What makes music so congested?

Regarding headphones as a tool to help eliminate congestion, I use Klipsch S4 ear buds with my Squeezebox Radio and my daughters Ipod oudoors. THese do a fantastic job of sorting through the music for only $80, even on the Ipod playing mp3s. Bass and vocals are all there and everything is well presented top to bottom I would say.

I went to a lot of rock concerts in the 70s. Outdoors, indoors, giant stadiums, amphitheaters, etc. Congested sound was the goal. Constant maximum dB output. Many early 70s rock recordings were done the that way just like their live concerts. That's why we have gravitated to more civilized styles of music, although Heart, Dreamboat Annie on London pressing sounds great and rocks.

I have a run of the mill Atlantic CD, made by BMG. It sounds great. When BMG was in business I really didn't feel their recording/transfer quality was that good. The sound of this CD rocks! I have always been shocked at the definition and quality of the bass on this (1972) recording. Your amp has got to be able to drive your speakers. This is definitely not a pristine recording. The highs have distortion problems, but you should be able to identify that. There is no way this recording would be considered congested. I had a vintage Pioneer low wattage receiver in my garage that sounded a little mushy/congested. It broke. Now I have a modern higher wattage receiver that doesn't sound congested, but really has no soul. I like my OCM 500 amp. If I had a complaint, it would be that it sounds darker than my old amp. That is probably a good thing, I am not going to name my old amp. The only thing it was good at was the midrange, even though it had 2x the wattage of the OCM. Try changing your amp, and, or speakers.