[flyinghamster]

In my own experience, the vast majority of consumer audio gear doesn't even take full advantage of 16/44.1. I've made live recordings of my classical chorus, and if I want it to be listenable on typical consumer gear, I have to apply a significant amount of dynamic range compression - otherwise, it will be either too quiet, or it won't handle the peaks when played at concert volume.

That being said, I'm using quite a bit less compression than the loudness-war-type mastering that is all too typical with pop music.

[chungy]

That's the funny thing about those tools -- applied properly, it can be a great asset. Applied carelessly, you end up with clipping and brickwalls of audio.