Does HiRez really sound better?

Chrsh - Most consumers don't spend enough money on their equipment to hear the difference. They spend more on their cell-phones. They all claim that they have tin-ears too...

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

IMO: Only a minute fraction of music listeners care about resolution greater than redbook CD.
Even CD resolution may be more than many want or care about.

Nonoise,
You have a pretty nice vinyl rig how do CD, Hirez, PCM and DSD compare to it?

Sgunther,
I don't have a vinyl rig (but wish I could afford a nice one):-). I don't stream either as I'm stuck in the CD/SACD camp but as my system matured I could hear a difference with very well recorded CDs and SACDs leading me to believe that it's mostly in the realm of the recording where the magic lies.

All the best,
Nonoise

When I listen to digital music from a number of types of files saved on my pc; whether MP3, ripped CDs or Hi Res, I do have a hard time discerning what level of resolution I am listening to at first. Given time, though, it does become apparent which music is Hi Res and which is not. It does not take me long to get tired of an MP3 file.

I think the reason people have a hard time telling the difference between low and hi resolution music files in A-B comparisons is that the brain becomes involved, and unlike a test instrument, the brain does all kinds of interpretive stuff to the sound your ears are hearing. When you listen to a few seconds of “A” and then a few seconds of “B” the brain does not have enough time or information to make a determination as to which one has better sound. But then, sound and music are two related but different things. Sound is simple and music is complex. The longer your brain listens to music the more it becomes attuned to the complexities of the music. With MP3 the complexities just are not there.

IMHO these type of A-B comparison are probably not the right kind of test. I think if you sat people down for a long period of time and did the comparisons you may find a different result.