Have you done a proper AB blind test to verify that?
I studied sound engineering and we did that test. Most people failed and it was in a studio environment. I couldn't imagine regular people not interested in audio with consumer gear.
Edit:
If you do the AB test, you really need to get pretty close to 100% success to claim you can hear the difference. Anything closer to 50% is just random luck.
>> The vast majority of people can't tell the difference between a 44.1Khz/16 bits .wav and a 128kbps MP3.
...are you kidding? I think most people could easily tell the difference between a CD and a 128kbps MP3 if asked to listen to it hard enough. That, or play it in a club loud enough - and watch everyone cringe.
As the other commenter said - 320kbps - alright, sure. But 128kbps? Come on.
With a modern encoder, I think that's virtually guaranteed, yes.
Most peoples idea of "horrible" 128kbps seems to be skewed by the early days of MP3 -- which does mean there are horrible files and encoders out there, yes. But a modern LAME encoder is streets ahead at 128kbps.
Even under perfect listening conditions (which are very rare) 99.99% of people won't be able to tell the difference.
The vast majority of people can't tell the difference between a 44.1Khz/16 bits .wav and a 128kbps MP3.