alt Hacker NewsThe central point is that AD conversion can and will introduce artifacts. DA process wil intrduce more artifacts. The "imperfect" is a huge range and AD/DA converters play a role in that. We are not talking about "golden cables" bs here, conversion does introduce measurable artifacts in the audio path. The more tracks you record the more artifacts you have. Can everyone hear them? Definitely no. Can they be heard - yes, I can hear the difference between an old Digidesign interface and Grace Design interface.
No, the central point is that the analog signal handling before AD introduces vastly more "artifacts" than the AD or DA does.
In addition, nobody cares about "measurable" artifacts (or rather, they should not). What matters are "audible" artifacts. We have measuring equipment that is vastly more sensitive than human ears (e.g. your recording equipment that can pick up signals far above 22kHz). What's measurable is not particularly interesting - what's audible is.
Artifacts do not sum linearly, because they do not originate from correlated sources (unless you're doing something rather unusual).
Glad you can hear the difference between two converters, but I trust you've tested it in a double blind setting?