My ribbon speaker cable is .003" thick. What travels through them has to be very very small. The powerful deep bass licks make that hard to visualize. I have read the music signal travels near the speed of light and is comprised of properties pertaining to both wave and particle.
Now, the 1,s and 0,s can be moved about, or preserved accurately enough by engineers. It is when they start fooling with the signal that ruins things. At least that has been my experience listening to my system.
We can agree the signal is not a neat sine wave, or square wave. We have seen our best, poor as that being, measure of what a music wave may look like. I think that look is a far cry from the true three dimensional complexity music waves are really comprised of.
I just wonder how on earth engineers think they can cull distortion from the body of the speed of light music without affecting the subtleties of the music itself? How is distortion plied away from that complex bundle of pulses without disrupting it's flow? Quantum Physics says no way. My system proves it.
Producing music by interpolation of 1's and 0's is not a perfect thing. Winding a diamond stylus mechanically along a soft groove is not a perfect system either. I don't care how limber the cartridge is, a high magnification should prove the marriage is microscopically a clumsy and dirty affair. Despite deficiencies, both really can be immensely pleasing to the ear.
It has been said time and time again, industry does not care about our angels on a pinhead discussion. We audiophiles are too tiny a minority for them to do the things that try to satisfy our cravings. No matter. The deeper I peer into 16 bit, the more amazed I am just what subtleties those bits encompass.