I think for most people the limiting factor will be the quality of their playback system not the limits of the 16/44 format. In my experience over the years upgrading cd players, streamers, amps and even cables to better ones results in improved sound from the same cd or file. This suggests to me that the limits of 16/44 as a format have not been reached by the hifi system and that the limitations of playback equipment should not be mistaken for the limitations of the format being played.
True. But there is another limit to keep in mind: what our ears are able to hear. You may also have the best performing system in the world, but, talking about frequencies, there’ll always be the natural limit of our hearing system (20 - 20,000 hz at best, when you are a child).
Anyway, I agree with your general point of view: a better playback system improves everything you hear on it, even lossy files.
To my mind mastering of the music has a far greater impact on the sound quality than the limits of 16/44 ever will; there are great sounding CDs and not so great ones.
This is the real thing! Loudness war and the logic for which music should be listened to “loud” even on smartphones, ruines a flood of great albums.
I listen mainly to music from the last 30 years and this is a problem that I suffer a lot.
9 out of 10 modern pop and rock productions have masters compressed as hell, sometimes clipped. it’s a shame.
Sometimes it happens that for some strange reason a more dynamic master of an album originally released with a high compressed master, come out. The difference is incredible, no matter the format, it can also be an mp3. It is the dinamyc range that makes all the difference in the world.