16-Bit Audio Explained: How Nomono Deliver Pristine Audio Recordings

At Nomono, we’re committed to delivering an effortless and professional audio recording experience with Nomono Studio. We enable the user to achieve this through our hardware products: the Sound Capsule and the Stellar Kit.

Both products feature seamless integration with the Nomono Studio Cloud and are designed to give creators the tools they need to capture stunning audio with ease wherever they go.

While the Stellar Kit features a pair of wireless Stellar Mics, our flagship model - the Sound Capsule - is designed for even more complex recording needs, featuring four wireless Stellar Mics and a central Space Recorder with onboard ambisonics mics.

One question we often hear is:

“Why do the Stellar Mics only record 16-bit audio when some other products use 24-bit/32-bit?”

We understand this curiosity, especially for audio professionals familiar with bit-depth discussions. Let’s dive into the design philosophy behind our products, explain the choice of bit depth, and reassure you about the quality and flexibility of our system.

Capturing Raw Audio: The Nomono Philosophy

Both the Sound Capsule and the Stellar Kit were designed to capture raw, unprocessed audio that you can enhance and refine later in our Nomono Studio Cloud platform. This design choice ensures maximum flexibility and control for creators, while keeping the devices simple, portable, and optimized for capturing high-quality recordings.

What Happens During Recording?

On the devices themselves:

1. Raw audio is captured directly from the MEMS microphones.
2. Basic filtering is applied to remove unwanted low-frequency rumble or high-frequency interference.
3. Automatic Gain Control (AGC) protects the audio from clipping without distortion artifacts.

That’s it! We don’t process or compress the audio on the Stellar Mics, nor on the Space Recorder. The result is that you get a clean, authentic audio capture that is ready for editing and AI enhancement in Nomono Studio Cloud.

Why 16-Bit Is More Than Enough for Stellar Mics

We know people might raise an eyebrow at “16-bit,” especially if they’ve seen competitors advertising 24-bit/32-bit recording. However, the choice to use 16-bit audio in the Stellar Mics is a deliberate and practical decision:

1. Real-World Performance
   The Stellar Mic’s close-range recording and optimized design deliver clean, professional audio at 16-bit, with no perceptible loss of quality for voice recording application. The human voice has a dynamic range of 70-80dB from a whisper to a shout. The 96dB dynamic range provided by the 16-bit conversion in the Stellar Mic exceeds this. Furthermore, the Stellar Mic’s boast Nomono’s high-quality MEMS microphones and onboard Automatic Gain Control (AGC) set to protect the signal from overloading. 
2. Portable Power
   16-bit audio ensures the Stellar Mic stays lightweight, wireless, and long-lasting, as the technical requirements for processing audio at this bit depth are significantly less involved. These are key advantages for creators who need freedom and flexibility without sacrificing reliability. It's important to realize that more bits = more data = more radio time, and the wireless transmission radios are one of the most power-consuming components of a wireless audio system. 
3. Cloud-Enhanced Potential
   The Nomono Studio Cloud offers AI-powered enhancement tools that elevate your recordings beyond raw capture. Our platform is designed to make your audio sound incredible - whether it started out as a 16-, 24- or 32-bit file. In fact, with AI enabled noise reduction, one could say that Nomono manages to achieve an artificially high signal-to-noise ratio.

Why 24-Bit for the Space Recorder?

The Space Recorder is the central hub of the Sound Capsule, housing eight built-in microphones for spatial and ambisonic recording. Its role is different from the Stellar Mic, and so are its requirements:

1. Optimized for Distant and Ambient Sounds
   Unlike the close-range Stellar Mic, the Space Recorder often captures sound from greater distances or in ambient environments. Quieter sounds and subtle spatial details benefit from the 144 dB dynamic range of 24-bit audio, ensuring every nuance is preserved.
2. Improved Spatial Positioning Accuracy

   Spatial recording isn’t only about capturing sound quality - it’s also about precision. 24-bit audio provides finer resolution in the data, which helps the Space Recorder determine spatial positioning more accurately. This results in clearer localization of voices and sounds within the 3D sound field, making the listening experience more immersive and true-to-life.

3. Powered by Advanced Hardware
   As a larger and more powerful unit, the Space Recorder has:

• More battery capacity to handle the demands of 24-bit audio.
• Advanced processing power for managing the data from multiple microphones simultaneously.

This allows the Space Recorder to record and store high-resolution audio with ease, complementing the 16-bit Stellar Mic recordings and enriching the overall soundscape.

The Perfect Balance: 16-Bit and 24-Bit Together

The combination of 16-bit Stellar Mics and the 24-bit Space Recorder is not a compromise - it’s a system carefully designed for versatility and performance. Each component plays a specific role:

• Stellar Mics: Portable, wireless, and optimized for clean, close-range recording at 16-bit.
• Space Recorder: High-resolution spatial audio capture at 24-bit, ideal for distant and ambient soundscapes and for accurate positioning. 

Together, they deliver an unparalleled recording experience, empowering you to create without limits.

Final Thoughts

At Nomono, we believe that audio quality is about more than numbers. It’s about creating tools that inspire confidence, simplify workflows, and produce exceptional results in real-world conditions. The Stellar Kit and Sound Capsule, paired with the Nomono Studio Cloud, ensure that your recordings are not only professional but truly transformative.