Does Hercules' Fortissimo 4 Deliver at 24 Bits?

Sound Quality At 24 Bits And 48 KHz

With the move to 24 bits, sound card improvements are only as good as how well the card's components can take advantage of 24 bit capabilities. In this case, the Fortissimo 4 is up to the tasks, as demonstrated by its noise levels and dynamics.

• Frequency response (20 Hz - 20 kHz) : +0.02, -0.47 dB
• Weighted signal-to-noise ratio : 97.1 dB(A)
• Distortion : 0.01 %
• Stereo separation : 93.8 dB

Within a few fractions of a decibel, response is virtually identical to the results at 44 kHz, which is a highly satisfactory result.

Here's where the improvement offered by the card's 24 bit capabilities is the most evident.

Logically, dynamic capacity improves with the reduction of parasitic noises!

Performance is even with the results at 44 kHz as far as figures are concerned. The H3 and H5 values - the highest ones - are very close. But the spectrum is "cleaner."

Again the difference between 44 and 48 kHz is more visible in the spectrum than in the figures, which are similar.

The same result as at 44 kHz, where the level was already more than sufficient...