The interest in 64-bit float is not about “headroom” / “dynamic range”…
pro:
- no need to convert between 32-bit and 64-bit float: 64-bit is needed by some plugins for their internal computations. 64-bit then means small performance gain and no precision lost between succeeding 64-bit plugins.
- Better audio precision when mixing audio signals. I explain this at the end of this message.
- If audio devices ever go beyond 24-bit precision, 64-bit float will be needed (because 32-bit float means, in fact, 24-bit precision)
con:
- requires more memory, which can mean a performance loss (more memory to move). But as soon as a sophisticated plugin is used, this one will likely become the bottleneck, compared to the memory overhead. Therefore, this is a “relative con”.
- 64-bit CPU instructions are as fast as 32-bit instructions because the CPUs are 64-bit today. But certain rare instructions are faster with 32-bit float because the CPU can conjugate 2 of them while at the same time, only one 64-bit instruction is performed (SIMD).
Now, an explanation about 32-bit float vs 64-bit float for mixing.
While 32-bit float means, in fact, 24-bit precision, 64-bit float means, in fact, 48-bit precision. This means far more precision.
I can illustrate this difference with elementary school maths (this is an analogy of what happens in reality).
- Let’s say samples can have only values 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,…
- Let’s start with a sample with the value “3.”
- An audio gain of “divide by 2”, is applied. We get the value “1.5”, but this value is not allowed hence must be rounded, eg. the new value becomes 1.
- Later, another gain “multiply by 2” is applied. The new sample becomes “2”.
Consequence: we started from value “3” and ended up with value “2”, while the two gains should have canceled each other.
When this kind of loss is performed multiple times (complex mixing), errors stack up.
The consequence is not dramatic because some errors are (randomly) compensated by others (round-down / round-up), but this compensation actually means “digital fog,” aka noise.
64-bit float processing pushes the digital fog far from the 24-bit domain. Hence a cleaner result at the end of the audio chain.
The difference 32/64 is, therefore, about “audio definition”, if your ears are sensible enough. But that’s another topic!