With higher magnification it requires larger objective lens and higher quality lens to get the job done.

A good 2.5x10x42 seems like the ideal,compromise to me, 10x gives plenty of power and clarity with a good optic.

To get equal optics out of say a 14x or 16 x you would have to get a 50mm or 56mm obj and that gets heavy and throws the natural balance of the rifle,off. Plus you would really have to step up in quality of optics to get equal clarity .

For instance you could probably spend $500 on a VX3 in the 1ox range but have to step up to $1200 for a VX6 for the 14 or 16x range.