Well then, do PC sound card DACs use the same techniques as consumer CD player DACs to shape the sound, or do they just pump the bytes out as-is?

Actually, this may be your point of confusion here, Tony. No CD player can just "pump out the bytes as-is." The digital-to-analog conversion is not a straightforward process, and no CD player or other digital audio device can do it perfectly. All of the terms like "18-bit D/As", "8 times oversampling", etc. are just different techniques used to mitigate the distorting effects of imperfect D/A conversion. They all make different compromises, and play different tricks, in the effort to produce the best possible output at their target price point.

Your sound card, your Empeg, and your CD player all perform fundamentally the same task, but with different levels of quality. Comparing these three products from an audio quality standpoint is no different than comparing the audio quality of three "standard" pieces of stereo equipment.


Michael Grant
12GB Green
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