Fully agree. Thinking of network transceivers as digital to analog converters (DACs) is just as conflating as thinking of pulse width modulation (PWM) controll

Fully agree. Thinking of network transceivers as digital to analog converters (DACs) is just as conflating as thinking of pulse width modulation (PWM) controllers as DACs. Analog to digital converters (ADCs) and DACs are referring to the fact the actual analog signal you input/output is the ground truth value of the data not that the digitally encoded signal is being sent in the real world on a wire. The difference is if the signal is distorted on the way to the other end of the cable it's still (within tolerances) decoded back to the same digital value despite the changes in the physical signal.