DAC Output 192/16 vs. 192/24 Will I Hear A Difference


I am planning on purchasing a DAC in the near future and although I have done
some research, I am not clear on some of the technical aspects. I will be streaming
Qobuz from a Node 2i to an external DAC.

With Qobuz, will there be a difference in audio quality with a DAC that outputs
192/16 vs. 192/24? If there is a difference, will it be audible?
I am not interested in DSD.
Thanks.  
ericsch

Showing 3 responses by erik_squires

Found a great article on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth

Pay particular attention to the dynamic range section, you can see that the dynamic range of the 24 bit data exceeds 144 dB, which is hard to actually do in real life due to typical noise issues. At this point it's just bragging rights.
The sample rate and size is about the digital signal. For instance:  44.1 kHz / 16 bits.

A DAC has to take a digital input, but outputs an analog signal for which the terms sample rate and bit depth no longer apply. So, when you read the spec's of a DAC, it's talking about what kind of sources it can support, but the output is always going to be analog.

Streamers are a little more complicated as the input is some network attached service and the output is either (or both) a digital signal you can feed a DAC, or if it is a Streamer/DAC an analog signal.

In any event, if you exceed the specs of your DAC you won't get a good sounding signal. :)
Doubtful this spec alone will guide you.

I'm curious, are there any DAC's which can do 192/16 but NOT 192/24??