OK I lied and have brushed up;
Lossless compression of digital audio has been a thing for a while, and a lot of YouTube videos use FLAC encoded PCM files. You can also download totally uncompressed PCM files in WAV format (large file size) -
up to 32 bit natively. What you are essentially doing with your cables and a CD burner, is splitting the file into standard stereo and then upscaling it back onto a CD at max 24 bit. I'm sorry arista but it can only possibly sound like trash. Maybe you need new speakers/headphones.
Either way, you can play 32bit lossless FLAC files directly from a computer, and you can probably even stream them from a decent phone (e.g. to a car bluetooth) that way ... no physical disk required. And if you're going to burn a 24bit CD you want to do it by getting a 24bit uncompressed PCM wav file and burning it using a CD burner on your PC - not on a hifi. It will burn at native 24bit. No need for upsampling.
I just want to help arista I can't bear to think about these lossless hi-def files being screeched through a soundcard, coax cable, hifi and then into a burner. Ripped to shreds
.