Is recording at high bit depth objectively better?

[yamamoto2002]

If recording source is LP or other repeatable source, it is possible to play the same sound twice : on the first playback, find maximum input level and adjust recording gain to, say -6 dBFS on max input and on the second time, play with recording. Recorded signal is most probably free from harsh integer overflow or digital clipping. On this case, 16bit recording is sufficient, 90dB dynamic range can be achieved.

 

But on live recording, maximum input level is unknown before recording, therefore more conservative recording gain is selected. Something like, set VU meter 0 VU to -18 dBFS or -20 dBFS and adjust recording gain to not exceed 0 VU. In this case, with 16bit, available SNR is reduced to 76 ～ 78 dB on the loudest part. SNR of second movement becomes worse and this can be problematic. With 24bit, after recording, it is possible to increase gain by 20dB to get 16bit bit depth / dynamic range sound.