You will notice a low bit file. 320 to CD you won't. Old stuff with no processing doesn't fix the one true issue. The car. Measure a speaker near feild on a baffle, may be fairly flat. Measure that same speaker near feild but mounted in the door. Will get a bit more chop. Now measure they same speaker in the door but with the mic at your head. It's a jagged all over the place mess. That's what processing does. Try's to get that mess back to the measurement from the near feild baffle.
I do not know what the bit file was of that Brothers in Arms recording. It must have been pretty low, I guess. But, why would someone record with such a low bit file if running with such high-end equipment? That does not make a whole lot of sense, does it?
You have me at a disadvantage, here. Your knowledge and expertise is far greater than mine. Not sure what you mean when you say "Measure a speaker near field". I am not running active, yet. But, when I do I guess I will learn all of this stuff.
But, getting back to "old school vs. new school head units", I am guessing that (everything else being equal...same speakers, same amps, same DSP, same car) old school edges out new school in SQ and even more so if new school is factory head unit. But, old school looses out by a lot with the conveniences of new school. And, I guess, I should start considering those conveniences in future builds.