I was just about to reply that using only 44.1kHz means at higher frequencies, you're getting hardly any samples per cycle, and representing a high-frequency sine wave with something more like a square wave - ie not an accurate representation, and really harsh.

However! Xiph.org has a video demonstration using oscilloscopes, showing that high-frequencies at 20kHz still are perfectly represented even with just 44.1kHz recording. It's here if anyone is interested, switch the Chapter Selection on the video to the Stairsteps chapter:

https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml