At 16 bits, the 'etching' you hear is distortion caused by the limitations of 16-bit digital. At 24-bits, it is actual detail that even the best analog has a hard time duplicating. I recently picked up a pristine copy of Jesse Winchester's 'Let The Rough Side Drag'. It is everything that analog promises, sweet, spacious and invting. My CD copy, by comparison is hard and flat, not really enjoyable sonically. For both, the performances and the songs are amazing. I would love to hear a 24-bit remaster from the original master tapes, but I'm not holding my breath. And that's the problem. For much of the catalog from the mid-60s to mid-80s, 24-bit remasters simply aren't available for all the usual reasons - financial, logistical, and technical. So, we're left with only the analog pressings or first generation digital, most of which simply aren't very well done. Newer originals, mostly 24-bit digital, suffer far less and when down-converted to 16-bit CD and can sound quite detailed, but without a proper analog master for comparison, who's to say which might be better. Kind of hard to find in any event.
