I don't disagree with what you say, Per.

I just find it entirely too easy for the advertisers to grab easy-to-quantify handles on the product, such as resolution of the converters, rather than to go into detail in their advertising. After all, as you've pointed out, the dynamic range of which the converters are theoretically capable isn't that important, nor is it that likely that the product in question provides them. 16-bit resolution is difficult enough to attain, regardless of the converter resolution. I don't know what happens to the extra 8 bits, but the end result, if it's actually 16 bits, is quite an achievement.

What I believe drives the interest in the resolution is not so much the interest in doing what you have described, but simply the interest in numbers that are easily claimed. It's amply difficult to prove that claims made by sound-card makers aren't being met. The marketers are safe.

RE