Seeing a few posts skirting around this so thought I'd post a good description. Poor mastering does not only show on good equipment, even iPhone speakers would highlight it.

Oh, and this and mixing are two very different things in case you're wondering.

Also I apologise if this is teaching anybody to suck eggs. That's not the intention :)

http://youtu.be/3Gmex_4hreQ

ilo said:

Seeing a few posts skirting around this so thought I'd post a good description. Poor mastering does not only show on good equipment, even iPhone speakers would highlight it. Oh, and this and mixing are two very different things in case you're wondering. Also I apologise if this is teaching anybody to suck eggs. That's not the intention http://youtu.be/3Gmex_4hreQ

Actually recording, mixing and mastering all play crucial roles as to the level of dynamic range is resulted.

I might add that this video is a rather poor example as more dynamic range is not paralell with the quality of a noise signal.

IDK if it's true but a friend of mine who's a sound engineer told me -regardless of mastering or mixing- that lots of the people he knew who swear only by Flac in fact listen to the music only on their smartphone, iPod or computers with poor sound cards and that even the 5 to 10% of people who can hear the difference between mp3 320 and Flac couldn't tell while listening with such shitty gear.

It was only a basic understanding for those that don't realise how bad some stuff is

databank said:

IDK if it's true but a friend of mine who's a sound engineer told me -regardless of mastering or mixing- that lots of the people he knew who swear only by Flac in fact listen to the music only on their smartphone, iPod or computers with poor sound cards and that even the 5 to 10% of people who can hear the difference between mp3 320 and Flac couldn't tell while listening with such shitty gear.

Exactly ! i listen to music through a good soundcard (Apogee Duet 2), the sound is just fantastic.