For the unbelievers, listen to Metallica's Death Magnetic first from the official version. After that, try the Guitar Hero version and it'll quite literally blow your mind.
I tend to get physically and mentally exhausted when I have to listen to music that's maximised for loudness, took me a while to figure that out. A comparison between these two versions was the eye opener for me.
.. whaaat ? the difference between the retail and GH3 parts here : https://youtu.be/6Nfqpr3ygSg?t=219 are enough that I can feel them just by the vibrations in my desk
Switch off the active noise cancelation if you haven't.
It's not the best headset in town but it should be more than enough to hear the difference.
edit: the switch at 6:10 is very noticeable to me (shure se215) but tbh they both sounds bad, and it sounds just as bad on spotify so youtube's compression isn't the culprit
> [Bose QuietComfort] It's not the best headset in town but it should be more than enough to hear the difference.
This is when I suspect the differences must be minuscule even without hearing the comparison. Bose headphones are way better (and pricier) than what most people use. The sound canceling alone should make significant differences evident.
You'd think the distorted highs/lows of the retail version would be enough to tell the difference.
I listened on my (work issued) Jabra "whatever" headphones, and i could tell right away (without looking) when it switched from retail to GH, just by the distorted highs/lows.
I also get extremely exhausted from listening to music maximized for loudness, while listening to almost anything recorded in the 70's can go on for hours without any sign of exhaustion.
Yeah, it's really sad: the 70s-80s were the peak of recorded music. There was great stuff earlier in the 60s, but the recording tech was crappy, and later stuff all sucks because of the Loudness Wars, so it's nearly impossible to find good quality mixes no matter how great the music is.
It's not just about dynamics. The GH version has significantly more bass.
Compression can do that, but it's also possible multiband compression was used to make the bass louder so it would be more obvious ("more exciting"...) on a typical home audio system.
Agreed, and I'd like to throw Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication" album into the mix too. It really surprises me just how hideous both of these albums sound.
Californication isn't just optimized for loudness. It's intentionally distorted (or so I prefer to believe, or the sound studio should be permanently disbarred).
But this isn't a new phenomenon. Most of U2's albums, including those from before Death Magnetic, are also hideous to listen to.
A video comparing both: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nfqpr3ygSg
I tend to get physically and mentally exhausted when I have to listen to music that's maximised for loudness, took me a while to figure that out. A comparison between these two versions was the eye opener for me.