Clarifying...
Some things really need to be said on this thread...
First, FLAC, ALAC, APE, etc... if you are using a lossless data-compression format, you are simply taking digital audio, using a specialized application, making the file smaller. The quality of audio is unchanged. It's the equivalent of a .zip file. Please... don't confuse data compression anymore. It hurts my head.
Next, a couple of you called out the Pepsi Challenge. That's awesome. I love it. A few of you have such Golden Ears that you can tell the difference between a quality, variable-rate AAC encode and a 96/24 original all blindly A/B tested. Congratulations! You are effing awesome. We bow to your superior ears. Now, for the 99% of the world that cannot, I present to you, the iTunes store.
If you think Apple, one of the biggest companies on the planet gives a crap about the 138 people who can easily do that, you're wrong. They sell to the same crowd that wears those awful white, included earphones. 98% of people don't know at first why a .cda file wouldn't play. I would even venture to guess you have a family member that thinks AAC stands for Apple Audio something-or-other. Apple cares that the experience they offer is good enough for the vast majority. If you aren't the vast majority, bugger off to some site that will sell you FLAC.
A few other things... yes, higher rate audio is awesome. It does sound better. However, please note that everyone proving this through some ish anecdote has described using equipment that vastly goes beyond the bell curve of standard consumer spending. I have a sound system that costs more than the MBP, so I'll pat myself on the back too... that's not what this is about.
The Nyquist theorem basically states that in order to adequately reconstruct a frequency, you need twice the number of samples. This means that if you want to go as high as 24,000Hz, you need 48,000 samples per second to reproduce the waveform. You can go higher than 2x, but not lower. More samples are awesome, as they give you a more accurate electricity-to-speaker signal, but returns diminish quickly when it comes to data.
24-bit audio is awesome. If you record anything, it should be in 24 (or 32) bits. The bits of audio represent the number of places on the y-axis the curve can rest. So for samples, x-axis points, those are "over time". The bits are how many places they can be - so think 8-bit=nintendo sounds. 16=cd. Why 24? Math. You can do all sorts of math/effects to audio in 24 with high quality because the rounding errors are very low. 16-bit is a very good destination range, and for most, simply A/B testing a 24-bit 44.1k and a cd is a waste of everyone's time. People can't tell, providing it was dithered at high quality (rounded down well).
BluRay is compressed video. You probably have never seen uncompressed video. It's exceptionally rare and absolutely ginormous. If you have a system where you can watch 10bit 4-4-4, you kick butt. However, to be super-duper clear, BluRay is to Video as ~400k VBR AAC is to audio. It's a very, very good medium. It is almost transparent. To the untrained eye, it is the highest standard, and yet, it's nowhere close to... say, IMAX, or 4k.
So I assert, again, that if you need more than 256 ABR AAC audio, the iTunes store is the wrong place. If you see a "remastered" dog turd on iTunes, it's a turd all the same. Busted. Creed, Nickelback, guilty; they sell it. But if you like a song, pay the $1.29, and can't be happy with it, take your whiny butt to some other store. Buy the CD. Go to your favorite band's site, and buy FLAC there. Convert it from FLAC to ALAC (no harm!) and go.
But if you must fight, understand this is about other people than you. If you all want to whip out your johnson and measure, go do it with the understanding that you're just trolling. Yay for you, o hearer of minutia...great sultan of the DAC. Just don't act like it's your natural right to get lossless audio. It's not. The market doesn't sell to you. The market sells to where the money is, and for every one of you who thinks that AAC is some abomination, there's 499 people who think that FM radio is good enough.
Oh, and FM radio tops out at 15kHz. But you knew that, didn't you...
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You sound completely uneducated on the subject. 256 aac = VHS, not Blu-Ray.
Selling lossy audio in 2012 is a complete joke. 16/44 ALAC (CD standard) should be the absolute minimum for inclusion in the itunes store. If you decide to downgrade that audio to fit 5000 songs (most of which you never listen to) on your ipod at once to make you feel cool, then that is your choice. But to actually sell this downgraded, ultra-compressed, tinny-sounding garbage at full CD price is a farce.
People who buy music on itunes are complete suckers.
If you equate 256 AAC to be on par with "VHS" in the video world, I don't need to worry about how uneducated I sound.
And yes, the vast majority are all suckers. You're more right. Got it. Are people who bought CDs suckers as well, since they didn't get a 96/24? Or maybe it's "good enough" for people that the iTunes store managed to put a huge number of CD stores out of business, and managed to turn an industry where it was normal to steal things to one where people voluntarily pay for the same thing. Our mistake.
