Upgrade 16bit to 20/24bit For CD Player

Hi there,

I like to know it is possible to upgrade 16bit to 20bit or 24bit. If yes, what are the parts that need to be change. Thanks

That is like a engine transplant. is it better than a well designed 20bit/24bits.

redbook is 16 bit unless you go to DVD-A or SACD.
IMHO quite pointless to have the DAC portion to be in 20-24bit.

Rather you'd use a good transport or computer based systems.

Theaudiohub,

computer based systems?
Can you please tell me more about this.., sorry, newbie here, very interested to know about this system, maybe I can save from buying a cdp. Thanks!

Well it's basically using your computer as a source.

Stream out to a USB DAC and out put into an AMP.

So you can rip your cd into FLAC or APE format or download high resolution music from online vendors who are able to give you studio masters - 24/192khz

Some have used the Logitech squeeze box to stream all over the house, while the computer is on the 3rd floor and the speakers are on the 1st floor.

it is not possible to change the output of a cd player to 24bit cos the software itself (i.e. the cd) is 16bit 44.1 as per the red book specs. some cd players use a 24bit 192kHz dac section, but the data that comes out via analogue or digital outputs will still be 16bit 44.1.

some expensive cd players provide upsampling features, but these are beyond the budget of an average hi fi kaki.

computer-based audio means you rip your cd to a hard disk (inside or outside the laptop) and use the laptop as a player feeding an external dac (normally accepting up to 24 192 these days) via usb or firewire but the music file will still be 16 44.1.
to get hires 24 96 or 24 192 music files, u hv to download from various music sites on the net. some offer free samples while u hv to pay for the other tracks.
u need not use the laptop these days cos there r digital music servers/streamers/drivers in the market. chk out the logitech squeezebox products, the sonos, the sooloos and others.

sflam wrote:it is not possible to change the output of a cd player to 24bit cos the software itself (i.e. the cd) is 16bit 44.1 as per the red book specs. some cd players use a 24bit 192kHz dac section, but the data that comes out via analogue or digital outputs will still be 16bit 44.1.

Maybe to clarify further:

The signal that exits from the analogue outputs would be ANALOGUE SIGNALS, but derived from the original redbook 16bit 44.1KHz digital resolution.

The digital signal that exits from a typical CD player or transport's "digital" output would need to conform to the S/PDIF format, which is therefore 16bit, 44.1KHz resolution PCM signal. There are however, other fancy devices like a "Sample Rate Converter" (SRC) that can up-sample and up-bit the signal to a 24bit/96KHz (or 192KHz, depending on how sophisticated the converter) PCM signal. Whether there is any added benefit or detriment in doing so, is another matter altogether.

This means, plug the cd player's digital output into a SRC, and then the SRC's output (still digital) will go into some DAC that can process 24bit/96KHz PCM signals.

Some PC media player software can do this all within the PC and hence make the PC's digital output stream 24/96 PCM (provided the hardware supports it) to an external DAC.