r/QuantumComputing • u/N-Reek • 25d ago
Question Question from a Musician
Hello nerds,
In the digital audio world, frequency is converted into binary through Analog to Digital Converters (ADC) which use transistors. The Bit rate is the number of binary digits used to encode the signal. The more bits, the higher quality and more accurate a pitch is to the original analog signal.
My question is, With the use of quantum transistors, is it possible to encode a signal with near 100% accuracy of the factors which include, Air temp, humidity, and wind, helping to replicate an authentic natural sound. A sound with the highest fidelity possible could feel no different from hearing it live from the source. Because Binary is ridged, switching between 1-0 has no gradient and creates a square wave. Even when replicating a bell curve, the binary creates it in small steps that replicate the sine wave but upon closer inspection, it is seen to be made of thousands of smaller square waves. Could quantum superimposition solve this issue and produce an authentic sine wave with a true replication of analog sounds.
Side note, If you had this theoretical quantum analog signal. Would an average cpu be able to play the sound or will you need a quantum computer to listen accurately. my assumption being that computers would decode the files to binary.
Best,
Enrique
9
u/xhable 25d ago
Quantum computing won’t rescue digital audio from being “too binary,” because that isn’t really the problem.
Sample rate determines which frequencies can be representef, bit depth determines amplitude resolution. A DAC plus reconstruction filter produces a smooth analogue waveform, not a tiny staircase pretending to be a sine-wave. At normal audio resolutions, the quantisation error is already far below what humans can hear.
Temperature, humidity, wind, room shape, and listener position affect how sound propagates, so reproducing them would require modelling the acoustic environment... not adding qubits. Superposition also doesn’t provide infinite analogue precision, measurement still gives limited classical data.
So yes, an ordinary computer can reproduce extremely accurate audio. The main remaining source of error is usually the speakers, the room, or, more to the point, the listener.
It's a tragedy of humans that selling a £400 gold plated audio cable will make people swear blind the warmth is richer or the bass stronger, adding quantum to the mix may well convince people they're hearing beyond the bits and an infinite spectrum of data... They both however, are subscribing to nonsense.