Does downsampling make an audible difference in Sound Quality?
Every home theater enthusiast wants the best sound quality possible, even if the advantage is only theoretical. Having said this, even at the lower 16-bit / 48 kHz, the sound tracks sound amazing. If you can hear the difference between 8 channels of 16-bit / 48 kHz and 24-bit / 96 kHz, you have a truly golden ear. I’m won’t go into detail as one could nit-pick this to death, but you won’t get any audible improvement even if there is no downsampling. Even with the down-sampling, HD Audio is a significant step up in quality from compressed Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS 5.1 on DVDs. This a difference you can hear. Down sampling from 24 to 16 bits is not. But what if AACS protection is removed? If the down-sampling restriction applies only to AACS-protected Blu-ray movies, then you should be able to run AnyDVD HD and remove AACS from Blu-Ray. If this occurred, the software player should not downsample/bitcripple the output and existing motherboards with HDMI could play the full resolution signal.
