As a former recording engineer, I completely agree that there's value in capturing audio at better than 16/44.1. 24-bit means I don't have to care so much about "filling up the bit bucket" when I set input levels because I have a lower noise floor. And if I'm doing any DSP, obviously I like having more information rather than less.
But I'm not at all convinced that distributing recordings at better than 16/44.1 has any real benefit. I've done some blind tests before and was never able to reliably beat 50/50 on figuring out which tracks were "higher quality" - and while I certainly don't have the best ears on the planet, I feel pretty confident that my hearing is more developed than the average person. Not to mention the fact that probably 90%+ of consumers are listening on systems with poor speakers and worse DACs.
I often hear audio people explain why music should be distributed at higher bit and sampling rates, but I have yet to see anyone who can reliably tell the difference - especially on a consumer-grade system.
Edit: Downvotes, really? Was there something objectionable in there?
But I'm not at all convinced that distributing recordings at better than 16/44.1 has any real benefit. I've done some blind tests before and was never able to reliably beat 50/50 on figuring out which tracks were "higher quality" - and while I certainly don't have the best ears on the planet, I feel pretty confident that my hearing is more developed than the average person. Not to mention the fact that probably 90%+ of consumers are listening on systems with poor speakers and worse DACs.
I often hear audio people explain why music should be distributed at higher bit and sampling rates, but I have yet to see anyone who can reliably tell the difference - especially on a consumer-grade system.
Edit: Downvotes, really? Was there something objectionable in there?