I believe your question hit the same time as my post. The transport displays the bit depth for what will be recorded. Has nothing to do with the bit depth of what has been recorded or what the driver is sending to SONAR.

OK, so it detects the what is sound card capable od recording? How?

scook
It depends on the state of Track FX in the Freeze Options dialog. Open the dialog by right-clicking freeze icon. I believe Track FX is enabled by default.

AHA!!!!  Thank you!!

PGM
OK, so it detects the what is sound card capable od recording? How?

The "Audio Driver Bit Depth" setting in Preferences > Audio > Driver Settings controls the value for incoming audio data. How SONAR detects available sound card settings depends on the driver mode. SONAR queries the driver on startup in ASIO mode. The other modes use data generated by Wave Profiler. It is not unusual for the "Audio Driver Bit Depth" drop down to be disabled in ASIO mode. Many ASIO drivers operate at a single bit depth.
 
"Record Bit Depth" setting in Preferences > File > Audio Data is shown in the transport modules and is the value used for new recording. This value defaults to 16 and does not change based on driver preferences or capabilities. To have projects record at a different setting the value must be changed manually. Changing the "Record Bit Depth" does not affect existing clips.

Thanks, I had no idea about file, audio data settings, It did worked.
 
wave profiler for wasapi, wdm, shows only 16 bit, and then converts file, when importing? I do know that mu realtek internal, i creative x fi usb, are 24 bit in\out ..for some reason, wave profiler detetec only 16 bit.
i mean, cards are not pro, but still. is there is something in the code that tell them, you better use 16 bit...just wondering. because, sonar is right to insist on 16 bit....

The bit depth of imported data is controlled by "Import Bit Depth" in Preferences > File > Audio Data. The default is "Original" which means the file is imported without changing bit depth. Information about Preferences > File > Audio Data screen may be found here. Again, file settings are independent of driver settings.
 
I have no answer for why SONAR detects hardware the way it does. I can tell you when multiple interfaces are enabled, SONAR works at bit depths common to all the drivers. So, if one interface is driver is 16 bit and another is 24 bit, SONAR will only work at 16 bit in order to make both interfaces available.

thank you so much. This was an issue, i did not disable internal card, and sonar lock the 16 bit. i did disable something, but not all....now wdm, wasapi show in profiler 24 bit...thank you o much for you time, and persistance in explaing.it loks easy, but it was not for me

Glad that worked. I tried explaining it in the other thread http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3561803 but sometimes it takes a different wording to make sense.

Great explanation Steve.  Thanks for helping us all get a grip on this sample rate/bit depth stuff as it applies in Sonar.

sorry, i got locked with 16 bit in transport, and did not read you post quite good. how i missed your wording its a really surprising to me. now I know to disable everything when connecting usb card.
 
now about Samplitube, that sounds better.its also a puzzle. perhaps they have algorithms that enhace sound, to be percived as better...and we spend a lot of money on monitors to give us most realistic sound? 
 
the way I see it, they should all sound the same, w/o fx, in all daw...upon import...