Word-length

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It is possible to control the word-length of the S/PDIF output using the word-length control, uppermost in the DO1/2 strip in the Outputs tab of the Titan Control Panel app.  The control operates as follows:

 

Setting

Action

24 bit

All 24 bits sent to the digital output are transmitted from the S/PDIF or AES3 output.  Channel Status is set to indicate 24 bit output.  This setting can be used to pass Dolby or DTS data to an external decoder since it leaves the audio data from the host unchanged. Note, however,  that the use of Titan's local DO mixer, or the assignable level control, or the SRC in the digital output will prevent bit-identical data from being transmitted.

16 bit

Audio data sent to the digital output is re-dithered using flat TPDF dither to produce a 16 bit output at the S/PDIF or AES3 output.  Channel Status is set to indicate 16 bit output.  This setting is not generally preferable to the SNS settings, since the noise level is not psycho-acoustically optimized.

SNS1

Audio data sent to the digital output is noise-shaped using Prism Sound's proprietary SNS (Super Noise Shaping) process to produce a 16 bit output at the S/PDIF or AES3 output.  Channel Status is set to indicate 16 bit output.  These settings are generally preferable to the 16 bit setting, since the noise level is psycho-acoustically optimized.  SNS1 offers the least optimization, but with the flattest residual noise spectrum, with optimization increasing up to SNS4, which offers the lowest subjective noise floor, but with significant colouration

SNS2

SNS3

SNS4

 

Note that if the audio data has already been word-length-processed for 16 bit output by the DAW software, Titan's word-length control should be set to 24 bits to prevent unwanted additional dithering.

 

For further discussion of dithering and noise shaping, and details of the SNS process, see the Dither and noise-shaping section.