subject: The Best Way To Listen To Music [print this page] Even though I finally fall into the group of listening to music more on my computer or through the advent of an MP3 player (iPod being my favorite type), for some reason it still seems to me as though CDs sound better than digital music files. My favorite way to listen to a new CD is still on my trusty old walkman. It just seems like I hear a lot more of the nuances that way, even though I use the same headphones when listening to my MP3 Players (I have no idea for the reason why ear buds can never fit me comfortable)
I have heard many different schools of thought on this, and trying many different MP3 players and CD. But results are always in this way. On the one hand, since the files are taken directly from the CD, there should be no real difference in the sound quality (i.e. its all in my head). These files are usually condensed when you put them on an MP3 player or play them through iTunes and this usually results in a loss of sound quality(i.e. It is main part in my head, and some parts lost).One the other hand, that is the overall sound quality of CDs is being reduced as artist and producers are now catering to the fact that most people are now listening to music through their computer speakers or on popular MP3 Players. I remember reading an article last year which stated this typically takes the form of everything being louder and there being less variety in volume levels in the mix; the basic logic is that, on smaller/inferior speakers, louder is better. This would explain why the new Killers album sounds much better coming through one speaker of my factory issue car stereo than it does when Im listening to it on headphones (where the production sounds like an overly busy mess). And then there are those who still insist that vinyl has the superior sound quality
I recall reading an interview about Radioheads Johnny Greenwood where he said a lot of the bemoaning the decline in sound quality of MP3 Playerswas simply the result of aging hipsters desperately wishing that they could get music to sound as good to them as it did when they were teenagers.
