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Jim, I think using an anechoic chamber it might be possible for well trained ears to hear differences but take Jon Whitledge's Magic Bus to a dry lake where the background noise is 17 dB and I start to have doubts about the differences being audible (Jon does this). In my office at night with the HVAC and my computer off, 23-27 dB of background noise, I doubt whether highly trained listeners can tell the difference. During the day, 36 to 42 dB of background noise in my office probably means it is not possible to hear the difference.
One way to look at this is if people cared about hi-res, there would be a market to stream it and download files. There isn't any real evidence a market exists for hi-res. It's been eighteen plus years of trying to push it with little to no results.