Anyone specialist on floating bits in Sonar ?

Inserted the Sonar bitmeter plugin on a song and flipped from 16,24 to floating.
blind testing 5 times in a row picked floating as best sounding (not a huge difference and only hearing it on studio headphones).
Can't get this bitmeter floating effect applied anyway unfortunately (tried on exporting and bouncing to clip), I know it's just a monitoring plugin but still would like to try floating.
Anyone know if it's possible to control this in or outside Sonar ?

bitmeter is not an effect. It's just a meter that does not change the audio in any way.

Maybe you're hearing the latency caused by the plugin?

best way to describe it I can find is, floating sounds more open, free using all the space where 24 bit sounds as if it's locked up....it's just a little difference I can only hear on headphones.
just wondering as the plugin is there to tell you the difference between the formats, yet I don't know how to set them..
 

As far as I am aware there is no dithering on the bitmeter plugin (or any metering plugin).

Sanderxpander
To avoid miscommunication, dithering is not the same as truncating and isn't necessary for it. It's a separate process that is in many cases recommended when truncating. I think we mean the same thing though.

Truncation is the problem that dithering fixes. It helps obscure artifacts cause by truncating. Hence that is what I think the OP is hearing. Otherwise without any processing to the file its still a 16 bit file within a 32 bit FP container. Consequently there should be no benefit and he shouldn't be able to hear it anyway because no interface can play back 32 bits FP. It must be converted to 24 bits or 16 bits. This is where dithering comes in. 
 
My suggestion was that if he is hearing something different it is most likely is dither. On the other hand its also very possible that its due entirely to the placebo effect. I prefer to take him at his word. 

hey guys,  Bitmeter does not show the format of your track (at least I found on testing) and isn't meant for that.
Bitmeter is a plugin that let's you listen/compare 3 formats, in my opinion.
 
 
 
 

Wouter Schijns
hey guys,  Bitmeter does not show the format of your track (at least I found on testing) and isn't meant for that.
Bitmeter is a plugin that let's you listen/compare 3 formats, in my opinion.
 
 
 
 

bitmeter shows which bits are being used by the signal if it is converted to the format in question.
 
It does not change the audio, and this is easily verified by null testing.

Wouter Schijns
hey guys,  Bitmeter does not show the format of your track (at least I found on testing) and isn't meant for that.
Bitmeter is a plugin that let's you listen/compare 3 formats, in my opinion.
 
 
 
 

I never said that. What I said is it shows what bits are being used. 
 
From the Sonar X2 manual
 
See the benefits of SONAR's 64-bit audio engine in action with the Bit Meter VST plug-in: . A
valuable tool for monitoring the digital activity of your audio stream. View output word length,
dynamic range, signal peaks, and more to analyze the quality of your digital signal.

 
Below is from this post from Bob Damiano of CW.  Its post no. 4  http://forum.cakewalk.com...ter39-for-m956916.aspx
 
It was originally intended as a demonstration tool for shows and clinics, etc. The BitMeter shows typical distribution of the numbers representing the audio within various bit depths. 

Set it to 16 to see how your audio would be represented on a CD

Set it to 24 to see how your audio might be represented over your 24Bit soundcard, or when exported to a 24Bit file.

Set it to Float and see how your audio would be represented in either 32 or 64 Bit floats (this will switch automatically depending on the "Double Precision" setting in Options|Audio.

For an interesting Demo.
1. Patch three bitmeters in a bus. Set one to 16, another to 24, the last to Float.
2. Patch a synth and choose a patch with a long (maybe 5 seconds) release time
3. Record a one-note clip to play thru the synth.
4. Make sure effect tails after stopping is on.

Play the song and watch the meters. As the sound of the synth decays, you will see when the least significant bit of a CD stops changing and goes dim. After this point, there would be nothing on the CD.

But you will continue to see some of the least significant bits of the 24 still flickering. When the last of those is gone, there is no more sound over your soundcard (or in a 24Bit file).

But - wow - look at how long the Float bits keep going - especially if set to Double Precision.

The idea is to show that in a large project, the finest details of the contribution of that synth would still be mixed into the final product LONG after that synth would stop being rendered on a CD or even a high-end sound card.

And of course the fact that it will ONLY show 64 Lights in SONAR doesn't hurt 

But besides all that, it does have the pretty lights.

I got it (finally) 
Sorry John, it's clear now and thanks for explaining detail / sending the breakdown.

32 and 64 bit floating point mathematics are used for ternal processing of audio and or fx processing.

While 32 bit files can be exported they are no longer floating point.

Also while 32 bit files can be exported the only use for it would be to import into another program for further manipulation. Why? As yet there are no devices capable of playing back 32 bit files. There is no need. From an audio standpoint while internal numerical calculations can be more refined with less rounding errors, by the higher bit rates, for the purpose of listening there is no point for that resolution.

You'll get better results by increasing sample rate and that is a hot bed of subjective thought that can lead to months worth of arguments.

I don't know in Sonar where you can select Floating point as file export bit depth.

Isn't it available as an option in the Bit Depth parameter of the Export Screen?
 
In fact I'm 100% sure that's where it is and I routinely export mixes @ 32 bit for subsequent album compilation in a different project.

LOL! tm that now!