I did some A/B testing with my original CDs vs Apple iTunes. I found I couldn't tell the difference with 256 Kbps MP3 and 192 Kbps AAC. Actually, more like 192 Kbps MP3 and 160 Kbps AAC.I listened to my uploaded music file on Apple Music through HomePod compared to the original lossless file ripped from my own CD and I can’t tell a difference.
So, I just encoded my CDs to 256 Kbps MP3 initially, and then when AAC became more popular and entrenched, I encoded the remainder of my CDs to 192 Kbps AAC.
Most do not care. My sister is perfectly happy with her sound bar, paired with her 65" OLED. My subwoofer alone costs several times the cost of her sound bar. She can afford my setup, but doesn't see the point. Also, she doesn't want a bunch of big speakers cluttering up her living room anyway.I guess the real questions are 1) how many care enough about the quality improvement to get it, and 2) how many can afford the proper equipment?
Note, I have a dedicated home theatre room (which used to be our single-car garage). In my living room, I have a 43" Sony mid-range 4K LCD TV. I and my wife did not want a huge TV in that room either. At that size, for most content it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between good quality 1080p and 4K, esp. considering our seating distance of 12 feet. Thus, I haven't felt the need to upgrade my Apple TV 4th generation (non-4K) there.
Amazon Prime and Netflix shows are 4K for example.Good. Now bring 4K for TV-Shows