Those listening tests are done on stereo headphones. I often listen to music through a 5.1 system, which processes the stereo signal through a Dolby Pro Logic II decoder in order to feed the 5 speakers. This stresses lossy codecs much more than listening through headphones; phase information is used for sound placement, and sounds that would normally be masked often end up sufficiently localised to discern (this is part of the fun of a surround system). I can definitely hear outright artefacts at rates and codecs purported to be transparent.
You never know how a piece of audio might be used, and once you've thrown away information you can't get it back.
I agree in principle, however I disagree with the logic insofar as anyone who is listening to music through Pro Logic (or a similar matrix decoder) is by definition not a target audience for pedantic degrees of audio signal preservation.
Not really sure what you're trying to say. Why am I not allowed to be in the "target audience" for not wanting artefacts in my music?
Your reasoning seems to be "only deluded, pedantic audiophiles want lossless, and audiophiles don't listen though matrix decoders". But that begs the question - the whole point of relating my personal experience was to show how a perfectly reasonable and commonplace listening style could benefit from lossless encoding.
Please don't put words in my mouth. I would never say that you have to be deluded or pedantic or an audiophile in order to justify lossless audio file. And I would never ever say that "audiophiles don't listen though matrix decoders".
I completely accept that matrix decoding is a legitimate way to listen to music. I do it myself on occasion. But even before you throw lossy compression into play, it's worth acknowledging that Pro Logic decoding of a non-Pro Logic signal is hit-and-miss at best, which can often trip up or be generally unpleasant with many types of material.
You never know how a piece of audio might be used, and once you've thrown away information you can't get it back.