I've heard it said that the state of the art advances by a little more than one bit per decade. Certainly right now more than 20 bits are lost in the noise floor.
As the others have said, a well-executed 16-bit player sounds better than a typical mass-produced 20-bit player, and usually by a wide margin.
It's just like with power amps: not all 100 wpc amps are equal, and there are lot of 50 wpc amps that sound far better than many 100 wpc amps with most speakers.
As the others have said, a well-executed 16-bit player sounds better than a typical mass-produced 20-bit player, and usually by a wide margin.
It's just like with power amps: not all 100 wpc amps are equal, and there are lot of 50 wpc amps that sound far better than many 100 wpc amps with most speakers.