What your DAC or CDP can produce depends on the quality of your cdp and the DAC therein.
On the weekend we test-drove a $900 DAC, and also a $4000 DAC at the dealer steamed from a MAC computer in Apple Lossless format: neither matched the performance from the same tunes played as the redbook CDP (about $12K) w.r.t. sounstage width and depth, vocal presence and instrument clarity, digging out much more the subtle details in the recording, and mainly the PRaT and overall emotion.
In this audition, the digital music server playback was comparatively compressed with a perceived dip in the midrange and upper midrange upper midrange
The point: what are are you prepared to give and compromise between the different formats?
On the weekend we test-drove a $900 DAC, and also a $4000 DAC at the dealer steamed from a MAC computer in Apple Lossless format: neither matched the performance from the same tunes played as the redbook CDP (about $12K) w.r.t. sounstage width and depth, vocal presence and instrument clarity, digging out much more the subtle details in the recording, and mainly the PRaT and overall emotion.
In this audition, the digital music server playback was comparatively compressed with a perceived dip in the midrange and upper midrange upper midrange
The point: what are are you prepared to give and compromise between the different formats?