TerraTec EWS88 MT Manual page 49

In addition, the drivers support a data-transport-format called "32 Bit unpacked". Audio data
is being transported via the PCI-bus to the hard drive. The PCI-bus works with a 32-bit rate.
Such a PC does usually achieve a balanced performance. 8-bit audio data will always consist of
4 (4 x 8 = 32), 16-bit data of 2 (2 x 16 = 32) separate data streams (top picture).
A 24-bit resolution, however, is slightly more complicated: Suddenly there are only 24 bits,
which means that 8 are effectively "missing". The "24 Bit packed" standard resolves this
problem: The PC-CPU divides 32 bits into multiples of 24 bits (center picture). This is heavy on
any CPU and does not help the overall performance.
The "32 Bit unpacked" fills the remainder of the 24-bit signal with noughts and transmits
these as a "proper" 32-bit signal. Most of today's applications make use of this resource-
saving feature (bottom picture).
AudioSystem EWS88 49