Why Compression Sucks

Dynamic Range Radio is one of the few radio stations, internet or otherwise, that adds no dynamic range compression to its audio signal. To learn more about what this means and why I think Dynamic Range Radio offers the best sound quality possible, watch this video:


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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/9/09, 1:28 PM

    So.. this site brags about not using compression, yet they stream their audio in 128 Kbps Mp3 (an audio COMPRESSION Format). WTF?!

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  2. Unknown3/15/09, 3:09 AM

    There are different types of compression, so it's easy to confuse them. The last poster is talking about Data Compression, which converts a larger source file into a smaller one, such as converting CDs into .mp3 or .aac.

    When I talk about compression, I'm referring to Dynamic Range Compression, which takes the audio signal within the file and compresses the dynamic range.

    Data Compression is a necessary evil in internet radio since broadcasting in .wav or .flac would use far too much bandwidth, but Dynamic Range Compression is unnecessary as far as I'm concerned. There are other ways to normalize the volume of various songs without ruining the dynamics of the original recording.

    I hope that clears up the confusion.

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  3. Anonymous4/24/09, 5:01 AM

    The proof is in the sound. Uncompressed wins by a mile,even if you have to stop talking to hear the quiet bits! It's how the music was recorded and meant to be played in the first place.

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  4. Anonymous5/1/09, 8:54 PM

    John, I totally agree with your views that compression "sucks" the life from the dynamic range of music. How are you dealing with the compression that has been already added to the sources you play? Are you processing them thru an "expander" to restore the dynamics, or are you selecting only music that has not been compressed to death in the recording process? Keep up the good work.
    Tom

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  5. Unknown5/2/09, 2:31 AM

    I tried a Dynamic Range Expander a few years ago, but I didn't like the results, so now I'm just very selective about what I play and what songs came before and after.

    There are certain modern songs on the playlist that don't have ideal sound quality, but not everything can or should sound like Dark Side Of The Moon.

    I'm glad you like what you're hearing.

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  6. Anonymous7/7/09, 10:05 AM

    If you stream your music at 128kps, is there a dfferenc in that between an mp3 at 128kbps converted from a cd. Am I supposed to hear something different? than say another in If so, what? I Am a new listener and just discovered this station. I was just curious.I thank you for your response.

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  7. Karen1/10/10, 6:27 PM

    I have the ears of a dog. Listening to my mp3 player is sometimes painful, but necessary when, say, stuck on a train after Christmas, stopped dead on the tracks between Syracuse and Rochester with not a word from any authority about the status of our paid-for trip and only grumbles from others trying to sleep since they'd been on this very same train since Albany, sitting there for hours with no word prior to reaching Syracuse.

    I can hear the difference, and I find it distracting.

    As a photographer, I find similar distraction with digital images.

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  8. David8/8/11, 7:09 AM

    @John: You are so right sir (good illustration); ran into your post during a Google.

    Dynamic range and digital audio format are not one in the same, and like the case you made John (this goes out to the comment on audio file format) there are audio file formats that are uncompressed or ‘Lossless’, a process that doesn't lose information or degrade the quality of the digital audio file as well (such as: PCM, WAV, MLP, AIFF, FLAC, AAC/m4a/mp4 and CDA/CD). Unlike the ‘Lossy’ compressed formats (below 400kbps): aac or m4a (lossy), mp3, ra (ram), wma and ogg.

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  9. David8/8/11, 7:49 AM

    One additional note:
    D-R compression is necessary at times when the audio playback is (let’s say) in environments that would have difficulty hearing the lower levels in the music program, like PA playback in an office or public areas of a store or mall. The apparent sound would appear to wonder continually up and down, here some compression is needed to level the signal so it can be raised above the ambient room noise yet not be blasting during the louder portions. Note that a localized (stand-alone) ‘Leveler’ unit can be added to accomplish this also.

    Hope the info is helpful to all. Thanks for the net-radio John, will give a listen.

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