It depends on the recording. Regular CD can sound great when engineered well. HiRez can sound poorly when not well done. Great HiRez can be extremely good, better than most CD. Of course, if your system is not great, you might not be able to tell the difference easily. My digital playback has evolved and improved greatly over the years. (Keces LPS powering Roon Nucleus and ethernet switch >Fiber Optic conversion >Lumin X-1) Everything matters!