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. :)

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
    2·
    2 days ago

    I think it’s, like you said, the good feeling that results from quitting something that you were against. Music sounds better when you own it. You are no longer supporting greedy businesses (and/or fascist supporters). As an aside, I don’t need audiophile standards to enjoy music. My own introduction was listening to old 45 rpm singles on vinyl discs that had scratches, hisses and pops. It was the song that carried it through, not the sound quality.