Summary of results¶

• Summary of results
  • What we're looking at
  • Speed
    • Implementations by decimation factor
      • Factor 02
      • Factor 04
      • Factor 08
      • Factor 16
      • Factor 32
      • Factor 64
    • Decimation factors by implementation
      • Implementation zoh
      • Implementation decimate
      • Implementation decimate_b
      • Implementation resample_hq
      • Implementation resample_mq
      • Implementation resample_lq
      • Implementation src
    • Resampler filter lengths

What we're looking at¶

Here we're only looking at causal methods, so no forward/backward filtering. The question in my head is really whether faster IIR filters are still so much faster as to be worth using in preference to linear-phase methods with better (?) theoretical quality. Of course that would always depend on the application, but it's interesting to compare.

We compared

• decimate: the Decimator implementation in the qm-dsp library, which uses an IIR lowpass filter (perhaps an elliptical filter?) with 8 coefficient pairs;

• decimate_b: the DecimatorB class in the qm-dsp library, which uses a Butterworth IIR lowpass filter of order 6;

• resample_hq, resample_mq, resample_lq: the Resampler implementation in the qm-dsp library, which uses a lengthy Kaiser-windowed sinc filter, at three different quality settings;

• src: the sndfile-resample program which uses libsamplerate, a well trusted resampler also using a Kaiser-windowed sinc implementation, at its default quality setting;

• zoh: the sndfile-resample zero-order hold resampler, which just takes every Nth sample without any filtering, serving as a baseline.

Speed¶

For 5292000 input frames on a Core i3-3229Y low-voltage CPU. (Frames-per-second values are for input frames.)

All code is 64-bit. The qm-dsp implementations (resample_* and decimate) were compiled with -O3 -ffast-math while the libsamplerate implementations (src and zoh) were standard Ubuntu packages, so probably -O2. This is likely to make a very significant difference, so these results are more useful for comparison among the qm-dsp implementations than between qm-dsp and libsamplerate.

The decimate implementation supports factors up to 8 only, so 16x, 32x and 64x are handled in two passes.

All implementations use libsndfile for audio file I/O, so that should not be a factor in overall speed.

These frames-per-second figures look terribly precise, but I imagine there's a good 10% margin of error (run to run or whatever).

Implementations by decimation factor¶

For 11520000 input frames.

Factor 02¶

Kfps	Clock time	Implementation
61604	0.187	zoh
52602	0.219	decimate_b
52363	0.220	decimate
17668	0.652	resample_lq
9365	1.230	resample_mq
4768	2.416	resample_hq
2176	5.294	src

Factor 04¶

Kfps	Clock time	Implementation
93658	0.123	zoh
58181	0.198	decimate
47213	0.244	decimate_b
19896	0.579	resample_lq
9982	1.154	resample_mq
4965	2.320	resample_hq
2292	5.026	src

Factor 08¶

Kfps	Clock time	Implementation
128000	0.090	zoh
60952	0.189	decimate
44651	0.258	decimate_b
21215	0.543	resample_lq
10331	1.115	resample_mq
3480	3.310	resample_hq
2361	4.879	src

Factor 16¶

Kfps	Clock time	Implementation
160000	0.072	zoh
46080	0.250	decimate
43636	0.264	decimate_b
22068	0.522	resample_lq
7700	1.496	resample_mq
3529	3.264	resample_hq
2119	5.435	src

Factor 32¶

Kfps	Clock time	Implementation
182857	0.063	zoh
53333	0.216	decimate
42825	0.269	decimate_b
21021	0.548	resample_lq
7379	1.561	resample_mq
3443	3.345	resample_hq
2179	5.286	src

Factor 64¶

Kfps	Clock time	Implementation
188852	0.061	zoh
53581	0.215	decimate
42666	0.270	decimate_b
16202	0.711	resample_lq
7417	1.553	resample_mq
3489	3.301	resample_hq
2423	4.753	src

Decimation factors by implementation¶

For 11520000 input frames.

Implementation zoh¶

Kfps	Clock time	Factor
188852	0.061	64
182857	0.063	32
160000	0.072	16
128000	0.090	08
93658	0.123	04
61604	0.187	02

Implementation decimate¶

Kfps	Clock time	Factor
60952	0.189	08
58181	0.198	04
53581	0.215	64
53333	0.216	32
52363	0.220	02
46080	0.250	16

Implementation decimate_b¶

Kfps	Clock time	Factor
52602	0.219	02
47213	0.244	04
44651	0.258	08
43636	0.264	16
42825	0.269	32
42666	0.270	64

Implementation resample_hq¶

Kfps	Clock time	Factor
4965	2.320	04
4768	2.416	02
3529	3.264	16
3489	3.301	64
3480	3.310	08
3443	3.345	32

Implementation resample_mq¶

Kfps	Clock time	Factor
10331	1.115	08
9982	1.154	04
9365	1.230	02
7700	1.496	16
7417	1.553	64
7379	1.561	32

Implementation resample_lq¶

Kfps	Clock time	Factor
22068	0.522	16
21215	0.543	08
21021	0.548	32
19896	0.579	04
17668	0.652	02
16202	0.711	64

Implementation src¶

Kfps	Clock time	Factor
2423	4.753	64
2361	4.879	08
2292	5.026	04
2179	5.286	32
2176	5.294	02
2119	5.435	16

Resampler filter lengths¶

Filter lengths the qm-dsp Resamplers decided to use:

Factor	Length (hq)	Length (mq)	Length (lq)
2	643	291	119
4	1285	579	237
8	2567	1155	471
16	5131	2307	939
32	10261	4613	1877
64	20519	9223	3751