All else being equal, better sound quality makes music more enjoyable. At the extreme (really, really good "hi fi" sound quality), it can make even less-appealing music more captivating and enjoyable, but there are limits to this; if you actually dislike a song, you're unlikely to suddenly love it just because it is in great fidelity, even if you can appreciate the sound quality.
Music we consider "good" is more enjoyable than music we deem "not so good." (That is sort of circular logic, but I think you get the idea! LOL) Sometimes a favorite tune can be greatly enjoyed, even through an inferior-quality system, or, say, if sung enthusiastically around a campfire when half the people are not even on pitch --because we like other characteristics of the tune itself. What appeals to us may be the rhythm, the melody, the harmonics, the emotional expression of the singer, or anything else; often it is an indefinable mixture of characteristics that we don't fully understand; we just know that we "like" that song.
In short, there is more to music, and the appeal of music, than sound quality alone, even though sound quality can affect our enjoyment of the music.
Between"sound quality" and "music likeability", sometimes one can outweigh the other, but both can be important:
Some songs I do not like, no matter what sound quality they are delivered in.
Some songs I like a lot, no matter what sound quality they are delivered in.
A few songs I only like with great sound quality, but not with lesser.
...
But what I like MOST OF ALL, is much-loved music played with great sound quality. There is nothing better than a favorite song being played with goose-bump-inducing sound quality!
I'm pretty much done splitting hairs in this regard...This will not be the popular choice, but I ripped everything into MP3 and am rolling with that format. I might look into downloading higher quality material in the future but for now I have all of the music I own in one convenient location and am listening to it much more because of doing this...As a result of being deaf on my right side since I was 12 my hearing is not sophisticated enough to make out the difference anyway.
The last sentence fully justifies your decision. This hobby is ultimately about personal enjoyment. If your hearing damage means you can enjoy MP3s just as well as higher-resolution recordings, then by all means, ENJOY THEM!
:thmbsp: