> Now I don't really understand why 16-bit or 1-bit makes a difference. Maybe someone can explain that to me. Short answer: It's a means to an end. A 1-bit DAC

> Now I don't really understand why 16-bit or 1-bit makes a difference. Maybe someone can explain that to me. Short answer: It's a means to an end. A 1-bit DAC with a DSP is easier to make than a 16-bit DAC with no DSP. Long answer: If you're using dithering, every time you double the sampling rate, the perceived "bits per sample" for everything else doubles. IE: For sounds below 22khz, a 16-bit, 44khz will sound just as good as 15-bit, 88khz, or 14-bit, 176khz. Add some noise shaping, (basically, tuned hiss,) and the perceived bits per sample also go up. Thus, a 1-bit per sample DAC at a super-high sampling rate, coupled with a well-designed DSP, and an analog low-pass filter, will perfectly preserve all of the information in the original 16-bit, 44khz signal. What the DSP does is move all of the distortion into frequencies well above the cutoff of the analog low-pass filter. That's how a 22khz tone comes out as a sine wave instead of a square wave.