speakers for 24/96 audio


is it correct to assume that 24/96 audio would be indistinguishable from cd quality when listened to with speakers with a 20khz 3db and rapid hi frequency roll-off?

Or more precisely, that the only benefit comes from the shift from 16 to 24 bit, not the increased sample rate, as they higher freq content is filtered out anyhow?

related to this, which advice would you have for sub $5k speakerset with good higher freq capabilities for 24/96 audio?

thanks!
mizuno
First of all, I totally agree about compression running rampant these days, especially for drum kits. My wife is a drummer, so I know what drums really sound like, and only a few recordings give you a hint of their dynamic range. In fact, she and I both lament that a lot of modern recordings don't even use real drums any more, only those electronic travesties, for ease of recording.

To expand about about differences I've heard with hi-res on the DAC1, sometimes I think I hear a difference, in that some hi-res recordings seem to reveal something I've never heard before, but then I go back to a CD and hear similar things. Or I find an awesome recording on CD that sounds better than anything I've heard on hi-res. For example, oddly, I still haven't heard a piano recording superior to the ancient Telarc CD of Malcom Frager playing Chopin. That old Soundstream recording even forces an odd conversion to 16/44, and it still sounds great.

As for Kijanki's comment that the s/n ratio of most amps is specified at 1W, I say check again. All of the obvious ones I've checked reference full power, and most can't break -85db at 1W into 8ohms. JA's measurements in Stereophile are very interesting in this regard. (His measurements are the only reason I read the magazine.)
Irvrobinson 6-30-11:
I still haven't heard a piano recording superior to the ancient Telarc CD of Malcom Frager playing Chopin.
If you can find it, try Wilson Audio WCD-9129, Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 (and other shorter works), performed by Hyperion Knight. The best reproduction of solo piano in my experience, and it's on a 1991 redbook cd!

Best regards,
-- Al
What can I say - I posted example showing that quality amplifier is not a limiting factor. Why not to respond to that? If you think you can find any mistake in my reasoning please say so. Even for my own Rowland 102 (a class D amp) dynamic range is stated as 110dB while Rowland 301 is rated 120dB. Every Krell is at least 106dB unweighted (Evolution 900e is 113dB unweighted related to full power). You can search for a bad amp but the point was to show that the amp is not the limiting factor.

As for the Benchmark DAC1 again - If you cannot hear the difference then you can not, but please don't bring Nyquist into discussion since his theorem was intended toward stationary waveforms (infinite number of samples). Closer you get to Nyquist frequency the more samples you need to properly reconstruct original waveform - not possible to do for short high frequency sounds. That is the main reason so many people still stay with vinyl (unless you think they like convenience).
BTW, I should have added to my previous post that I am in agreement with all of the technical points Kijanki has made, which I think have been very well presented. An additional point which I don't think has been mentioned is that brickwall anti-aliasing filters introduce some degree of ripple into the passband frequency response characteristics, as I understand it.

The audible significance of all of the effects that have been mentioned, though, is perhaps unanswerable in a definitive manner, given the extent to which those effects tend to be overshadowed by variability in recording engineering and quality.

Best regards,
-- Al