El, I think you miss the point. To answer your last question first, I have not measured dynamic range in source components or in in-room replay, which is why I provided the link. Did you bother to look at it? But what is your point here? Must one actually make the measurements oneself to understand the concepts behind them?
As far as dynamic range is concerned, you simply misread my statement that, in analog, not digital, replay, sounds can be heard 10db to 20db into the noise floor and this leads to analog replay having a greater dynamic range than redbook CD and is quite audible. Where, as you assert, did I say that sounds 10 to 20db below what is audible are things that you should "care" about? Intentionally misreading is simply obfuscation. My only point about digital replay was that cutting off signal below the least significant bit, throws away information. And I also pointed out that the addition of dither can recapture at least some, of this information. Show me where I said that this disregarded information is audible?
Your point is that the information, being overtly inaudible, makes it of no value. This may well be true and I cannot take issue with your assertion. However, I am not at all convinced that some of the information that "reads" as room tone and ambiance does not fall below what is considered to be the standard limit of audibilty. Some will argue that our listening room noise levels, sometimes running as high as 40db (and yes, I have measured this), will just swamp these small changes. Again, as with analog replay, we hear into the noise floor of our listening rooms, as ambient noise is not correlated with the audio signal, it is easier for our sensory gating mechanisms to diminish. To be clear, I am not saying that this is the case, just that it might be possible.
We have also heard similar arguments about the 20K upper limit of CD replay. If it is inaudible, who cares if we throw it away? And yet, there are still many that believe that information above 20k is necessary to maintain the integrity of the signal and there are audible consequences to eliminating this information. I think that a lot of it comes down to hearing acuity as well. A young person may hear well in excess of 20K, as we grow older the upper limit of hearing diminishes. But it does not always completely disappear, it simply rolls off. There are individual limits to low level hearing as well. I am not so presumptuous as to think that, because I cannot hear something, that others cannot either. So what does not matter to me, may be quite important to others.
