Eric, enjoyed reading your impressions and your choice of music. Yes, certainly listening sessions can't give a definitive answer(likely there is no such thing)and has been pointed out previously, the mixing and mastering applied to the same recorded performance(even different tracks on the same disc)may be different and may be responsible for any perceived difference. This factor can submerge any theoretical advantage in the way of sampling frequency or bit depth and can determine the end result more than if the format happens to be CD, DVD-A or SACD(neglecting the multi-channel possibility).
