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by chrismealy 3263 days ago
It's not just about volume. Tracks mastered with a ton of compression trick your brain into sounding louder than they really are, which is great for a song or two (or if you want pay people to pay attention to your tv commercial), but for listening to a whole album it wears you out. If you have an album you love but somehow never make it all the way through this is probably why. The perception of full volume gets your lizard brain aroused, which is great if you're in the club, but not if you're in the mood to listen to the first three Led Zeppelin records in a row.

On the other hand, older recordings with more dynamic range might sound thin at low volume, but are much richer at higher volumes (you can hear the individual instruments better and feel the space in the sound). If you try comparing older and newer masterings at a good volume the newer mastering usually sounds kinda mushy.
2 comments
hashmal 3263 days ago
Not only it wears you out, but it can be dangerous, especially in clubs. The longer you listen to loud music (can be just a few minutes!), the more damage is done. Having music with a wide dynamic range helps to have an overall lower volume and preserve ears.
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lflux 3263 days ago
In Sweden, night clubs have a different time period for sound pressure exposure limits than concerts[0] (15 minutes instead of 60), partially due to the difference in dynamic range.

[0] https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/globalassets/livsvillkor... §5.1.2 vs §5.2.3

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elmar 3263 days ago
Today if you want dynamic range you have to buy Vinyl or lossless downloads.

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Roger+Waters&a...

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Roger%20Waters

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cr1895 3263 days ago
No, it still depends how it was mastered. You can have crap sounding vinyl and lossless, too.
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elmar 3263 days ago
yes you are right you can have very crappy sounding vinyl, your best bet is vinyl but you always do your research.

Unfortunately SACD is dead and even on SACD the CD tracks can be a diferent mastering and very diferent from the SACD track.

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elmar 3262 days ago
39 essential albums for audiophiles

https://www.stuff.tv/features/39-essential-albums-audiophile...

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sjwright 3263 days ago
Occasionally that's true, very often it's not. Looking at your second link, there's only one album that has been substantively remastered. (And that better mastering could have been distributed on CD or through iTunes, presumably they just didn't bother to do so.)
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