What Is Sample Rate? The Strange Number Behind CD Audio Quality

First episode of a new mini-series on everyday audio-tech trivia. CD audio quality is always labeled 44100, an oddly specific number. Little Pi explains what sample rate actually means, the Nyquist sampling theorem, and how that leftover 100 traces back to a compromise with 1980s videotape technology when the CD standard was being defined. References: Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist%E2%80%93Shannon_sampling_theorem Compact Disc Digital Audio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_Digital_Audio Why do CDs use a sampling rate of 44.1kHz (Cardinal Peak): https://www.cardinalpeak.com/blog/why-do-cds-use-a-sampling-rate-of-44-1-khz