* laughs in lossless *

I didn't spend years engineering audio and buy a lifetime Roon subscription to listen to the JPEG'd version of the Mona Lisa.

We have the technology. Lossless exists. But sure, let's celebrate access to degraded copies of human creativity because "it's good enough."

I can still read a book with missing vowels too. That's not the point.

When you work in the studio, you don't unhear what compression kills—the reverb tail, the harmonics, the feel, the warmth, the breath between notes.

I've always been this way. Even as a kid with cassettes and VHS tapes - I'd make a 1:1 copy and play that copy until the wheels fell off, then dub another from the master. Never touched the original. Because every play, every rewind, every pause degrades the quality. Why would I destroy the source?

If you're listening on $20 earbuds, you won't hear the difference. But anyone who understands brick wall limiting and what the loudness wars did to dynamic range knows exactly why vinyl made a comeback. My library is full of 24-bit/192kHz for a reason.

So, yeah... I can relate. I know the difference between the painting and a JPEG photocopy. 😎

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