>>>A true audiophile eh?
>
>Yep, before I got into programming I had a part time business building stereo speakers. Even developed an electrostatic speaker. It took a DC bias voltage of over 5KV just to charge the diaphram! It sounded unbelievable, but was too directional in the highs. This is the main problem with planar transducers, however some people will say this is its greatest asset. I plan to get the company going again in my retirement. For now, its just a hobby.

The furthest I got was building cabinets and crossovers. Never attempted building an actual driver.

>>>IMO, if analysis equipment can't see the problem then the human ear can't >>hear it. I think it's all in your head dude. :-)
>
>How can digital be better? Like I said, its only an approximation of an analog wave form. The record is the real thing.

Yeah, but the DA convertor changes it back long before it gets back to you. Digital recording equipment does take the aggregate of the wave (throwing away information in the process), but the result is the only thing that our ears can hear anyway. IOW, that lost information would have been lost on us anyway.

>Its speakers that add all the distortion. Bad speakers can alter the frequency response and worst of all, change the phase relationship between harmonically related components of a complex waveform.

All the components can. Amps, crossovers, and even cables and cabinets can screw with the phase and FR of the signal. But yes, speakers are generally the biggest culprit.

> Very few speakers can pass a recogizable square wave.

That's ok. Have you ever heard a square wave? < g >