format of sound data
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What is the low level actual format of sound data when read from a stream in Java? For example, use the following dataline with 44.1khz sample rate, 16 bit sample depth, 2 channels, signed data, bigEndian format.

TargetDataLine tdLine = new TargetDataLine(new AudioFormat(44100,16,2,true,true));

I understand that it is sampling 44100 times a second and each sample is 16bits.  What I don't understand is what the 16 bits, or each of the 16 bits, represent.  Also, does each channel have its own 16bit sample?