When talking about the recent 'Loudness race' people are saying that the sound that is produced from the media sounds 'compressed'. Could anyone just explain what this 'compressed' sound is?

Plz dont flame me!!!

Put simply, 'compessed' means very little volume difference between the loudest sounds and the softest sounds. Many modern recordings on CD have almost no 'dynamic range' - eveything is 'flat out' all the time.

Which means that you can play it loud, even on radio or cheap systems... A recording with a huge dynamic range, typically a classical recording, can also be played loud of course, but you'll most likely fry your speakers (or drain your amp) if you crank up the volume during the quiet parts...

Recordings with a huge dynamic range are more "fun" to listen to (for me anyway), but they'll be perceived as "relatively quiet" recordings by the masses, and therefore they'll think it doesn't sound good, hence the ranting about compressed music on HA...

Listen to some examples here : http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=207752

Thankyou everyone for those replies! Very helpful!
Sorry havent been here for a while, been busy with coursework for school etc.
Thanks again!
jay