"No, this is not unlistenable. At first impression, it sounds OK. Then, if you listen next the 96kHz/32-bit file, you find it significantly better, and, last of all, when you listen to the old vinyl, it is better
yet. I would have hard time to describe the difference in written words.
I would say that sounds are more detailled, more distinct from one
another in 96kHz/32-bit than in 44.1/16. The files were converted using 'audacity 1.3.5 beta' under Debian Lenny."
You have OSS4 installed. Right? And a kind of very old Linux kernel?
Could you please post here the output of "ossmix" command and of "ossinfo"?