Hi Astrotoy,
My Sound Forge Pro 10 editor comes with an Izotope 64bit sample rate converter plug-in built in. I don't believe in high sample rates and I use it to convert downloaded hi-rez audio files to 44/24, which is all the resolution I need. If Sony thinks it's better than their converter that's good enough for me.
As for de-clicking, all you will ever hear in the "noise only" track is clicks because the de-clicker only affects the attack of a note. If I were to go heavy on the de-clicking the first thing I notice it on is acoustic or jazz guitar string attacks and "ride" cymbals.
After de-clicking, if crackle and hum is not an issue (usually it's not) you may wish to use a good broadband noise eliminator. The Waves X-noise plug-in is really easy to use.
waves.com/plugins/x-noiseAll I normally do is set threshhold at 12-14 and reduction to around 70 and after creating a noise profile the plug-in does the rest. It eliminates 100% of the rumble which becomes audible in quiet passages or at the end of tracks, without affecting the music. Your recordings of LP's become as quiet as CD tracks. It also eliminates tape hiss if you are digitizing a tape. Amazing stuff.
If you have an LP that sounds thin and you want tighter bigger bass the Renaissance Bass Plug-in works incredibly well. Much better than using an eq. It works by adding harmonics to the fundamental notes that are already there.
.waves.com/plugins/renaissance-bassYou can follow that by using a look-ahead peak limiter if you wish, such as the Waves L1-Ultramaximizer
waves.com/plugins/l1-ultramaximizer . I use it to bring the level of my tracks up a couple of decibels. It works by rounding off the highest peaks to avoid clipping (and no one will ever know you've done it).
If you are a perfectionist you should be able to chain everything together so that all operations to the file are done in one calculation. If you wish to make CD tracks you can run a 16-bit dither on your 24bit file as the very last step before saving to 44/16. L1 has dither controls on the right side of the plug-in box under "IDR".