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I've been doing some reading about the recently released Pono Player and the subject of high definition digital audio (such as 192khz/24bit). Based on what I've watched on YouTube and read on the Internet, it seems that when it comes to digital audio the best humans can use is 48khz/16bit.
Using a higher sampling rate will result in a worse-sounding file because it will include distortion that is automatically excluded at a lower sampling rate, and using more than a bit depth of more than 16 bits will have no benefit to the end user. For the listener, using higher than 48khz/16bit will simply result in a larger file that doesn't sound any better.
A better way to improve the sound quality of digital recordings is to improve the way they are mastered. The Loudness War is used to describe a trend in music where the loudness of songs are pushed to the limit and the dynamic range is squashed so the song is uniformly loud so that the soft passages are also loud. Returning the dynamic range to music would improve the sound, as would better mastering.
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