You may not tell a difference, but I bet there's some audiophile out there who possibly could.
With 8 bit samples at maximum volume, no, but with 14 bit playback, the soft parts of a sample will sound noisy.
Not really, you can't count the 6 volume bits when talking about audio reproduction. The Amiga's audio chip is fed with 8 bit signed integer values and at full volume, the DAC is an 8 bit DAC... So those extra 6 bits are simply altering the maximum output value, the resolution of the input remains 8 bit.
No, the 6 volume bits are part of the DAC. 8 bits are used for the sample, 6 bits are used for the volume.
You are talking cross purposes. Bloodline isn't trying to reproduce 14-bit replay, he's trying to reproduce how 8-bit audio sounds when it's played back through the DAC at a given volume.
Which means it's perfectly relevant that Paula is 14 bit, given that 6 bits are used to control volume. Especially in MODs that use different volumes all the time, this may be important.
Generally speaking these non-linearities will result in some noise, and probably nothing more. The only thing that's special about the Paula is the ridiculous speed at which it can operate when using the CPU to feed it with data.
