16bit/24 bit, choice of mac Options

I used to use a G3 Imac 350 to make music and was quite happy with it. I sold it to move country.

Now I am looking to reinvest in a Mac. Is it true that Imacs use only 16bit sound while Powermacs use 24 bit? Is this true for the newer Imacs and Emac?

Also, how much difference does it really make? Is 24 bit Cd quality?

I appreciate any help you guys can give

gamma

ps you can hear what I did solely with an Imac at www.mp3.com/slowblade

[Synthetic]

First... ALL macs have 16bit sound standard. The only way to get 24bit sound is to purchase and add on a new soundcard that supports 24bit. You can probably get some apps like reason to bounce songs out at 24bit without a 24bit soundcard but you will not actually hear the 24bit on playback and only 16bit instead.

24bit sound is a little bit better for a couple reasons. One is that you can capture more dynamics in the sound with a lower background noise level. The second is that even though CDs are 16bit... if you record at 16bit... you are actually recording at about 14-15bit which is due to small loss of data in the recording process. So, to get 'true' 16bit sound on your CD's... its best to record and mix at 24bits and then dither and resample down to 16bits for final cd master.

This is to get the best overall sound of your equipment but if your sound relies on lots of distortion or samples (especially record samps) at 16bit or less then it may be more beneficial to just work in 16bit though so you don't spend lots of time converting to 24bit.

what an excellent response! this helps me greatly Synthetic and I thank you for you help.

[Synthetic]

no problem... glad I could help

this was a puzzling question for me that was finally answered about a year ago when Crystal Method released their last CD. I read an in depth interview with them and they talked about the noticeable difference in 16bit and 24bit. They recorded first CD in 16bit and was convinced into using 24bit for the whole new CD 'Tweekend' and if you compare CD's back to back... you will also notice the differences in dynamics and overall sound quality. I then did some research in some other music mags and sites that basically said same thing. So I record all my instruments in 24bit even if I decided to mix in 16bit due to tons of samples just to get that little extra sound but try to keep as much as possible in the 24bit realm. They also remarked that sampling rates 44100 and 48000 were almost unnoticeable differences so I always use the lower 44100 since most samples come in that form anyhow. Good luck.

[damann]

synthetic's method is definitely 'the one'.