"This is why using more bits does not mean you can "reproduce music with a bigger dynamic range" - not without turning the volume up, anyway. What actually happ

"This is why using more bits does not mean you can "reproduce music with a bigger dynamic range" - not without turning the volume up, anyway. What actually happens is that the maximum possible volume of a playback system stays the same, but quieter sounds are reproduced with more or less accuracy." You are slightly confused. (It may help to remember that a decibel always refers to a ratio, so the setting of your volume knob is not important.) Greater bit depth does allow for greater dynamic range, this stems directly from the definition of dynamic range. 16-bit audio has a theoretical dynamic range of: 10 * log10 (2^16)^2 ~ 96dB 24-bit audio has a theoretical dynamic range of: 10 * log10 (2^24)^2 ~ 144dB For reference, a quiet recording room has a noise floor of ~40dB SPL and the loudest amplified music rarely exceeds 115dB SPL. This gives a dynamic range of 75db, which indicates that a well-recorded 16-bit master should be more than adequate. The idea that having bits in excess of this amount will somehow result in the perception of a smoother or more accurate sound is fallacious. Even at maximum playback volume, this information will exist well below the noise floor and will simply not be perceived. In fact, this information will likely exist well below the noise floor of the recording studio and thus, in some sense, will not even be recorded.