Also, have a look at this phenomenon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war Digitally mastered recordings DO SOUND BETTER on low-grade sound systems (that's the reason for their existence after all). But on a quality hi-fi system, those only make your ears bleed (as jockway mentioned). So every time I spend 15 Euro for an album, I'm virtually playing the lottery, as I have no idea what will I hear from it. There are regions (Japan mostly) where they sell way better (not digitally mastered) recordings, but as mentioned, I can't buy if I don't go there. So now guess why piratebay is the best source of music... (I can at least hear it before dumping it - if it's no good).