No Stupid Questions

Many factors at work here.

First off, mp3 at 320 kbps (or 256 for that matter) encoded with modern algorithms will be nearly idrntical to the original source. I defy you to reliably tell it apart from a FLAC in an A/B test. Where it usually fails is in stereo imaging, not obvious distortion or frequency limitations.

Secondly, many people have mentioned normalization (actually compression) in streaming services. When applied after the mix, i.e. exactly what they do, it ruins music. If you can turn off every 'feature' in these services that modifies the sound, you'll find improvements.

Thirdly, you're not necessarily getting great sound from them anyway. Spotify defaults to 96kbps Vorbis which is comparable to 128kbps mp3. And if your network speeds are low or laggy, it may well drop the quality dynamically to keep playing without glitches.

Fourth, there's the issue of mastering. You may have a differently-mastered release than what is on the streaming site. This can make a HUGE difference in some cases. If you can, try listening to Dark Side of the Moon releases from 2003 (Doug Sax) vs. the 2023 blu-ray.

And those are only the most likely candidates. There could well be other factors at play.

320kbps mp3 is actually very good.

Most steaming services will use much worse than 320kbps mp3. Some of the premium plans have options to do lossless but even then, it won't be much better unless they're encoding it from a higher-quality master.

Also, most phones have okay-at-best DACs. Devices designed specifically for music (like mp3 players), even very old ones, could realistically have better DACs.

320kbps mp3 is practically indistinguishable from lossless audio, so it is going to sound amazing compared to more compressed audio that streaming services tend to use by default. Also the hardware in the mp3 player is likely much better than anything in your phone or PC, if you never invested in anything audio specific. I always recommend to purchase a DAC/AMP for PC.

It could be that your MP3 player is applying some level of equalisation where your streaming services aren't. It's amazing what just alittle bit of EQ can do.

I've found that my rips do sound better than the standard Spotify quality but are about the same as Spitifies High or Lossless options. I'm listening to both through my phone and same headphones.

Afaik Spotify normalizes the tracks by default and from what I gather that means it boosts the volume across the track and applies a limiter to roll off the loudest parts, which I guess should make them sound much flatter.

You're not alone though, my gf reported the same thing so we've spent an afternoon comparing the same albums on Spotify and my Jellyfin collection. Same phone, same headphones, the differences listening to some albums were huge.

Spotify and YouTube music are known in the audiophile world for their not-so-great audio quality. I.e. the audio files that you stream via those services are very compressed.

An mp3 file 320 kbps is not a huge jump in quality, but it's definitely noticeable without being an audiophile! You're definitely experiencing that

Adding to all other good info here (mastering, compression rates) one thing old mp3 players had was often a very good DAC!

Digital to Analogue Converter. It is what generates enough "punch" to make your headphones vibrate exactly this or that much, and it makes a world of difference. People buy soundcards and stuff like that because computer and phone DACs are almost always abysmal.

Is it a.bitrate thing?

Others have covered the subtleties of how the sound could be reproduced on older players in a different way. But there may a psychological component as well? And I don't just mean a nostalgia factor, though that could certainly be part of it.

One thing I miss is having a dedicated music player that will never interrupt my listening experience with a notification or anything like that. It's the same reason I still prefer going to a theatre to watch movies. Zero distractions compared to a home screening and I feel like I can get far more immersed in it.

Codecs are psycho acoustics in practice, maybe there’s your answer.

Maybe you are listening with a better headset, or a bit louder

Have you done and blind testing? I'd be curious if you can really tell or if it is the ownership thing.

If you grew up listening on mp3s it might be a nostalgia thing.

Songs on my cds sound much better. Always have.

Songs are often mastered differently for different media. Streaming services often do this automatically. Mastering is why vinyl often sounds better than CD even though CD should be better, CDs enabled the loudness wars which vinyl couldn't handle so vinyl got a more musical content.

It's almost certainly just your thinking different about the music. There could be real effects. Different masterings, different DAC in the old player. But those are likely less effective than it just being your own perception of music you own vs stream.

Also, I'd recommend ripping your CDs into FLAC for permanent storage, then converting to other formats for any specific purpose.