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I wouldn't spend a fortune and I wouldn't worry about high end speakers. Two things will limit the utility of high end speakers for you. First, the dynamic range of popular music is limited and you won't require the same kind of quality in a loudspeaker as you would for, say, classical music. Second, and probably more importantly, all your music is on compressed files. The formats you are listening to are all missing a substantial amount of data by file compression. If they are suitable for you, I would just continue to listen to them but high end speakers will not do a great deal to enhance the sound of compressed music. The limitation in your system will not be in the speakers, it will be in your sources. The system is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain.

Recently, we had our home remodeled. As a part of that project, I wanted to make my music easier to access. I had a particular challenge. I have a 800 CD classical music collection but I have a home and a cabin. The CDs are stored on two 400 disc Sony players. If I moved the CD players back and forth to the two places, some would become dislodged and I would have to open the enclosures and reseat them. So, I looked into a music server for my home and planned to use and leave the CD players at the cabin.

I had no idea how to approach the server idea so I went to the local high end stereo vendor. He suggested I do some A/B comparison listening with particular emphasis on digital compression formats. I listened to as many as I could and found that comparing MP3 to the actual CDs showed MP3 to be unlistenable for me. It was primarily the dynamic range of the compressed files that was the problem. I auditioned a number of others on my own equipment and found that FLAC-lossless was a format that, for me, was indistinguishable from the original source. So I purchased a server that would record in that format. In my opinion, if I had been looking for speakers at that point, listening to my music on MP3 could not have been significantly enhanced. It was the MP3 (and other compression formats) that were the weak link in the chain.

That said, my music listening speakers are KEF Reference 105/3s which I purchased in 1990 or so for $3500/pair. Don't even consider spending anything near this for your listening habits and sources. My speakers have lost a little of their brightness over the years but I have them in a uncarpeted large room with a lot of hard surfaces and glass and they work very well in there. The other speakers that I use are at the cabin and I have one other set of the same at home for my wife who watches movies, TV, etc. with them as her listening source. They are Paradigm Studio 80s but I can't recall the purchase price. I have been quite happy with these speakers also and they were substantially less expensive than the KEFs.

It used to be a rule of thumb that you should spend about 50% of the cost of your system on speakers. I think if you decide to upgrade your speakers, you should LISTEN to a variety of speakers using some of your own music that you bring with you from place to place to be able to make fair comparisons. Even this will not tell you how the speakers will sound in your home, however. Before I purchased the KEFs, the dealer let me take them home for what ended up to be 2 months. This is one of the reasons to have a relationship with a reputable dealer in your home town. You will not be able to do this in a "big box" store.

There are a lot of reputable speaker manufacturers out there. My suggestions to you would be to not spend a fortune and to listen to as many types as you can and pick the ones you like the best.

Once you get over 250K, MP3 is fine for anything other than critical listening.

If I’m gonna sit down and LISTEN to the music while enjoying a cigar and a single malt, it means vinyl or open reel. Everything else is digital.

And MP# doesn’t compress the sound. Rather, it removes information. If the sound is compressed it is because the signal being converted to MP3 was compressed.

MP3 compresses file size, not sound. It can sound bad if you use a low enough bit rate because so much of the audible data is removed, but if the op is going 250 or higher, it will be more than fine for all but the most quiet and focused listening sessions. And for many it would be fine even for that.

My rock bottom is a low 160, but that is because that stuff is played in the car, if you get my drift. Also, once you drop below 160 you start losing audible bass frequencies. They are simply not there. As a bass player myself, that is a problem. :-)