Almost certainly not related to the DAC hardware, but possibly to the comms boards. I think this is more related to Bob Stuart believing that anything above 24/96 was not needed for full reproduction, historically. The SE range were introduced with MQA which was still transmitted around a Meridian system at 24/96 or below, then unfolded in the DAC architecture, retrieving any actual audio information which might have been encoded at higher frequency rates (without wasting space with a whole lot of useless non-audio information). Sadly MQA as a solution seems to, at least temporarily, be MIA…

HC: 861v4/ID40/LPS, DSP5000, DSP5000VC, DSP3100, SW1600, HD621, Oppo BDP-105, Sony VPL-HW55ES
2-Channel: Oppo BDP-105, TEAC VRDS-7/Trichord Clock 3/PSU, 551, Quad 303, Harbeth Compact 7ES-3, Kimber cables, Russ Andrews mains and supports.
Previous Meridian: 5000C, 5200SL, 7200.2, 6000, 562V.2, 568.2mm, 800v4, 808.2i, 818v2/v3, 861v8, 502