Do we really need anything greater than 24/96? Opinions?

Depends on where the high sample rates occur in my experience. I run all my audio through computers and find that upsampling to very high rates for the processing phase (equalizer, crossover, expander etc.) produces much cleaner results, even though the output is downsampled somewhat for the soundcard. But as far as actual source material goes I've compared 88.2k or 96k recordings with 44.1k or 48k and I don't hear much difference at all. 16 vs. 24 bit depth isn't all that obvious either. The quality of the recording process seems to be the dominant factor.

so true.  If you want a valid opinion on true sonic quality, ask someone who is 20 years old who hates the music rather than someone who is 40+ and knows every version, release and master.  hearing acuity is usually inversely proportional to the investment in the best that your own money can buy system becomes.  When it mattered, 24/96 sounded great...home recordings, LP rips and digital sources, especially higher pitched things like triangles or cymbals, and sound reflections.  Higher rates didn't seem to matter and lower rates and lower bits were noticeably and increasingly 'Fisher-Price'.  Everyone agrees that 4K OLED TVs look better than most CRT or even plain HDTV because we all have equal access to corrective vision instruments to get to a baseline.  yet, there is no sonic equivalent...just more money in a speaker that a dealer the same age or older tells you is better.  what is shrill or 'not audibly different' to some can be the opposite to others.  it is true we see 'color' differently, in terms of clarity that's a pretty objective measurement.  Most sound engineers are 50 or older...and all claim perfect hearing...

I can confirm that 16/44 mastered and played back properly sounds awesome.  Nyquist–Shannon had some things figured out, but it took awhile for the mastering and hardware to catch up.

CD sound quality is relatively independent of bit rate and sampling rate. For starters you’re not even getting 50% of what’s on the CD anyway. There are too many serious issues with CD Player performance, after all these years. The CDs themselves are great. Increasing the bit rate and sampling rate is kind of a scam to get more money. Not unlike overly compressing CDs. It’s all orchestrated so they can stay in business. Hel-loo!

Aw come on, geoffkait. Its cute the way the kids buy into this stuff. Let 'em parrot their dogma, jive their jargon. Endlessly bantering misunderstood terms back and forth is after all mostly what makes the audio world go round. People start seeing the Emperor has no clothes, next thing you know there goes the neighborhood. Not to mention how much easier it is than having to learn how things actually, you know, work.

if you really want to hear what is on your cd  call ron at marigo audio and ask him about his cd mat