Dynamic Range & Bit Depth Test – Quiet Level, Dither & Aliasing
Low-level tonesQuantisation and aliasing
Ready
Alternating loud and quiet bursts expose compression and auto-gain.
- Start quiet, raise slowly
- Check L/R markings first
- Disable audio enhancements
- Runs inside your browser
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Dynamic range, bit depth and dithering test
Dynamic range is the distance between the loudest clean sound and the noise floor. These signals step down in level and show what happens at low bit depths.
Dynamic range of audio systems
16-bit audio offers about 96 dB of range; good playback systems reach 100 dB or more.
Dynamic test tones and compression
Phone and laptop processing often compresses quiet and loud parts.
16-bit vs 8-bit and dithering
Reducing bit depth adds quantisation error that sounds like grainy distortion on quiet sounds.
How to Use the
Dynamic Range Test
- 01
Volume
set normal listening level with the slider at −20 dBFS.
- 02
Step down
play the step sequence and note the last level you can still hear clearly.
- 03
Noise floor
with nothing playing, listen for hiss; it sets the lower limit.
- 04
Artefacts
compare the smooth and coarse tones and run the aliasing sweep.
Dynamic range of audio systems
16-bit audio offers about 96 dB of range; good playback systems reach 100 dB or more. In practice the room’s noise sets the limit, so hearing tones below −60 dBFS at normal volume is a good sign.
Dynamic test tones and compression
Phone and laptop processing often compresses quiet and loud parts. If the quiet bursts sound almost as loud as the loud ones, an enhancer, loudness equalisation or auto-gain feature is active.
16-bit vs 8-bit and dithering
Reducing bit depth adds quantisation error that sounds like grainy distortion on quiet sounds. Dither adds a little noise to turn that distortion into smooth hiss. The coarse tone imitates what low-resolution audio does to a pure sine.
16-bit vs 8-bit and dither
16-bit audio has a theoretical dynamic range of about 96 dB; 8-bit only about 48 dB, so quiet passages become grainy. Dither adds low-level noise that turns that distortion into a smoother hiss, and noise shaping moves that hiss to frequencies where we hear it less. Aliasing is a different fault: frequencies above half the sample rate fold back as unrelated tones.
Aliasing
Frequencies above half the sample rate fold back into the audible band. A rising sweep near 20 kHz may produce falling “ghost” tones on devices with poor resampling filters.
About these signals
What is being tested
Low-level clarity, noise floor and how processing treats quiet sounds.
Take up the challenge
Find the quietest level you can still identify, then compare devices.
Related guides and fixes
Learn more in these guides: No sound on Windows, No sound on Mac, Headphones only one side, Speakers crackling, How to test speakers, How to test headphones.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.What dynamic range is good enough?
For home listening, 90 dB or more is plenty; music rarely uses more than 20–30 dB.
Q.Why can I not hear the −80 dB tone?
That is normal at moderate volume; room noise masks it.
Q.Is 24-bit audio audibly better?
For playback, rarely. It helps mostly in recording and mixing.