any reason to record over 16 bit/44.1kHz?

[tele_player]

How do I check to see what bit rate I am currently recording at?

Windows->Show Session Setup

[j old school]

regarding bit depths: i'm not sure i understand why 24bit dithered to 16 bit would sound better than straight 16 bit, but if your ears tell you it's true, i'll believe it. after all, what your ears hear is what it all comes down to.

When you record at a certain bit depth, that is the maximum amount of bits that can be used; so at 24 bit recording, you end up using an average of somwhere less than 24 bits per sample (lets say 20 bits) if you are recording dynamic sound with levels set to prevent clipping. Your loudest sounds should approach 24 (this is one reason why people like to use compressors/limiters on the way to the AD conversion, to get the volume consistantly loud so you take better adavantage of the available bits - could take away the life of a track if overdone). As you record, mix and master, you can lose some resolution through processing. By the time you are ready to create your 16 bit file, you will hopefully have retained enough resolution to take advantage of as much of the 16 bits that you can.

If you had started out recording at 16 bit, your average sounds would use less than 16 bits (lets say 10), only to be further degraded by additional processing.