[William Sommerwerck]

As Mr. Dorsey has observed here before, there isn't really any
true analog recording. Mechanical recording is quantized by the
wax or vinyl molecules, etc. and magnetic recording is quantized
by the size of the magnetic monopoles, head gap, tape speed, etc.

Yes, but... That's really stretching it.

I can hear the effect in both mechanical and magnetic recording.

What, to your ears, is the subjective effect?

The noise/distortion floor increases. You can do an experiment
where you can take a 16-bit recording and resample to 12-bit,
and 10-bit and 8-bit and hear the "hash" floor rising under the
signal.

Much like driving over a freshly paved macadam (blacktop,
tarmac) road vs. a gravel road. They will both get you there,
but one of them much more quietly than the other.

How do you know that these audible effects are due to quantization, and not
something else?


I thought I misread you, so I asked "how do you know?". Then you replied...

Because only quantization is changed.
One equation, one unknown.

That was not the issue! See above. You said you could hear the effect of
quantization in (presumably) analog media -- "mechanical and magnetic
recording". Then you start talking about the audibility of quantization
effects in digital recording.

Non sequitur.