48 dB would be worse than an old-fashioned tape recorder...
Since we deal with power (sound pressure, Watts, etc), ten times
increase in 
amplitude results in a 100 times increase in power, which is 20dB.  So,
ideally, 16 bits could give you 96 dB dynamic range.

Job van Zuijlen

Kevin Gallagher wrote:
> 
> Csound usually uses 16 bit amplitude resolution, the same as CD quality
> audio.  This means that there are 2^16 = 65536 possible amplitude values
> for a sample, ranging from -32768 to +32767 (with one value reserved for
> zero.)  The dynamic range is therefore about 48dB (I think.)