That’s interesting… I own a Heat MKI as well and I never even considered the 96kHz before. In fact, I use it all the time in 96kHz projects in Studio One. I had to go back, research the specs (they indeed are 24bit/48kHz for streaming audio). It’s working all the same for me.
I guess Studio One is doing a real time conversion on that? I know S1 will do that if you import in files of varying bit depths or sample rates – it just converts them on the fly to be whatever your project rate is setup as. That’s not bothering me here much in anycase. Sure, 96kHz natively would be great, but if it’s downsampled then converted back that’s fine. I do it very early in the chain (usually the 1st or 2nd thing).
Same with the box doing an AD/DAC conversion when acting entirely as a standalone unit. I’d prefer the path be 100% analog, but it’s not, so I just consider that part of its overall character and sound. There’s nothing I can hear that indicates that.