The maximum signal level recorded on a SACD or a DVDA will be the same as the maximum on a CD. In other words, bit 24 of a DVDA represents the same player output voltage as bit 16 on a CD. So what you gain with "high res" is less quantization error for the quiet passages, where only the less significant bits are being used. So if you have music that is mostly loud, probably compressed, the 16 bit CD and the 24 bit DVDA will sound pretty much the same, neglecting improved high frequency response due to 96 KHz sampling. (I use the PCM encoded DVDA as my example because the comparison to PCM encoded CD is straightforward).
