4 bit = 16 shades or states
5 bit = 32
6 bit = 64
7 bit = 128
8 bit = 256
9 bit = 512
10 bit = 1024
So 256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216 total colours, 8 bit
1024 x 1024 x 1024 = 1,073,741,824 total colours, 10 bit
Basically, you get 64 times more colours and shades. This means it looks a lot better; bright colours get brighter and dark colours get darker. This could be the difference in "lighting" you are observing. The fansub group may also add effects to brighten because they have the smaller filesize to do so.