Audition can also do this, but Audacity can't (at least the version I tried, which was about a year ago).

I doubt that any software could accurately report the number. It wouldn't be able to tell if it was actually 24 bits, or 16 bits padded to 24 bits like Audacity does when it records on WIN machines.

Terry

[Phil Leigh]

Hi,

I am new on this forum and have a newbie question. I wish to know how can I know if a file(wav or flac) with a given resolution(24 bits/96 khz for instance) is a true 24 bits/96 khz file and not an upsampled file from a 16 bits/44.1 khz file by adding zeros to missing bits.

Thanks

1) if the file contains frequencies greater than 22kHz, it is not upsampled.
2) "adding zeroes" is only about converting 16 to 24 bit, nothing to do with sample rates.

[vince33]

1) if the file contains frequencies greater than 22kHz, it is not upsampled.
2) "adding zeroes" is only about converting 16 to 24 bit, nothing to do with sample rates.

I think in the 1) you mean "less" than 22khz instead of "greater" than...
for the 2) you're right I made a confusion.

To resume it's not possible to tell that a file claimed to be a HD file is true or fake. That's I wanted to know.

Thanks to both of you for replying.

Vince

[aubuti]

I think in the 1) you mean "less" than 22khz instead of "greater" than...

Well, I'm not an expert like Phil, but I'm pretty sure he did indeed mean greater than. Look at it this way: every file has frequencies less than 22kHz. At least, every file that humans can hear. So "having frequencies less than 22kHz" would be a lousy criterion to distinguish one track from another.

If the original source material was 44.1, then it won't have frequencies greater than 22kHz, and upsampling won't magically add sound at those frequencies.

[TerryS]

I think in the 1) you mean "less" than 22khz instead of "greater" than...
for the 2) you're right I made a confusion.

To resume it's not possible to tell that a file claimed to be a HD file is true or fake. That's I wanted to know.

Thanks to both of you for replying.

Vince

I wouldn't say it is not possible. I can easily tell using a software package like Goldwave that lets me look at the samples. There are other software packages that can do the same.
For instance, there is a bug in Audacity (when used on a windows platform) that makes it record in 16 bits and pad up to 24 bits even though it looks like it is set to record in 24 bits. But with Goldwave, I can easily see the data is only 16 bits with zero padding.

Terry

[Phil Leigh]

Well, I'm not an expert like Phil, but I'm pretty sure he did indeed mean greater than. Look at it this way: every file has frequencies less than 22kHz. At least, every file that humans can hear. So "having frequencies less than 22kHz" would be a lousy criterion to distinguish one track from another.

If the original source material was 44.1, then it won't have frequencies greater than 22kHz, and upsampling won't magically add sound at those frequencies.

Sorry - what I meant was if you look at a 24/96 file and it contains frequencies > 22k, then it cannot be an upsample of a 44.1 original, as the original could not have contained those frequencies...

[vince33]

Sorry - what I meant was if you look at a 24/96 file and it contains frequencies > 22k, then it cannot be an upsample of a 44.1 original, as the original could not have contained those frequencies...

@ Phil, OK understood now.

@TeryS, I will try to find Goldwave and have a try. Yhanks for your info.

[lrossouw]

@ Phil, OK understood now.

@TeryS, I will try to find Goldwave and have a try. Yhanks for your info.

Should be able to do it in audacity. I've done it, but you may need to convert the file to wav first, as I think there is a bug with opening these kind of flac files in audacity directly.