I have been hoping for high resolution music downloads and it was gratifying to see the 2007 Editor's Choice go to Linn Records and Music Giants. See http://www.stereophile.com/features/1207poty/index7.html.
I've consequently perused both of these sites and I'm ready to start downloading. But before pushing the button, I began wondering; will my music player work with 24-bit/96kHz files? Will it work but down-convert the signal to 16-bit? And if my player does work will I need a DAC specifically capable accepting a 24-bit/96kHz signal?
I'm put in a further quandary after reading "Is your Media Player Broken?" http://www.stereophile.com/news/120307samplerateconversion/ which reports a problem with "16-bit truncation and/or operating system based sample-rate conversion" when using iTunes on a Mac. Well maybe this last point means that this is a problem only with CD-quality 16 bit files, but I admit to being confused. I gather there are some similar sticking points with Windows...but perhaps only if I'm using Window Media Player?
Has anyone been through this --either on Mac or PC -- and successfully gotten this to work? Would you be willing to detail out, for a novice, what steps you went through and what software you used? Thanks!