Under the hood there are many other factors influencing CD play, and file play.
I find the following application note very interesting:
Extending the Performance of the CD Format
Fortunately, we have learned how to extract more performance from the CD format. Newer recordings use noise-shaped dither to reduce the 16-bit quantization noise to a level that is equivalent to that of a 20-bit format. Oversampling converters with specialized filters have improved the high-frequency performance in the region between 18 kHz and 22 kHz while reducing distortion at all frequencies. These oversampling converters can also accurately reconstruct the original analog waveform between samples.
These spectacular improvements have brought the theoretical performance of the 35 year old CD format very close to that of the new high-resolution formats. Old recordings benefit from the improvements in D/A converters and power amplifiers. Newer recordings add the the benefits of the noise shaping and improved A/D conversion used to produce the recordings.
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