well i am convinced that the 24 bit is worth it. as for listening, i use AudioDVDCreator to burn 24bit to dvd that is listenable on d*mn near any dvd player. $40 program and it works nicely (altho i think you need nero to burn). i have been in pro audio, installed high end car audio, as well as spending 8+years in charge of amp and processor development at DEI. i run a pair of $6.5k Mirage speakers powered by Adcom monoblocks 1000+ watts each and have access to Krell, Crown, my old Macintosh tube 275's, and a multitude of other amps. i strill have a very nice turnatble plus records as well as multiple DAT (6) and Beta-PCM (sony/nakamichi), still have my Nak CR7A cassette deck as well as a few RxR decks. all working and used weekly.
_my_biggest limitation is that i am running older sennheisers (K3U preamp + all the caps: MKE-2's, ME20's, ME40's, ME80's, as well as the LONG guns the ME88's) that do not have the upper frequency response like the AKG 460's that i have (unfortunately i have the CK8X extended bass response short shotguns and only one CK61 card cap). STILL, despite all the years of loud sound and the limitations of the mics, i like the 24bit versions of what i have recorded. i can compare the M1 16bit DAT that is patched into the 671, but i know that is an unfair comparison as it is just using the 671 A>D and then truncating the 671 digi-out. you would have to do the switcheroo thing between sets or something.
neil in san marcos
i am off to Mule tonight, but since they are only doing a single set, i am reluctant to do a mid set word length switcheroo in order to do an A/B comparison tomorrow - just too d*mn lazy...