# Pro Tools vs Logic vs Reaper, etc. Sound quality?



## sevenstringj (Aug 2, 2010)

This may be a stupid question, but ALL else being equal (bit depth/sample rates, interface, midi file, plugins, etc.) is there any difference in sound quality of the resulting AIF or WAV file between the different DAWs?


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## prh (Aug 2, 2010)

no

if there is, the DAW really really sucks


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## signalgrey (Aug 2, 2010)

truth^

its more about what you use to put the sound IN to the program. of course post-processing will effect the output product but it wont degrade in quality unless you do something to degrade it.


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## prh (Aug 2, 2010)

oh but also, in the preferences there will be a selection for what bit-rate etc you want to record your files in (16/24bit, sample rate, etc), so if youre finnicky about these things you'll want to make sure its set to the highest... but yeah, i dont think any program is set up to read or write a lossless file better


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## tr0n (Aug 2, 2010)

Pro Tools and Logic both operate at 32-bit floating point internally, whereas Reaper operates at 64-bit (fixed-point or floating-point I'm not sure). On Reaper's website this is something they clearly advertise as a unique selling point but in practice I don't believe it makes much of a dfference. Your D/A converters and plugins will make more of a difference, since plugins oversampling and downsample (decimate) internally and they'll need to dither the signals on the way out.

Many believe that Logic 7 sounds better that 8 or 9 because of the playback engine, although personally I don't have any experience with this.

In terms of pure number crunching there shouldn't be any difference, but beware that -3dB on a fader in Tools is likely not going to be the same as -3dB in Logic. Different reference levels.


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## cwhitey2 (Aug 2, 2010)

it more or less comes down to ease of use for me, i havnt noticed any real differences
i use reaper and cubase. i use one or the other depending on what i want to do, cuase i know some things in reaper that i dont know how to do in cubase.


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## DomitianX (Aug 2, 2010)

Logic will operate in full 64-bit mode as well, but you have to disable 32-bit in the preferences.

I have heard these "arguments" before and a DAW is pretty much a DAW, its the preamps and AD/DA converters that matter. Garbage In = Garbage Out


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## tr0n (Aug 2, 2010)

DomitianX said:


> Logic will operate in full 64-bit mode as well, but you have to disable 32-bit in the preferences.
> 
> I have heard these "arguments" before and a DAW is pretty much a DAW, its the preamps and AD/DA converters that matter. Garbage In = Garbage Out



Sorry you're right there, I still use Logic 8, forgot about Logic 9. 

When referring to sound quality I think all we're talking about is the "tape machine" part of a DAW, which should essentially be identical. It's the usability and functionality that set DAWs apart.

And I really need to get my preamp fixed, going direct into the Hi-Z input of my interface sounds terrible. ><


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