Frankly, I'm not sure why it should be so....but to my ear...and I listen almost exclusively to Classical (symphonic, chamber, etc.), and 60's jazz....172k sounds more musical and refined that 192k. It may just be in my head. Who knows?? I must say that the absolute most dramatics is between 44.1 and 96k. That is by far the greatest improvement. From 96 to 132 to 176 to 192...there is NOT much incremental improvement...although I think 176 is the best. Not to complicate matters, but now we dCS users will have to decide whether to upgrade to DSD. The big question will be whether DSD is superior enough to 172 or 196 to warrant spending megabucks!!!