Yes. As you move to more resolving and detailed equipment, you will notice the differences in your source material more and more. It is a slippery slope to be sure, but no reason not to do it (or at least no reason that you'll get any traction with around these parts).
For a good many folks, they will always be perfectly happy listening to a mix of source formats -- lossy mp3 or AAC, CDs, and even higher-resolution formats -- on gear which makes it all sound pretty much equivalent. Indeed, there are multi-billion dollar industries built on the very correct assumption that the vast majority of people really don't give a damn. Perfectly legit.
This spot, and others like it, is where the minority of us obsessive social outcasts who very much do give a damn tend to congregate. If you care to listen, and invest in gear thoughtfully enough (and it doesn't have to be particularly spendy, just thoughtful) to reveal the differences, you will definitely hear the difference, because they are very real. The new gear that you are contemplating will very likely open this door. The lower bit rate files may well begin to sound brittle, anemic, washed out, etched or any manner of other imperfect efforts at describing what you might expect from a process that identifies the most extreme sounds from a digital track and then deletes and compresses everything else in order to save space. What's left is the form and the shape of all of the sounds, but just the hollowed out skeleton without the inconvenient and bulky fleshy bits that make living stuff, you know, live.
Now, assuming you begin to notice this difference more and more, and with the new gear I suspect you will, what you do about it is quite another question. If you shrug, listen to some more than others based on the music you enjoy more than anything else, and continue on with a happy and productive life, then god speed. But if you find yourself fascinated with these differences and begin to systematically upgrade to higher and higher resolution source material, and then equipment, eventually to realize that you've come to dwell in a world where you're constantly aware of sound quality and perplexed by the vast majority of folks who put up with junk and how can it be that they just don't get it . . . then I feel for you. And welcome.
For a good many folks, they will always be perfectly happy listening to a mix of source formats -- lossy mp3 or AAC, CDs, and even higher-resolution formats -- on gear which makes it all sound pretty much equivalent. Indeed, there are multi-billion dollar industries built on the very correct assumption that the vast majority of people really don't give a damn. Perfectly legit.
This spot, and others like it, is where the minority of us obsessive social outcasts who very much do give a damn tend to congregate. If you care to listen, and invest in gear thoughtfully enough (and it doesn't have to be particularly spendy, just thoughtful) to reveal the differences, you will definitely hear the difference, because they are very real. The new gear that you are contemplating will very likely open this door. The lower bit rate files may well begin to sound brittle, anemic, washed out, etched or any manner of other imperfect efforts at describing what you might expect from a process that identifies the most extreme sounds from a digital track and then deletes and compresses everything else in order to save space. What's left is the form and the shape of all of the sounds, but just the hollowed out skeleton without the inconvenient and bulky fleshy bits that make living stuff, you know, live.
Now, assuming you begin to notice this difference more and more, and with the new gear I suspect you will, what you do about it is quite another question. If you shrug, listen to some more than others based on the music you enjoy more than anything else, and continue on with a happy and productive life, then god speed. But if you find yourself fascinated with these differences and begin to systematically upgrade to higher and higher resolution source material, and then equipment, eventually to realize that you've come to dwell in a world where you're constantly aware of sound quality and perplexed by the vast majority of folks who put up with junk and how can it be that they just don't get it . . . then I feel for you. And welcome.