Just curious: Have you considered iTunes or other high-quality digital music sources? I've heard that most people can't distinguish 256kbps AAC from CD quality.
I also buy physical CDs and it has nothing to do with quality. It's because I can usually get the CD used for cheaper than I can get the digital music. I'm also a whole album listener over individual tracks on random.
You have to personally test that. (You should obviously do a blind test. When I did this I didn’t go all out and fired up R, but some statistical analysis would certainly not be overkill.) I can’t tell them apart but other people might.
It would be absurd, though, for me to buy CDs over AAC files because of the audio quality. Additionally to the indistinguishable audio quality I get a better price (I guess I’m paying about one third less on average), instant delivery wherever I am and the music is nice and compact. I don’t have to deal with boxes full of CDs.
Streaming doesn’t fit the way I listen to music (nor are any great streaming services available in Germany). I like my curated music collection.
The Foobar2000 ABX plug-in can do this for you. It automatically sets up a blind test, and calculates the probability that you can tell the difference between.
In my experience, that depends heavily on both the listener and the music. Rock and pop music, which cram everything into the midrange, compress well. But music which strays further into the treble and bass doesn't. Even when a difference shows up, whether it's noticeable is going to depend on who's listening.
The most noticeable example I can think of offhand is the David Bowie album Outside - there are a few spots where entire tracks drop out in 256kbps AAC. However, they consist of the kind of very high-pitched sounds that are the first to go when your hearing degrades, so a lot of listeners won't miss them because they never knew they were there in the first place.
