Please could someone explain why it's necessary to use 24bit/192k - I thought due to Nyquist/Shannon theory that 192k was overkill. In fact, doesn't it create more ear strain listening to higher frequency sample rates?
Using it as a consumer is pointless, you cant hear those frequencies at all. Adults typically cant even hear up to nyqust at 44.1k. If youre a big music fan youve probably ruined your ears so good luck hearing anything above like 15k tbh.
16 bit was a compromise to do with wanting to keep CDs from being the size of dinner plates, 24 bit is legitimately better, but you're not going to notice with typical music.
For editing and production, more bits per sample and more samples per second make it possible to mix sources without reducing quality of the final output.
There is no advantage to that final output being 24/192, or 20/88.
There is no ear strain that comes from higher sample rates, though.
However! Xiph.org has a video demonstration using oscilloscopes, showing that high-frequencies at 20kHz still are perfectly represented even with just 44.1kHz recording. It's here if anyone is interested, switch the Chapter Selection on the video to the Stairsteps chapter: