Thanks for those interesting responses-certainly what you say makes sense. Judging by the amazing photos that Vince posted re: the Gennett studios, recording a band like Whiteman's using the acoustic set up must have been really difficult! All the care that Victor took paid off, in my view, given how good the 1920-25 Whiteman recordings sound.
Having said, and to get us back to Bix, his cornet sound certainly came off well during the acoustic era. Despite the major limitations of the acoustic recording process, his wonderful tone registers so well on those 1924-25 records.