Does HiRez really sound better?

All things being equal (ie provenance being the mastertape), I'll take a well engineered hirez over a well engineered redbook recording. That being said, it all gets back to the recording and reproduction chain. Of course, things being unequal or with a 16/44.1 source, redbook can equal or even beat hirez.
Disclaimer ---have not heard products like PS Audio Directstream DAC which converts everything to dsd so don't know if or how that would change my opinion.

Just me in the context of my rig.

Even though live music recorded directly to a hi rez format sounds better, the fun still lies in getting the most out of the redbook standard. There's a lot more potential there than many have ever heard, because you have to spend some money on the player to get there, and then you have to have the right power supply, the right power cords, the right isolation, on and on--then, the music will finally emerge with enough resolution to satisfy anyone. But, because of the cost to get there, the allure of hooking up a computer/dac without moving parts is tempting, but very distracting from the real fun of focusing on the little things that really bring out what was hidden in the 16/44 format. What, you're going to park your turntables and CD players for a computer? I have that in my lap right now. The music is coming from somewhere else.

Here is an article from AudioXpress.com

http://audioxpress.com/article/The-High-Resolution-Audibility-Test.html

Talks about why A-B test may not be the best test.

"Are you saying that common audio measurements (such as frequency response, signal to noise ratios, dynamic range, etc.) mysteriously cannot be measured for vinyl but can be exactly measured on digital formats? This would be very troubling but convenient for anyone wishing to avoid objectively comparing the two formats. Fortunately,however, your statement is not factual."

No. I said resolution. With digital, you can label something 16/44 or 24/96 or whatever. You can't do that with analog. And even if you could, it would probably be too impractical to use in the real world. Analog resolution varies with equipment choice.

"The reason I referred to this article was to demonstrate the reporter's total lack of understanding of the importance of a recording's provenance. No, I don't think he was qualified to conduct such a test, precisely because he didn't realize he was asking his subjects to choose which recording sounded best when both recordings were identical. Because of this, the results of his test are meaningless."

If that's what you meant, then I obviously misread your comments and take back what I said.

"My main point is that the major labels are using standard resolution older masters of their recordings, transferring them into hi-res formats, increasing the prices and marketing these as hi-res without disclosing the provenance of these recordings. Doing this adds no improvements in sound quality but may garner large revenues from uninformed consumers. I'd prefer these potential buyers to be well informed. I'm fairly sure the major labels would prefer otherwise."

Maybe you could explain this because I'm not sure how you are coming up with it? When you say that they take standard resolution recordings and transfer them to high rez formats, what are we the resolutions in question? I'm not sure that I know what standard resolution is, in the context of your comment.

I see this as one of the challenges of wide spread acceptance of high rez although as john darko states is an extreme example this does further illustrate nobles point.

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2015/02/disrespecting-artistry-becks-morning-phase-as-a-hi-res-download/