An interesting survey out, that the young crowds seem to prefer MP3 sounds over uncompressed audio. Seem bizarre? it shouldn't; audiophiles have been touting their formats of choice for decades now.
Ever hear someone swear that records sound better than CDs? The preference seems to be for familiarity rather than quality. Those that grew up listening to LPs seem to think they sound better, and why not... they sound true to how they've always heard the song. The same thing is now happening with digitally compressed audio, if that's the only version you've heard, of course it sounds most like the original.
I think it's fair to take this out one step further... can a recording ever sound better than the live performance? The truth is no matter what the medium, there's always a filter between the instruments and the listeners ears. Sometimes its a record needle or digital compression, but in other cases it's a set of low-quality speakers. Even consider a live performance, the sound would presumably be great right? But what if you were in a room where you could control the atmosphere... would denser air give you a more true sound?
It's all really a matter of preference. As for me, I'll stick to lossless audio (where possible) over $10 headphones. Sounds pretty good to me!
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