Comment by Andys
14 years ago
This is a really convincing article that makes me want to set up a double blind test for myself with my own equipment.
In my own tests I believed that I couldn't tell the difference between 16/44 and 24/96 on high quality loudspeakers, but I could with high quality headphones. The studies cited all seem to use loud speakers in testing.
Also worth noting, the article states that obtaining 24/96 source material sometimes means you get better mastered material, which still sounds better after down-sampling back to 16/44.
You weren't just believing things. The difference between 44khz and 96khz sample rate is very noticable even with mediocre audio equipment. It's an overstatement to refer to the situation as a "hi-fi case". 16/24 bits however makes no difference at all except on the size of the material.