Justin Ulysses Morse wrote in
m:

Think about a 16-bit sample as simply a 24-bit sample with 8 zeroes on
the end. So the difference between 24-bit audio and 24-bit audio
truncated to 16 bits is simply those last 8 bits dancing around. It
doesn't matter what the first 16 bits are doing because they're doing
it the same in both cases. We're only discussing what's in one sample
that's NOT in the other. Now, those last 8 bits can dance around as
rambunctiously as they like, but they'll never represent a DEVIATION
from the 16-bit sample of more than -96dBFS.

Carey wrote:
Is your argument that this higher precision is inaudible?

and your answer is "Yes". That's all I needed to know.