Ask an Audio geek

[AFTT47]

I will draw up some pictures and documentation this weekend.  I was not arguing that digital cannot be good enough only that it cannot be a perfect replica of an analog signal.  It can never be.  Every time the clock goes positive one gets a sample.  What is missing is what is between the clock pulses. 50% at best.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Draw up all the pics you want: You're wrong. It should be obvious that you're wrong. How could we achieve a measured THD of a tiny fraction of a percent of we we're only capturing half the signal? Impossible.

First of all, consider it from a strictly mathematical sense. if it were as you say, doubling, tripling, quadrupuling the sample rate would do nothing. Even though we sample more and more data, we never go over 50%. Does that make the tiniest bit of sense to you? This is like saying that if you have a distance to cover, every step you take can only get you half-way there. You can never get more than half-way to your destination.

I don't know if you have a problem conceptualizing your error but it shouldn't matter. This is the beauty of science. You can infer it by logic. If it were as you say, digital sampling would be virtually useless. It would be impossible to achieve the measured results we get. It just doesn't work like that.

This is like evolution. You might not be able to make the connection between random, genetic mutations and the result that a dog-sized creature evolved into the horses we see today but you don't have to. The fossil evidence is there. Similarly, the objective measurements are there to prove that digital sampling works far better than you think. It's undeniable.

I don't understand the mathematical theorem that Alex mentioned myself. I'm aware of it though and I know it is a done deal. The universe doesn't care about my lack of ability to understand it. Digital audio sampling and playback goes right on being far superior to any analog technique ever developed. It does so just the same as evolution trumps creationism - regardless of my or anyone else's ability to understand it. So drawing up your pictures and documentation is like a creationist trying to prove the flood. We've done that already. This is fact, not opinion. Sixteen bit digital audio is measurably superior in every way to any common analog storage technique. I say "common" because I have no way of knowing if someone has a laboratory magnetic tape machine with one meter-wide tape with a speed of 50 meters/second.