wow. i've been using Pow-r 2 all these years like a chump

The op said he didn't want the history or why to use it, just which type you used.

carl
The op said he didn't want the history or why to use it, just which type you used.

But the fact that he said that and then is still asking implies that what he thinks he knows might be the oft repeated misunderstandings and/or mythological BS that surrounds dither and noise shaping.
 
When reducing bit depth to 16bit, any dither + noise shaping combo is fine with me because any differences between them is just a slightly different noise color that in the overwhelming majority of typical real world listening conditions won't be audible anyway.
 
If one is hearing anything other than different colored noise with different types of dither + noise shaping, then it's either their imagination or the dither wasn't properly implemented. 

Pwr-3 just because I have no freaking clue what the REAL worl differences are and that, IIRC, is the most modern and elaborate.
 
If I noticed a problem with the track after applying it I would try the other options starting with the other Pwr options and then the remaining options... but I've never had a problem with Pwr3.
 
It's really not the time of thing I waste a ton of brainspace on.
 
I use a similar approach to the Offline Render options. I use the top shelf Radius mix one by default and if I don't like the results I'll switch to something else. I think I have only switched to another algorithm MAYBE once or twice and even then I'm pretty sure something else was the issue... not the Radius algo.

I use pow-r 2.
 
pow-r 1 is made for spoken voice.
pow-r 2 is made for limited dynamic range rock music
pow-r 3 is made for wide dynamic range classical music
 
"the POW-R algorithm is made available in three variants, optimized respectively for simple program such as spoken word, limited dynamic range program such as rock music, and wide dynamic range program such as orchestral music"
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POW-R
 

I do not use dithering at all until rendering the master. I record in 24 bit and render the final wav file at 24 bit, so there's no dithering at all in Sonar. I bring the wav file into Izotope Ozone 7 standalone for "mastering" (in quotes because I'm just figuring out what the heck that means) and  I render the final product at 16 bits. It's then and only then that I use MBIT+ dithering.
 
I don't know if Sonar uses dithering when freezing or bouncing behind the scenes though, I haven't seen that in the manual yet. There may be some going on that I can't see or control somewhere. Dithering once is what the manual recommends, and that makes sense to me; I can't see any point in repeatedly adding noise to a track when the sample bit length isn't changing. And I can use every little advantage I can get at this point.

Only dither if your taking your files to 44.1/16 CD and franky.... I can't tell the difference.   I use POWR-3 cause I read somewhere its the best

carl
The op said he didn't want the history or why to use it, just which type you used.

... and why.

...anyway, to answer the question.
I use Ozone as my final mastering plug so am obliged to turn dithering in Sonar off and let Ozone do the dithering.
 

stxx
Only dither if your taking your files to 44.1/16 CD and franky.... I can't tell the difference.   I use POWR-3 cause I read somewhere its the best

To  be more precise, only dither when you are doing a downward bit reduction.