You can actually see small steps in Stereophile's measurements of many dacs.
Playing 24/96 gives much, much smaller steps if the source has the info and the dac has the resolution. Most dacs can only differentiate up to around 20 or 21 bits. 20/96 still has step heights 16 times smaller than 16/44 (and a bit less than half the width).
Playing 24/96 gives much, much smaller steps if the source has the info and the dac has the resolution. Most dacs can only differentiate up to around 20 or 21 bits. 20/96 still has step heights 16 times smaller than 16/44 (and a bit less than half the width).