Maybe it is a save open door to state that as with any medium, radio is about advertising. The loudness wars between channels started when commercial stations targeting young audiences wanted to be the loudest so it drew more attention to their music and advertisers.
Some stations went till greater lengths beyond loudness and slightly sped up the tempo of their already shortened down tracks so there would be more room to crank in even more advertisements.
Is it bad?
In its own right with a focus on the medium maybe not that much. As probably the majority of people listen to radio on smaller speakers or car speakers, having more "body" actually is a better experience in that specific context.
The problem
Maybe when owning a pair of small bookshelves it is about the limit of what is still acceptable. Going beyond it with standmounts or floorstanders the compression sounds weird and it is as if there is a steamroller riding over the natural dynamics of the individual instruments. Sometimes bass sounds as if it gets squeezed and pulled and speakers which are not boomy on their own will be.
I know there are some channels like most Jazz and classical music stations which care for right dynamics and mainly add the methods to spoken word.
I guess this will not disappear anywhere in the near future, but would be welcome if it could.
Who else experienced this?
Some stations went till greater lengths beyond loudness and slightly sped up the tempo of their already shortened down tracks so there would be more room to crank in even more advertisements.
Is it bad?
In its own right with a focus on the medium maybe not that much. As probably the majority of people listen to radio on smaller speakers or car speakers, having more "body" actually is a better experience in that specific context.
The problem
Maybe when owning a pair of small bookshelves it is about the limit of what is still acceptable. Going beyond it with standmounts or floorstanders the compression sounds weird and it is as if there is a steamroller riding over the natural dynamics of the individual instruments. Sometimes bass sounds as if it gets squeezed and pulled and speakers which are not boomy on their own will be.
I know there are some channels like most Jazz and classical music stations which care for right dynamics and mainly add the methods to spoken word.
I guess this will not disappear anywhere in the near future, but would be welcome if it could.
Who else experienced this?