It's 2012, just doing a search on 24-bit audio as it seems life is getting to the point where consumers like me are starting to collect 24-bit audio files in FLAC format.
Currently, I have a bunch of music off the internet, and some of them I can tell they are indeed better than CD quality. But some, like Pink Floyd's album Dark Side Of The Moon, I picked the 16-bit CD rip over the 24-bit version in a listening test. However, recording friends playing acoustic guitar with a 24-bit recorder, and playing back the original recordings, as well as 16-bit wav file conversions, you can tell the difference. 3 of us could tell the differences every single time, in blind tests. Doesn't mean much, because we didn't have conniptions or convulsions in full-blown ecstasy. I'm not a militant 24-bit audiophile, yet
It boils down to the quality of the original recording, PLUS the option of whether that recording was mastered before finally creating the 24-bit version. I don't want to waste time researching this stuff, so for the time being I'm settling on not getting anything in 24-bit if it's not a fresh recording. Old remasters, they need to have full documentation on the process. It's not happening yet.
If you have super awesome headphones, paired with a headphone amp, all I can say is, don't pay extra for the 24-bit versions until you know the quality of the material. As of March 2012, this seems to be a transitional stage. You could be taken advantage of, simply buying everything released as 24-bit audio files. In a few years, it should all pan out.
Personally, I'm fine right now with 16-bit FLAC files. I collect a handful of currently-recording jazz artists when their albums are 24-bit flac and it's not double the price of their 16-bit album, but I'm refraining from any old albums that are being reissued in the high-def formats.
This part is purely opinion, but I think that 16-bit audio CDs and MP3 downloads (at 320kbps) today are better than audio CDs that were being sold 20 years ago. I was there for the very first few CDs like Dire Strait's 'Money For Nothing' along with a Sony CD boombox, and I can't say I was blown away then, but these days, I am always stunned by MP3 downloads. Things have definitely improved!
Not sure of the future of 24-bit FLAC files, but I want it to be the end-all for music nuts. I simply DO NOT want to keep wearing white gloves to look at a jazz vinyl collection! Shoot me now or give me 24-bit FLAC