Since I Started college 10 years ago I have been verg strict when listening to music. I used to listen and download new music each day, couldn’t listen to a mp3 @128kbps and I could easily tell the difference between 128 and 320 Easily but nowdays I can’t. Tried replacing my cheap Z312 logitec speakers with Beyerdynamics DT 770 PRO but couldn’t notice difference neither Did MP3 encoding just got better over the years or my ears are not so good like they used to be?
There are many variables, of course you couldn’t hear the difference with those speakers. MP3 encoding has gotten better. If you listen too loud a lot it is possible your hearing has deteriorated over 10 years. I can easily tell between 320 and FLAC, 128 and 320 is an even more extreme difference. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to anything below 256 though.