Sound Quality of red book CDs vs.streaming

Just for the record (no pun intended) the pleasure center of the brain 🧠 🕺🏻could not care less whether the sound is coming from speakers or headphones. Once the sound gets into the ear canal everything is up for grabs. Music soothes the savage breast. Fake music doesn’t cut it. A lotta times sound from speakers or headphones doesn’t pass muster. You can’t fool Mother Nature.

Has anyone else noticed that quite a few hi res downloads are aggressively compressed? It seems inescapable, even SACDs, and Japanese SHD CDs and Blu Ray. I mean, what’s the point?

Of course headphones cannot project that big soundstage way out in front of you like speakers can (ideally) but on the plus side headphones can be very transparent and provide that special you are there sound with the right recordings. The performers can be out in front of you on occasion. Many studio recordings that give “performers in the head” sound with headphones provide a relatively unconvincing soundstage. It’s a trade off. What headphones tend to have in spades is dynamics and detail, whilst avoiding the potentially steep cost associated with room treatments, space, electronics, speakers, cables. And years of effort. 😬

An excellent selling point for headphones. 

You seem to be firmly in the wire directionality camp based on your comments regarding Audioquest Hurricane power cord and Audioquest USB cables, what with “much more details and layers,” as you say. Care to elaborate on wire directionality?

There is nothing good about overly aggressive dynamic range compression. There is no benefit other than the level (loudness) can be made much higher. It doesn’t make it more detailed. It doesn’t make it smoother.  It’s a teeny bopper thang. Hel-loo!