Agreed. It may be that my previous experience as a session drummer has influenced me here, but anyone that has challenged me in the past to point out the differ

Agreed. It may be that my previous experience as a session drummer has influenced me here, but anyone that has challenged me in the past to point out the difference between 128 and above received the same statement each time: "listen to the cymbals, man". Cymbal wash is enough for me to never pay a dime for 128 kbits tracks.