Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
I think 'quality' is the wrong term.

It's a deliberate decision taken when remastering classic recordings to reduce the dynamic range to next to nothing.

It's not due to incompetence, deafness, stupidity, bad equipment etc. It's how they wanted it to sound.

They could do it differently, but they often don't. It sells more if it's mastered that way. Sad, but true.

Most people who buy music are not concerned about sound quality. It doesn't even occur to them.
The old master tapes from the classic era of vinyl will have detreated somewhat by now.
When they remaster, they'll have to use so many digital filters to clean it up, take out background noise etc, it will kill the dynamic range.
Multiple filters has that effect, whether in the studio or in a DSP XO. One of those occasions where less really does equal more!