One word. Many of us are digital phobic for whatever reason. Are there downsides? At high resolutions none that I can think of other than psychological one. Going in and out of 24/192 is invisible with good DACs and ADC's. Most program material starts out digital. As long as it stays there, there is no added distortion. You can keep it digital from the original ADC all the way to your DAC. In the mean while you can do pretty much anything you want to the signal without added distortion. You could triamp your speakers and get rid of all your passive crossovers! You could buy K Horns and correct the group delays. You could add passive subs and get rid electronics in the subwoofers. You can correct the frequency response of your room without having to hang so much stuff on your walls. You can give your left and right speakers the exact same frequency response curve so they sound exactly the same at all frequencies.
Any detriment is far outweighed by the benefits. It is not that difficult to master and makes this hobby even more fun. You also learn from experience like what adding 2 dB at 2000 Hz over 1/2 octave will do to the sound. The benefits are so large that I digitize my phono stage to take advantage of them.
Any detriment is far outweighed by the benefits. It is not that difficult to master and makes this hobby even more fun. You also learn from experience like what adding 2 dB at 2000 Hz over 1/2 octave will do to the sound. The benefits are so large that I digitize my phono stage to take advantage of them.