But look at it this way. If you were running a higher bitrate/depth, you couldn't patch anyone that wasn't capable of capturing at that rate.
That would seem like the ultimate cop-out - "ah, sorry dude, I'm running 96/24 - can you record 96/24 - no? - guess you can't patch ME then"...
Hang a sign on your stand, 96/24 ONLY
heh heh heh...
Rick