Studios of course can use multiple tracks of different bit or sample rates; they are converted to the rates used in the master project, so that's not an obstacle for any DAW.

You comments about the final version in MP3 and most people not knowing the difference are true. In fact, it's your original question in reverse: even the regular version of BIAB is pretty hard to tell from the audiophile version. I have posted here many times on the small differences.

More headroom gives you both advantages you cited. Recording engineers would say that the ability to experiment with levels and effects without distortion is critical in mixing, but you always want to get a strong enough input signal on the original recorded track too.

My most important tool when mixing is Ozone by Izotope. It's nice when used sparingly but you can squash out all the dynamic range if you want to, like a poor radio station. I mix for an audiophile listener. If it works for them, it works for anyone.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.