High Playback Sampling Frequencies, Why are they becoming popular? Options

[icstm]

OK, at the risk of sounding completely stupid?

Why do people listen to music with high sampling frequencies?
What is 88k+ providing them?
I understand why you might record at a high sampling rate, but why keep that for playback?

Looking through the FAQ, there are threads from 2003 that point out that the sampling frequency and bit-dept work in tandem. So the quantisation error of 16bit at 44.1k has the opportunity to be corrected sooner at a higher sampling rate, so in some ways is like a dithering pattern.

However given noise introduced in the analogue systems required to listen to music, a SNR within a 16bit signal of ~96dB seems pretty good.

So assuming that speakers struggle to produce the sounds that a 192k sampling frequency allow (eg 96kHz) and assuming that 16bits were sufficient when compared to the analogue equipment in the system, what have I missed in these high sampling playback formats?

[Bartholomew MacG...]

I'm still confused as to why studios use really high sampling frequencies. I have a vague understanding of why higher bit depths might be needed for adujsting levels, but I don't get why they need higher sampling rates.

[Ethan Winer]

I'm still confused as to why studios use really high sampling frequencies. I have a vague understanding of why higher bit depths might be needed for adujsting levels, but I don't get why they need higher sampling rates.

Because even professional recording engineers can be subject to the same magical thinking and lack of scientific rigor we commonly see among audiophiles. It's just as easy to start a religious war about this stuff in a recording forum as it is in a hi-fi forum.

--Ethan