Interesting—have been tinkering in this area for decades now and always heard AAC was better than MP3. But until now have not seen <i>how/why</i> it was better. Thank you Stereophile.<p>Yes as several have written, the piece is from 2008 and it doesn't matter any more.<p>First, once LAME and VBR came about, I've never been able to tell the difference between my 192K MP3 and lossless files, even as a spring-chicken with expensive equipment. Been "good enough" for a very long time.<p>Second, since storage and bandwidth exploded I've used FLAC exclusively. Why not? But, have found 24/96+ files on the internet occasionally and first thing I downsample them to 16/48khz and do a listening test. I sure as hell can't hear the difference between those. I do leave the last extra 3.9khz... why not? Incredibly cheap and maybe the kids can hear it. Playable on car stereo and more compact, one third the size.<p>Finally, a big exception. Techies obsess about compression formats, but they don't matter as much as you think at the high-quality end. I've learned the source, i.e. master recording is more important. Example—rip "pristine" FLACs (or WAVs) directly from an iconic 80s CD. Do a listening test. Compare them with a modern remaster encoded with 192K Lame VBR MP3. The MP3 will sound a lot better and preserve the improved high end details. Yes, more noise but you'll struggle to hear it.<p>(Caveat—this is assuming we're not talking about a shitty 2010-era "loudness war" remaster but a quality-oriented remaster.)<p>Was mildly surprised by this after insisting on FLAC for almost two decades. A bit too early, in hindsight. Storage is so cheap now though, it again doesn't matter. FLAC it is, Opus from online sources.