I’m going to say it’s because the car radio runs off battery power and doesn’t have the harmonic distortion of AC powered systems.
Also another complete guess is that perhaps when our brain hears a low bandwidth signal it isn’t expecting anything to do with real sound, and fills in what’s missing.
When you hear a full bandwidth signal with actual dynamics, maybe the brain is expecting some thing more literal, instead of the mere represenation of music.
in the same way, you can watch low quality comedy YouTube image and still laugh as hard as watching it in the theater, but it doesn’t have the immersive quality.
Also think of a voice over a squawky phone signal. You will get the content of what someone is saying, but you might miss small cues like a sigh, that indicate additional meaning.
Also another complete guess is that perhaps when our brain hears a low bandwidth signal it isn’t expecting anything to do with real sound, and fills in what’s missing.
When you hear a full bandwidth signal with actual dynamics, maybe the brain is expecting some thing more literal, instead of the mere represenation of music.
in the same way, you can watch low quality comedy YouTube image and still laugh as hard as watching it in the theater, but it doesn’t have the immersive quality.
Also think of a voice over a squawky phone signal. You will get the content of what someone is saying, but you might miss small cues like a sigh, that indicate additional meaning.