Hello! This is probably stupid.
So I have recently gotten rid off my streaming services to save money and I have been into transferring my new and old CDs into MP3 form (320 kbps) and listening to those either on my Sony Walkman (NWZ-B162F or something) or on my PC with the Windows Legacy Media Player/VLC and now the music sounds so, so different than the same songs sounded from Spotify or YouTube Music. (Official apps on Android, iOS and PC or the web version on PC while having the “HD Settings” on.) Headphones and the soundbar is the same as before, no changes there.
Like the MP3 form, that should be much more poorer quality and inferior in all the ways, but it sounds “deeper”? The streaming services have sounded so… flat? Sorry, English isn’t my native language but yeah, flat or shallow? Empty even? Hollow?
Is this because of I now “own” the music and possibly respect it more and that makes it sound better? Am I turning into an audiophile, which I have never had any interest in before? Or is there something real in this? Not complaining really, just been pondering this a while and my fiancé agrees on this as he’s been doing the same on his old iPod…
Thanks in advance or anyways. :)
Afaik Spotify normalizes the tracks by default and from what I gather that means it boosts the volume across the track and applies a limiter to roll off the loudest parts, which I guess should make them sound much flatter.
You’re not alone though, my gf reported the same thing so we’ve spent an afternoon comparing the same albums on Spotify and my Jellyfin collection. Same phone, same headphones, the differences listening to some albums were huge.
Yeah, I was suspecting some “normalization” trickery from the streaming services… I absolutely wouldn’t have noticed this if I had just continued using them.
Nice to know other couples spend quality time the same way we do! :)