High-end is Baloney? You are absolutely wrong... it sounds as if your mid-end gear isn't good enough to reproduce uncompressed audio such that you could hear the difference between a good uncompressed recording and an MP3. Or, perhaps you don't 'listen' well enough. Your ears can learn to discern subtlety, just think of how blind people adapt to their condition. However, the likely source of this discrepancy is your CD player, or your preamp/amp... or your sound card if you listen to your music through a PC. Somewhere in your system there is a quality bottleneck, I can assure you of that.

Look, 192Kbps MP3 does not sound as good as CD. I can hear the difference, and have done exactly what you describe with a number of albums. Some people can't taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi, either.

Funny that you think it is worth blowing money on 'treating' your listening room... when discussing high-end, everything comes into play, including building a listening room from scratch. That's the privilege of being rich.

I am not rich, but I do pay $1000 per month more than I have to (for my neighborhood, and square footage) for my loft because I wanted a large room with good acoustics, and it does make a difference. My ceiling is wood, and 25 feet high and you can hear the difference. Of course the real reason for the large room is so I can have a home theater with a 15-foot screen and an HD projector. I have three subwoofers, each lazily doing it's part, and the bass notes achievable in my space are much lower than what I could reproduce in a smaller space... so indeed the room is an important factor... but without the ability to accurately reproduce 20Hz, the space would be wasted so it follows naturally that one needs to buy gear that is capable of performing at a level that matches the room's acoustic qualities.

A B+W/Velodyne speaker system can sound great, why not tell us what specific gear you have though... their mainstream mid-end gear is nice, but both manufacturers do have amazing flagship products. Are you suggesting that your mainstream B+W speakers sound the same as a pair of B+W Nautilus speakers? How about that Velodyne... have you ever heard a Digital Drive 1812? You sure it doesn't blow away your Velodyne? Why would these companies even bother with flagship products if they all sound the same? One thing is for sure, few audio stores actually have the space, and the properly set-up room to demonstrate top-of-the-line gear at its best. That's why true-high-end dealers will loan equipment to prospective buyers.

I need to reiterate... if you cannot hear the difference between 192Kbps MPS and uncompressed 16-bit 44kHz CD audio, your gear just isn't up to the task. Sorry for you. The conclusion that rich people are suckers is the most laughable of all... many wealthy people made their money precisely because they are not suckers and they have an appreciation for the finer things in life. Enjoy your system, and your music.