The "beginning of the end" was cassette.
MD was an improvement on that.

studios can record at 24bit, 96kHz sampling rate
The majority of studio recording engineers like to record at 24 bit 44.1kHz.
They like 24 bits because it gives them loads of headroom while recording. 24 or more bits are also useful for digital processing: eq, level changes, mixing, compression as it leaves room for rounding errors that build up to stay below the 16 bit floor of the final product.
The 16 bit dynamic range of CD exceeds that of almost any room ever used for recording or listening.

You're right that studio quality is wasted on the average home listening environment, but that's been true ever since the 1950's. TV sound was always excellent, and then ended up being played though a 2 inch speaker; superb sound recorded on 15ips or 30ips tape ending up played on portable transistor radios and so on.

Anahata