I need to research this some more then... I used Audiocatalyst with the LAME add-on, and 320 VBR to rip all of my CD's. And I have absolutely no question that when played back to back, the CD player sounds a lot brighter and crisper.

I suppose it could be the CD player itself adding something into the mix - but when I saw the topic of the thread, I thought to myself "only 320?".