DAC Output 192/16 vs. 192/24 Will I Hear A Difference

The sample rate and size is about the digital signal. For instance:  44.1 kHz / 16 bits.

A DAC has to take a digital input, but outputs an analog signal for which the terms sample rate and bit depth no longer apply. So, when you read the spec's of a DAC, it's talking about what kind of sources it can support, but the output is always going to be analog.

Streamers are a little more complicated as the input is some network attached service and the output is either (or both) a digital signal you can feed a DAC, or if it is a Streamer/DAC an analog signal.

In any event, if you exceed the specs of your DAC you won't get a good sounding signal. :)

In my room/system and using Foobar's "comparator" I could distinguish 24 bit files from 16 bit files but not 44 kHz sample rate from 96 or 192 kHz.Still, I cannot imagine having a DAC unable to decode at least 24/192 files.

Found a great article on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth

Pay particular attention to the dynamic range section, you can see that the dynamic range of the 24 bit data exceeds 144 dB, which is hard to actually do in real life due to typical noise issues. At this point it's just bragging rights.

Thanks, your responses have been helpful. 

there are no dac chips that can do higher than 16/44 but can't do 24 bit. why would a dac builder limit bit depth but higher sampling rates?

i think we are talking about a non issue here.