That said tho, if you were to burn for a true CD sound by using WAV as the file type (I pressume at 192k then?) then surely if you made an "audio" disc rather than "data" disc (so you don't have to stick to MB limitations only to time limitations) then you get the best possible CD burn yes?
Yes, that would be the same as basically making an exact duplicate copy of the original cd. I have 2 cd drives, so can do it pretty much the same way as the old tape 2 tape machines did. It reads from one and burns straight to the other with no encoding atall.
get a compatible CD changer that can read MP3 discs? Or upgrade the soundcard on this to one that has a much better sound on it, and also an optical in/out so I can copy straight from the PC, out the soundcard and into my hifi via optical cable....? Although this would all be in real time (like a cassette) thats no different than it is now TBH....
Yes, all that is possible
Ive got one of these in my pc
it sits in one of the spare drive bays and is connected to the soundcard
