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RE: BITS ARE BITS! - look elsewhere

"f) lack of a smooth gradation between levels - This is the interesting one. I'm not an engineer so maybe someone who is can help me out. Consider this: because the loudness is a function of the amplitude fo the wave, in a sense analog permits an infinite number of gradations within its dynamic range, whereas digital limits you to 2 to the 16th or whatnot. Possible the ear can detect the step-function quality of digital. I wonder if there's a way of testing this, e.g. by making an analog recording that emulates the step-function effect of digital."

This is addressed by digital filters. Take the old 20 bit 8x oversampling digital filter. The extra 4 bits fill in the space between gradations (amplitude), and the oversampling creates extra places to place points between the samples (time). Combine them both, and the "gradation" (quantization) problem is mitigated.

I think the gradation problem was due to other effects. Mainly jitter in the A/D conversion, and one thing that I think was never addressed- "settling time" in data sampling. Nobody has really tracked the accuracy of the data after A/D conversion relative to the pre-digitized analog- It was just *presumed* to be accurate. And since high-rez requires much shorter settling times relative to Redbook, the problem (if it exists) is exacerbated.

This is mere speculation by the way.

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