No question. New roasts have to de-gas and realease CO2 for the first 12 hours, but 4-48 hours after the roast is when they are at their peak freshness for taste supposedly.

I can tell you that the smell the next morning when I opened the container was insanely good. The difference in taste was huge compared to any random cup of joe, but I've been kind of buying super fresh high-end beans lately, so I'd say the taste, while different, was in league with what I've been drinking lately quality wise.

While coffee up to 48 hours off the roast is the absolute peak in flavor and freshness, I swear some of that has to be placebo...a high quality bean expertly roasted that is a week and a half old is going to taste just as good I think. There might be a difference, but I'm not sure I could really tell.

Edit: I think that you can't really exceed the quality of the artisanal roasters, -just match them at best. I think what home roasting brings to the table is that you can enjoy unprecedented variety that speciality roasters can't match. You can just buy small bags of any raw bean you want and go to town brewing beans that they don't carry.