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I'm afraid your 24 bit/ 16 bit test was not valid because you were not just comparing a 16 bit file with a 24 bit file. You were also comparing a download with a rip. The sound quality you get from a rip varies a great deal depending on the quality of the ripping software and the optical drive used.
In my experience 16 bit FLac downloads are likely to sound better than CD rips, so there is no way of knowing how much of what you heard was because the downloaded files were 24 bit. You need to download the 16 bit files and then compare THEM with the 24 bit files.