In the technical sense, we need to establish a process that, minimally, reconstructs the entire frequency response of the original while adding as little of the so-called digital noise as possible. To achieve this goal, it seems to be sufficient to use the 44,100 Hz sampling rate and a 16-bit resolution. The technical specifications mentioned above promise to fulfill this goal. In the ideal world, the discussion on choosing appropriate standards could end right here. However, there are a few other issues involved.
Current technology makes it possible to use higher sampling rates and resolution.
One could fairly easily sample at 96,000 Hz and a 24-bit resolution. This would result in a much increased frequency response of the digital waveform from 0 to 48,000 Hz, and a dramatically improved SNR of 144 dB. At first glance, this technology appears to provide a very simple solution. After all, it is our goal to preserve as much information as possible, and using such high specifications does exactly that. The digital audio file captured at 96,000 contains over twice as much information as the one sampled at 44,000 Hz. The question, however, is whether the extra information included in the 96,000 Hz file is worth preserving.