The two are unrelated issues. 128kbps mp3 files do sound pretty bad, especially on the high end and during very dynamic parts. It is audible to me, regardless

The two are unrelated issues. 128kbps mp3 files do sound pretty bad, especially on the high end and during very dynamic parts. It is audible to me, regardless of the quality of the original recording and its mastering. And, while we're talking, I'll point out that the loudness wars began roughly 20 years ago, so you may need to go back to an even earlier mastering to get the really good stuff. Certainly it was more pronounced through the late 90s and 00s, but I remember the first few records I bought that suffered badly from over-compression, and they were released around 1994-1996. The multi-band compression that has killed many great recordings began to see usage around that time as well, though it peaked much later (it was expensive to start with).