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I want to know about dithering twice.

I am using Cubase VST with Elephant and trying to compare the Dithering algorithms.  I am currently using the VST dithing (this is on the master effects channel as a built in effect) as well as the Elephant dithering.  Elephant is the last effect on the Master channel, the built in dithering is next in the chain.

So, is it a bad idea to dither twice?  I believe it does actually sound better, though I may be fooling myself.  I do have Nearfield Monitors, so the difference I hear should be pretty accurate.

Is there any standard advice on this?

An added dithering noise can sound nicer at times.  Probably, there can be no general advice regarding dithering and especially noise-shaping - if you like how it sounds then use dithering twice.

In your situation disabling noise-shaping in Elephant is probably a good idea (if it does not sound worse this way for you) because the last dither process will eventually 'reshape' everything afterwards.

Thanks, that pretty much what I thought.

Cubase VST offers 2 dither methods and 3 noise shaping methods.  Some seem to sound more treble and some more bass... other than that it is just a matter of listening to the different options.  The Elephant dither with noiseshaping sounds pretty 'middle-of-the-road' which I guess is what is intended.  It's all pretty subtle though... which is a problem when it is the last thing to set in the mixing chain, when your ears are getting tired... (but I ramble)

Thanks for the reply.