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There is no system high-end enough to allow your ears to magically hear 96kHz, or even 48kHz. Unless you’re very young with golden ears it’s extremely doubtful that you can hear a 24kHz tone. It is absolutely snake oil.

https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html is an overview by the creator of Ogg and Vorbis explaining exactly, scientifically, why these inflated sampling rates are snake oil.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM is a longer video by the same person that debunks a lot of digital audio myths.



Thanks, I really appreciate those references. There are still subtleties in a real world setup that may be missed in those explanations though. A bit depth of 16 would be enough if everything in the system from recording to speaker was working properly. But for example with digital volume control there is effectively a loss of bit depth. Starting with 24 bits might help here. This isn't necessary if you control the volume in the DAC and the DAC has a larger bit depth, but this doesn't always correspond to what exists and is convenient in every setup.

https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/VolumeContr...


On the sampling side there is quality scientific evidence that cd level sampling can lead to audible ringing. The theory here in that more room is needed for a gentler rolloff in filtering. 192 kHz is overkill but this might suggest that 96 makes sense.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/h...




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