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24-bit audio can represent way more levels of detail in the sound wave - roughly 256 times more than 16-bit - which means less quantization noise and smoother gradations, especially in quiet passages. the practical difference you'll hear depends on your gear and ears, but studio recordings and high-end setups tend to show it more clearly than a typical listener on regular speakers would notice.
The practical difference mainly comes down to how finely you can slice up the amplitude of a sound wave. With 16-bit, you've got 65,536 possible volume levels to describe what's happening at any given moment. Jump to 24-bit and you're working with over 16 million levels. That's a lot more granularity, especially noticeable in the quieter parts of a recording where 16-bit can sound a bit grainy or flat by comparison.
The thing is, whether you actually *hear* this difference depends a lot on your setup and your ears. If you're listening on cheap earbuds or in a noisy room, you probably won't notice much. But in a quiet space with decent monitoring, or if you're working with material that has really dynamic range - like a classical recording with soft strings followed by a loud brass section - 24-bit gives you smoother transitions and better detail in those delicate passages. The file sizes are bigger though, which is why a lot of streaming services still stick with 16-bit or compressed formats.
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