CD playback can only approach (but never really achieve) "bit perfect" reproduction as there is always some error correction going on in real time, unless a "memory buffer" type playback is used to correct any errors in reading data from the CD.
Bit perfect ripping software assures all the data from the CD is error free before it is played back. So conceptually, it would seem that bit perfect ripped files would be as good as it will ever get from a 16/44K CD.
That being said, the playback of ripped files (computer, motherboard, soundcard, etc.) then become the sound quality limiting factors, and they can create just as many variables as the error correction in the original CD deck IMHO.
For example, some say that ripped 16/44K files played though the Bryston BDP-1/BDA-1 sound better than the exact same CD played though Bryston's CD player BCD-1. Some dissagree and claim the CD player is better. I mention this combination because in both the BDA-1 and BCD-1 the analog output stages are similar so only the digital processing stages are different.
But higher resolution 24 bit "lossless" or bit perfect files have more potential than any 16 bit CD file, so therein lies the real value to using bit perfect files.
