also, there are a couple of nice freebies, ocenaudio and wavosuar, both x64
 

*wavosaur
 

pwalpwal
i used goldwave until i saw the SRC graphs (http://src.infinitewave.ca/ ) then acoustica, then got sf10 cheap and am just waiting for the x64 version before upgrading (they just did x64 release for vegas so i'm assuming sf will come along at some point

 SF Studio is 64 bit.

kitekrazy1

pwalpwal
i used goldwave until i saw the SRC graphs (http://src.infinitewave.ca/ ) then acoustica, then got sf10 cheap and am just waiting for the x64 version before upgrading (they just did x64 release for vegas so i'm assuming sf will come along at some point

 SF Studio is 64 bit.

yeah but there's no upgrade option from 10 pro (there was another thread about this previously)
 
eta, so i'm hanging on for a x64 pro version

Audioicon
I am not sure I understand what you are meaning but below are steps for my process.

1) Export WAV file from Sonar at 24/96.
2) Open the WAV file in SF

If I am opening a 24/96  File in SF, should SF be set to 24/96?

If I try to change the Sample Rate within the settings as illustrated above it reverts.

I am not talking about re-sample or stuff like that, in a nutshell, I am simply attempting to work with 24/96 format in SF.

ASIO tends to lock a sound card to a single sample frequency.  So for example if you have no audio apps open and open a ASIO app and it loads a 96khz file, it will change your sample rate to 96khz.  But if you then start another app and it tries to set the sample rate to 44.1khz, that will fail.  Since it can't change the sample rate.  SONAR has an option for sharing the audio device with other applications, it is one thing you can try.  But as a rule you can't have SONAR running at one sample rate and expect to get Sound Forge to run at a different rate. 
 
There are some exceptions though, for example if in Sound Forge instead of using ASIO you use the Windows driver, it support dynamic sample rates.  Which means it lets your sound card run at whatever rate it wants (or is locked to) and converts on the fly any audio in that app to that rate.  Since Sound Forge isn't a real-time interactive DAW, I recommend not using ASIO in Sound Forge.  That way you may be able to leave SONAR running at one rate (using ASIO) and still be able to run Sound Forge at another rate.
 
But how well this works depends a lot on the ASIO and Windows audio drivers for the card you are using.  For my Focusrite Saffire this works great.  But some audio cards drivers are better than others.  You will need to play with the option in SONAR about sharing the audio card as well as the choice of driver in Sound Forge to figure out the combination that works best for you.

I have a collection of Wave Editors and each has it's attributes. 
 
Top of my list is Wave Lab Elements 7 which I use for top & tail and mastering and just about anything that involves recording and editing a stereo wave file. 
 
Next is Gold Wave which I mostly use for batch conversion to MP3, It's free to try and  for $50 lifetime it's a bargain. I've also used it for mastering but comapaired to Wave Lab it's to clunky. 
 
I have Sony Sound Forge Studio which came with my Sony USB turntable. I use this for tranfering my LP's to Wav. It does a brilliant job of cleaning up crackles and pops. I've never used the full version but I do like it for this one task. 
 
I have Wavosaur tried it and it's OK but pretty sad compared to the rest. 
 
Audacity I also tried once but like Wavosaur it's pretty weak. 
 
I have used Wave Lab since version 5. It is still my most used software and other than Sonar I've probably spent more screen time in Wave Lab than any other app. It has one very important feature that none of the other seem to have. When you open a tool like the Gain etc it STAYS open while you work. You can populate your second monitor with all the tools you be using and they are one click away. All other editors including Sonar require you browse through multi layers of menu's to get to the tools, every time you want them.  So Wave lab wins out for me on Workflow time saving layout. 
I also like the fact that it's browser stay's open and my whole album of songs can be easily navigated. 
You can have unlimited songs open and they are all tabs across the top. 
I can chop a whole night of live recordings into sperate songs super fast and save each one as a new file. 
It will rip any CD on the planet, Its tools for live stereo recording are super efficient and rock solid, my list of what I use it for is long. Oh,, I've never had Wave lab crash...
Only downside for some is the dongle, You don't need one, you can use a elicencer software, but I bought the dongle so I can run it on more than one computer. It's actually a good system for that. 
 
 

Audioicon
 
I am thinking I am just going to do a work around: Meaning, export the RAW 24/96 file and master it in Ozone.
The take the 24/96 master and import back into Sonar, do the fade and crop, the export as 16/44.1.

I do all that right in Ozone. I export 24 bit out of Sonar. It goes to Ozone for mastering. Crops and fades are done there. And then it exports from Ozone as 16/44.1 and mp3. From there it gets published or goes to redbook authoring software for album assembly. 

JohanSebatianGremlin

Audioicon
 
I am thinking I am just going to do a work around: Meaning, export the RAW 24/96 file and master it in Ozone.
The take the 24/96 master and import back into Sonar, do the fade and crop, the export as 16/44.1.

I do all that right in Ozone. I export 24 bit out of Sonar. It goes to Ozone for mastering. Crops and fades are done there. And then it exports from Ozone as 16/44.1 and mp3. From there it gets published or goes to redbook authoring software for album assembly. 

Are you saying that Ozone runs as standalone? I have Ozone 5 and it's definitely a plugin. When did it include a standalone program?

Ozone 6 and 7 have stand alone applications as well as the plugins.

Ahh - thanks. I'd never heard of that.
I'll have to look in to this...