Is a 24 bit headunit always going to sound better than 1 bit?

[LMB]

What does it mean 24bit?

You've also got Dolby 5.1/Prologic Headunits. Do you need extra gear to take advantage of it?

Ta.

[mikeythemini]

The 24 bit is supposed to give a wider dynamic range

To get the most from 5.1 you need a centre speaker (small one under toggles could do but top centre dash is best) + a sub.

[LMB]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeythemini

The 24 bit is supposed to give a wider dynamic range

To get the most from 5.1 you need a centre speaker (small one under toggles could do but top centre dash is best) + a sub.

So will a 24 bit unit always sound better than a 1 bit?

[KenL]

Quote: Originally Posted by LMB

So will a 24 bit unit always sound better than a 1 bit?

Probably depends on the sampling rate of the 1-bit (bitstream DAC).

High end hi-fi often has a bitstream DAC.

Not sure on the point of Dolby Pro-logic for music, I thought that was only any use for cinema. Music is generally mixed and therefore optimised for stereo reproduction.

[euan]

Not sure what the likes of DVD-A and SACD would be played at though. They may be better on 5.1 set-ups?

[myonlyclone]

i think the difference between 1 and 24bit is not applicable here. i think what you are looking at with the 1bit that the unit that reads from the cd, since a cd is all one and zeros there is only a need for 1bit. now this is different than the bit rate of the music that is being read from the cd commonly being 16bit. exept in newer versions of audio disks such as DVD-A whick can also be run in 5.1 as some cds have been re-mixed to support this.