While shopping for my first CD player, I was able to decipher most of the technicals on the promotional signs. One designation had me puzzled, though, so I called over a salesperson and asked, "What does 'hybrid pulse D/A converter' mean?"

"That means," she said, "that this machine will read the digital information that is encoded on CDs and convert it into an audio signal - that is, into music."

"In other words this CD player plays CDs."

" Exactly.”