> That said, at the edges of that I totally agree even 24-bit can be questionable there since a lot of the analog side doesn't have a noise floor that would let

> That said, at the edges of that I totally agree even 24-bit can be questionable there since a lot of the analog side doesn't have a noise floor that would let it be meaningfully used. It's not that hard to beat 16-bit, which is 96 dB, using easy-to-find, off-the-shelf equipment. One example scenario is that you are recording something but you don't have a precise idea of how loud it will be ahead of time, so you record at low levels and rely on 24-bit capture to give you headroom above and noise floor below. Trying to capture at 16-bit can, in practice, be annoying and difficult because it is more likely that you will ruin takes by setting the gain wrong.