recording

JACK 1 and JACK 2 are equivalent implementations of the same protocol. In most cases, it doesn't matter which one you choose. unless you have a specific reason for doing so. A common misconception is that JACK 2 is a newer version, when in fact, both versions are developed alongside each other.

More details and information about the differences between JACK 1 and JACK 2

Any interface supported by ALSA or FFADO will work with JACK.

List of known ALSA supported devices

List of known FFADO supported devices

Digital distortion is what happens when a signal goes above 0dBFS. Audio cannot be represented above this point and will distort. Digital distortion is particularly harsh sounding.

Bit depth relates to how many bits of information there are per sample. In laymans terms this equates to how many levels of loudness a digital waveform can have. 16 bit has 65,536 possible levels of loudness while 24bit has 16,777,216 possible levels. 24bit is often used in recording as it has a much larger dynamic range/lower noise floor. This is not an issue for playback systems though, so 16 bit is perfectly acceptable there, eg. CD quality uses 16bit. 

Sample rate refers to how many samples per second are in an audio signal or file. CD quality uses a sample rate of 44.1kHz, or 44,100 samples per second. Audio interfaces use different sample rates but common ones are 44.1kHz, 48kHz and 96kHz.

A DAW, which stand for Digital Audio Workstation, is software used for the recording, editing and mixing of digital audio. DAW's started off as integrated hardware units but nowadays, a DAW most commonly refers to recording software.

DAW's follow many conventions from hardware recording set ups. You even have a virtual mixer console and can route audio similarly to hardware set ups. You can also process individual audio tracks using plugins such as EQ, compressors and reverbs.