Is less than 24 bits worth it?

Welcome to the latest marketing race - DAC resolution. The truth is that despite having 24 bit converters, very few (if any) players truly achieve 24 bit resolution. The amount of precision required in the DACS and all downstage analog circuitry to achieve this is staggering.

I once read that the heat from a candle held several feet away from a 24 bit DAC would be enough to distort the lowest order bits - imagine the engineering required to overcome this.

There are a lot of ingredients that go into a successful player/DAC design, including filters, analog stages, power supplies, construction, and jitter control. DAC resolution is only one of these factors.

Trust your ears.

Ghostrider45 hit it right on the head. Redbook CD is only good for 16 bit resolution, not 24 bits. I believe higher bit dacs might give better linearity but that's about it. I am of course no expert, others might weigh in. FWIW, I'm listening to a cd player right now that has 20 bit dacs and it sounds awfully good. As they say, "don't beleive the hype".

Ghostrider hit it right on the head. I've seen well known 24 bit DAC's that could only achieve 17 bits of resolution due to circuit lay-out resulting in generation of internal noise. As such, trust your ears and not the marketing hype. Sean
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Let me disclose that I'm not an engineer. That said,I'd rather have a good,well made 16 than a 24 that has been rushed to market untested.

With all of the above having been said, what are some reccomendations for a used player in the $1k range? I use a Classe CAP-100 and Spica TC-60's and listen to mostly all kinds of music.