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. :)
Others have covered the subtleties of how the sound could be reproduced on older players in a different way. But there may a psychological component as well? And I don’t just mean a nostalgia factor, though that could certainly be part of it.
One thing I miss is having a dedicated music player that will never interrupt my listening experience with a notification or anything like that. It’s the same reason I still prefer going to a theatre to watch movies. Zero distractions compared to a home screening and I feel like I can get far more immersed in it.
Absolutely, there is an psychological factor in this too. I’m listening way more carefully and listening the whole album in one go which is good because I’m enjoying the same tunes a whole lot more. And I agree on both the dedicated players and theatres… My attention span will do it’s tricks unless I keep in a short leash.
Yeah the effect is most noticeable to me for thematic albums or something classical like a symphony. I really don’t want those interrupted!
And I feel like fewer bands are making thematic albums now because they don’t translate well to the phone experience. That’s a shame.
I think fewer bands/artists are making even full length albums these days, thematic or not… At least in my country. The one big recording studio also owns the radio channels, tv channels and news sites, so they got the whole package. No point in wasting money doing an album… Singles here and there. It’s changed a lot, the whole culture.
In the audio world, psychology plays a huge role in everything. It’s far more likely to be this than the difference in bitrate, imo.