Does the bitrate matter?

There is a massive audio quality difference between 320kbps and 128kbps. Anything below 192kbps is unacceptable for any public performance…I don’t event like anything below this on my ipod cause it sounds terrible. The lower the bitrate the more they have removed from the song, to crate a smaller file size. Armin Van Buuren has said that he doesn’t believe there is much, if any difference in sound quality above 192kbps but I feel if its on a big system then you may hear it.

I’d tell you to go no lower than 192.

Even in a bar, you might notice the sound on those 128s is not as “crisp” and distinct as the 320s or wav files. In epic/emotional trance, which has many layers of many sounds to make that full effect…a lower bitrate will get rid of many of those little tweaks and blips you only hear when you’re listening.

Can you get away with 128? Yes…but I think you should shoot for better simply because as one person alluded to, if you play a 128 and then go up to a 320, you will hear a difference.

Do 128k mp3s even exist these days outside of piracy and people doing their own rips?

Horrible stuff, I wouldn’t playing anything below 320k myself, but 192 would probably be ok on lesser systems, still Re-rip your tunes to 320k.