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16-bit audio recording vs 12-bit audio recording

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Techniquest

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I know it's not photography, but with a lack of a videography section this is the most relevant place to put it.

On my Sony HC37E I recently found the audio recording bit on the menu whilst having a look through it randomly. There's the default 12-bit audio recording and a 16-bit recording. I've had it set to the latter all year but I can't tell if it's actually better when playing it back.

So my query is this:

Is 16-bit audio recording actually better than 12-bit audio recording?

Logically it should be, but is it? Recordings using this audio recording shows a music symbol (lower d-shape) followed by 16b, so obviously it's supposed to come on to tell you this fact.

Any ideas ladies and gentlemen?
 
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mbonwick

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It will be better at 16bit, but not necessarily so much better that the human ear can hear it.
 

yorkie

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You won't notice the difference except with decent speakers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth

Increasing the bit depth, the sampling rate, and the number of channels all increase quality and file size of audio tracks. But the overall quality is limited by various factors including the quality of the sound card, amplifier/speakers, cables, and the encoder used in the first place.
 
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