What's the use of 20 and 24 bit DACs with CDs?


Many standalone players and modern DACs are now using 20 and 24 bit DACs. Is there a significant advantage to doing so with a 16 bit recording? Are these players and DACs doing upsampling on the original 16 bit signal to take advantage of the DAC or are we just looking at extra bandwidth that is being squandered for the sake of advertising? To me, the extra bandwidth doesn't seem to be merited unless there is upsampling or HDCD involved. Opinions?
cjcerny

Showing 1 response by viggen

I remember when Primare first came out with the 24 bit CD player. The dealer sure made a big deal about it. I think his words were "higher resolution" and "more detail."

At the time it made sense to me. I thought if a video source can benefit from a line doubler which enhances the video resolution, then a faster processor that translates bits into audio signals should benefit the quality of the sound as well by enhancing the audio resolution.

Do we all hear the "higher resolution" benefitted by having more bits? If not, then how do we harness the full potential of high resolution CD players? That's what I want to know.