mahgister,
I think you are trying to attach far too much complexity to this topic that is not a factor of the article. It does not matter if there is 1, 2, or 1000 sensors, there is still just 2 signals, right and left, or perhaps more in a surround system. We only need to get those 2 signals right, no matter how many sensors there are.
A digitized and reconstructed analog signal with a given bandwidth, is no more compressed and decompressed than an analog signal that is stored and played back through a system of limited bandwidth. Arguable, modern digital systems "compress" far less, where "compress" is meant to mean throwing away data.
Yes, it really is as simple (or not so simple) as Shannon-Nyquist. Shannon-Nyquist even predicts that you can hear tones/signals that are lower in amplitude than the signal to noise ratio, both for analog and digital. For all the talk about micro-timing, etc., there is no evidence that our auditory systems is anything but bandwidth limited. In fact, the experiments clearly show that these "micro-timing" "events", i.e. detecting time of arrival within <5 microseconds, is not improved by increased audio bandwidth.
This statement below by Sofky is just lazy gobblygook. Digital "variability" is neither lower nor higher, but digital implementations are lower in noise typically. If you don't like that, then simply add some noise back at playback. A reconstructed digital signal in the analog domain is absolutely as continuous as any other bandwidth limited signal. "Continuous natural laws"? ... huh? There is nothing "unnatural" about the structure of digital "variability". That is well, a really weird statement, that I can only see someone who has a distorted understanding of bandwidth limited systems making. Hyperdimensional ... that is some hyperbole on his part. No, same dimension as the "real" world, just storing it in a different and more accurate fashion.
I think you are trying to attach far too much complexity to this topic that is not a factor of the article. It does not matter if there is 1, 2, or 1000 sensors, there is still just 2 signals, right and left, or perhaps more in a surround system. We only need to get those 2 signals right, no matter how many sensors there are.
A digitized and reconstructed analog signal with a given bandwidth, is no more compressed and decompressed than an analog signal that is stored and played back through a system of limited bandwidth. Arguable, modern digital systems "compress" far less, where "compress" is meant to mean throwing away data.
Yes, it really is as simple (or not so simple) as Shannon-Nyquist. Shannon-Nyquist even predicts that you can hear tones/signals that are lower in amplitude than the signal to noise ratio, both for analog and digital. For all the talk about micro-timing, etc., there is no evidence that our auditory systems is anything but bandwidth limited. In fact, the experiments clearly show that these "micro-timing" "events", i.e. detecting time of arrival within <5 microseconds, is not improved by increased audio bandwidth.
This statement below by Sofky is just lazy gobblygook. Digital "variability" is neither lower nor higher, but digital implementations are lower in noise typically. If you don't like that, then simply add some noise back at playback. A reconstructed digital signal in the analog domain is absolutely as continuous as any other bandwidth limited signal. "Continuous natural laws"? ... huh? There is nothing "unnatural" about the structure of digital "variability". That is well, a really weird statement, that I can only see someone who has a distorted understanding of bandwidth limited systems making. Hyperdimensional ... that is some hyperbole on his part. No, same dimension as the "real" world, just storing it in a different and more accurate fashion.
But variability in the digital world has a very different structure from the “noise” known to science. In one sense, digital variability is lower,having been specifically enriched to appear to our sensory systems as coherent 3D images or sounds rather than as random snow or hiss. In that sense, moment-to-moment digital inputs are designed to seem low noise and clean. But digital sources are hyperdimensional patterns, which (unlike real things) can change discontinuously, thereby violating the continuous natural laws a nervous system expects. The unnatural structure of digital variability can make it appear far more trustworthy and predictable than it actually is. (Sofky)