This will be debated as long as digital is in existence. I have limitless storage capability (10TB) and at the time, all I had was time (was in-between jobs). I spent endless hours testing CD rips to see which was better before I ripped my entire library. I ripped dozens of CDs in WAV and FLAC, and also AIFF. I used dBPoweramp to rip. As much as I wanted to hear it, I could hear ZERO difference between them all. Zero, none, nada, zilch, nothing!
If someone can hear the difference, bless you. My system is incredibly resolving so that's not it. Just my experience.
What I did hear a huge difference in was the playback software. JRiver was best, Mediamonkey (?) was horrible, iTunes and a whole bunch of others were tested.