[henryflower]

Also, there are *Free* 100% legal 24bit downloads to be found at
Internet Archive: Live Music Archive

-Noah

 

[bpinnell]

I have compared identical files at differing bit depths and sample rates, and without question there is a difference between 16/44.1 and 24/96. The difference is more apparent with more revealing systems, so if one thinks there is no difference, my guess is that a fair comparison was not done and/or an appropriate system was not used. Much has been said about the importance of overtones and how they influence how real a recording sounds, and they are captured more at higher sampling rates, just like they are captured on tape. Greater bit depths and sampling rates do afford extra headroom for recording purposes but that is from the perspective of eventual dithering to 16/44.1. That does not mean that there is no sonic difference between the dithered and non-dithered files. Go listen to a track cut on tape that is transferred to 24/96 and one that is transferred to 16/44.1 (or dithered down). There should be an audible difference, with the 24/96 being very close to equaling the tape, and the 16/44.1 falling short of that goal.