The point is that because of sampling, order of operations can matter. So having a 88k file -> apply an effect -> downsample to 44k, can sound different than having a 88k file -> downsample to 44k -> apply an effect.
I give that long preamble to say once a record is done and mastered, having > 16/44.1khz is wasted bandwidth.
If you get silence, they're perfectly identical.