Equalizer in a Hi Fi system

A number can not be distorted. It can only be changed.

@mijostyn Yikes! THAT’s your defense of DSP superiority?? Then clearly you misunderstand what a digital stream is representing. The numbers are describing the analog waveform, and if you CHANGE the numbers, you are by definition, DISTORTING the resulting waveform. The numbers ARE the waveform! You can change the numbers in a perfectly linear fashion, as in simply changing the amplitude of the entire signal (gain, volume) --OR-- the stream of numbers can be fed through very complex equations that perform filtering operations on the signal (EQ). These equations can work really well, or really poorly. I’ve heard good ones, and certainly bad ones. There’s many many types of filtering algorithms, with new ones being devised all the time. Some are intentionally colored and vintage sounding, and some are clean and transparent.

@mirolab 

And you obviously do not understand digital signal processing. A number has meaning, distortion does not. That number represents amplitude, nothing else. When you change that number you change amplitude in a specific way. Distortion in meaningless. DSP changes the numbers in specified patterns to achieve a specific result. Can you change the numbers to replicate distortion? I'm not sure although I do not see why not. A number can not be distorted, it can only be changed. 

Analog? It is essential only because that is what our ears understand. The only components that should operate in analog are speakers and perhaps amplifiers. Everything else is way better off operating in digital. Good examples are broadcast radio and the cell phone. Compare Sirius radio to standard radio, old analog cell vs what we have now. People who think analog signal processing is better are stuck at about 1981. As you yourself have just described, you can go almost anywhere with DSP and not necessarily in good ways. That is up to the programmer. 

Again, both analog and digital advancements have come along since 1981.  Referencing your past experiences years ago with analog is irrelevant 

No more bashing either. They both can play a role in augmenting the audiophile listening experience 

And you obviously do not understand digital signal processing. A number has meaning, distortion does not. That number represents amplitude, nothing else. When you change that number you change amplitude in a specific way. Distortion in meaningless. DSP changes the numbers in specified patterns to achieve a specific result. Can you change the numbers to replicate distortion? I’m not sure although I do not see why not. A number can not be distorted, it can only be changed.

Mirolab is right ...

As usual mijostyn conflate the Fourier map and the territory of hearing ...

Signal processing is grounded in psycho-acoustics research not the reverse ...The ears /brain science rule the technology modalities not the reverse ...

"DistortionS" in the analog flow is at the plural , not at the singular, some are welcome others not so much ... And the linear design of a non distorting optimal electronical component is not the same as the design of our non linear ears/brain workings ... it is why psycho-acoutics exist to study and to bridge the gap ...

We cannot decipher timbre with only numbers by the way we need ears/brain ... Even Choueri DSP filters so revolutionary they are are grounded in psycho-acoustics measurements of the non digital non linear brain -ears/head..

The brain work at complex simultaneous levels between analog and digital flows of translation and filterings in the two directions at the same time and this at way lower levels than the neurons , only mijostyn brain work perfectly in a singular digital linear way as a chip it seems .. I apologize for my bad joke ... It was too tempting ...😉