In years past, a number of systems has issues with intra-sample peaks. While a technical 0 dBFS cleared, the interpolated level between the peaks would cause distortion. From a best practices for broadcast point of view, my colleagues and I have just tried to steer clear of any overs, sample-wise or interpolated. We started working to -20 dBFS RMS as a matter of course. With the general move to 24 bit from 16 it's never presented any real issues.
And as it happens, SMPTE has also recommended -20 dBFS as a nominal operation level as well! > On Sep 23, 2013, at 6:03 PM, Andy Furniss <adf.li...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Ken Landers wrote: >> While -16.9 might keep you safe, a better option might be -20 dBFS. >> Gives some headroom in case you need it. Also, many consumer >> playback devices may not handle full scale output. > > Interesting, I am not a producer of anything as such, but do see that a > lot of digital music and some films push 0dBfs (though at least the > films aren't anywhere near RMS) > > Do you mean that consumer DACs can't handle it properly, or that the > analogue side doesn't being driven full voltage? > > Andy. > _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound